By: Mike Tomaloff
This holiday season when you find yourself wanting for some good eats and great gifting, look no further than your Co-op. We all have those hard-to-buy-for folks on our list; or maybe your list is long, but your time is short. Regardless, when faced with these situations I often turn to the kitchen. A day of baking and cooking can achieve as much as a whole bunch of trips all over town, and the gifts that come out of the kitchen are gifts that you made just for those special folks, with your hands and your heart.
The obvious and first choice for most of us when it comes to holiday food gifts is cookies: iced cutouts, gingerbread people, crinkly molasses cookies, those things made with chocolate and chow mein noodles, snickerdoodles, thumbprints, whatever guides your sleigh. I know that sometime in mid-December, every flat surface in our kitchen will be covered with racks and sheet pans of my wife’s buttery sugar cookies, all waiting to be iced and decorated. I also know that the folks who get those cookies will know that they were made just for them by us (ok, mostly her), and even if they weren’t so perfectly delicious (they are), even if they were just ok cookies, they’d still be made and shared with love and care for the people that we are grateful to have in our lives, and that’s really what it’s all about when it comes to gift-giving, isn’t it? You’ll find a few cookie recipes here, including one for Ellen’s Sugar Cookies.
Of course, there’s more to food gifts than cookies, which brings me to canning. Are you a gardener with an abundance of tomatoes? Beets? Peppers? Turn that bounty into holiday cheer by gifting little jars of summer sunshine. Maybe you don’t have a green thumb, or enough space to grow a bunch to give away, but you do have a great Co-op that is happy to provide all the produce you could need. Canning is pretty easy, but you have to do it right. Fortunately there’s a Co-op class for that, too, not to mention a bevy of free publications from the UW Extension. Whether you’re new to food preservation or it’s old hat, jars of salsa, jam, or pickles are a great gift. Consider trying out one of the recipes listed here. I recommend “Cowboy Candy” in particular, although you will want to make extra because it won’t last long.
Finally I will mention some kitchen gifts that aren’t for eating: homemade bodycare products. You can go simple and infuse epsom salts with essential oils, lavender, and dried flowers and herbs, maybe you’d like to try making a batch of salve with those oils and aromatics, or how about fizzy bath bombs? All of these are fairly easy to make and very economical, and allow you to select any scents you wish. You control what goes in the recipe, so no worries about allergens or unpronounceable components, and all of the ingredients are available at your Co-op. Check out the recipe for bath bombs that accompanies this article!
I hope this has given you some fresh inspiration and new ideas for your holiday (or anytime) gift giving. Of course, there are so many more DIY gift ideas to choose from, but this article can only be so long. Here’s a few more homemade gift ideas to inspire you anyway: lavender sugar, popcorn balls, hot cocoa mix, cocktail bitters (the bulk spice section is key to this), herbal sachets, essential oil misting spray, body scrub, bar soaps, candles, barbecue sauce, honey butter, brittle, bark, quickbreads, snack mix, brownies, blondies, cupcakes, salsa, hot sauce…
