These delicious gourmet pumpkin caramels hit a home run for the holidays.

Available only through December from Scotchwood Candy Company, they are an irresistable confection and a fabulous foodie gift.

The handmade caramels have real pumpkin flavor (not just pumpkin pie spices) and are topped with crushed pecans. They melt in your mouth. Even people with braces can enjoy them.

Needless to say, the bodacious bonbons did not last long. The box was emptied in a day, but the happy memories remain.

Each caramel is individually wrapped and packaged in a handsome gift box. The caramels are well-priced: An eight once box is $7.50, one pound is $15.00.

For stocking stuffers, party favors, teacher and service provider gifts, they’re different and delightful.

What a treat: Scotchwood Candy Co.’s gourmet pumpkin caramels with a cup of hot cider. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

The pretty gift box needs no wrapping. Photo
by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Get yours at ScotchwoodToffee.com.

Find more of our favorite candies in our Gourmet Candy Section.

Feel like having some pumpkin fudge? Here’s a recipe.

Cardamom, a popular holiday cookie spice and one of the spices in a chai tea blend, can be brewed into a flavorful tea that tastes very “seasonal.”

If you have green cardamom* pods in the pantry, let it multitask: Make cardamom tea. The pods infuse well in boiling water and cardamom tea can be served hot or iced. If you’d rather have full-out chai, here’s the recipe.

CARDAMOM TEA RECIPE

Ingredients For Two Cups Of Tea

 
*There are two types of cardamom: black (actually brown in color) and green, and both can be purchased in pods or ground (the seeds are removed from the pods prior to grinding). The flavor of black cardamom is too strong for tea.

Infuse black, green or white tea with cardamom pods. Photo of black tea with cardamom courtesy TeraWarner.com, where you can read more about the health benefits of cardamom.

Preparation

1. BOIL water in a saucepan; reduce to a simmer.

2. CRUSH the cardamom pods and add to the water; simmer for 2-3 minutes.

3. REMOVE from heat; let tea and orange steep for 5-10 minutes.

4. STRAIN or otherwise remove teabags and pods.

5. REHEAT and serve with optional sweetener(s). You can also add milk, as is done in Indian cardamom milk tea; but we like it straight. It’s also delicious iced.

Green and black cardamom pods (as you can
see, the pods are brown, not black). Photo
by Autopilot | Wikimedia.

MORE USES FOR CARDAMOM

ABOUT CARDAMOM

Cardamom, a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) is native to Bhutan, India and Nepal. It is used in cuisines throughout the world, from its native region to the Middle East to Scandinavia. The name derives from the Latin cardamomum and the Greek kardamon, which referred to a particular Indian spice plant.

Cardamom spice is bold: intensely aromatic (some say resinous) with strong flavor. Black cardamom is stronger and more smokey, with nuances that some find to be similar to mint.

Cardamom is the world’s third most expensive spice by weight, following saffron and vanilla. But just a pinch is needed in most cases.

It is a bold spice, with an intensely aromatic (some say resinous) aroma and a strong flavor. Black cardamom is more smokey, with nuances that some find similar to mint.

As with many spices, cardamom also has health benefits, which range from improving digestion to increasing one’s metabolism.

For Thanksgiving, infuse the water pitcher with seasonal spices and herbs. Try one or more of the following (we use all of them):

Refreshing and thirst quenching, the spices and herbs also add a boost of antioxidants to the water. Ginger also helps to stimulate digestion, which makes it a good-to-include ingredient for Thanksgiving dinner spice water.

You may like spice water so much, that you’ll drink it year-round.

Add cinnamon sticks and other seasonal
spices to the water pitcher. Photo courtesy
Factory Direct Craft.

You can also buy bottled spice water: Ayala’s Herbal Water, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. Seasonal flavors include Clove Cardamom Cinnamon, Cinnamon Orange Peel and Ginger Lemon Peel.

The perfect cake for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Halloween. Photo courtesy The Sugar Mommas.

The Sugar Mommas, Kimberly and Jennifer, live in California, an entire country away from us. So if we want a piece of their Thanksgiving Pumpkin Spice Cake, we’ll have to make it ourselves. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to make a cake batter, and the pumpkin cream cheese icing is worth the extra step.

Switch out chocolate pumpkin and turkey decorations for chocolate pine cones and a reindeer, and you’ve got Christmas Pumpkin Spice Cake.

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans and set aside.

2. WHISK the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and spices together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. MIX the sugars and oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Use medium speed until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending on low speed until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and the pumpkin purée. Mix until combined and no lumps are present.

4. ADD half of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Add the second half of the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until incorporated. Use a spatula to fold in the 1/2 cup of nuts; mix until just combined.

5. POUR the batter into the prepared pans and spread it evenly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

6. ICE the first cooled cake layer on a serving platter, rounded side down (upside down). Use a knife or angled spatula to spread icing over the top and sides, being generous on top as it will be the filling layer. (A rotating cake stand is a godsend for icing cakes: well worth the modest cost and storage space.) Place the next layer right side up on top of the first and complete the frosting of the top and sides.

7. GARNISH as minimally or lavishly as you like. Minimalist: nothing. Typical: crushed amaretti cookies or ginger snaps. Lavish: chocolate medallions (the Sugar Mommas made chocolate pine cones in a mold) with a chocolate turkey, pumpkin, Christmas tree or reindeer at the center.

PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE ICING & FILLING RECIPE

Ingredients

 
 
Preparation

We prefer organic pumpkin purée: It tastes better. Photo courtesy Farmer’s Market.

1. COMBINE the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend on medium speed until smooth.

2. TURN the mixer to low speed and add the confectioners’ sugar a little bit at a time, until fully incorporated. Beat until light and fluffy.

3. STIR in the vanilla. This recipe may be doubled if, like us, you indulge in eating the frosting while decorating the cake.

4. DECORATE the cake by sprinkling on top of the cake. If you enjoy the crunch, go crazy and add in 1 tablespoon of raw sugar for a pretty visual that tastes unique and delicious.

Watch this video on how to ice a cake.

FOOD 101: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ICING AND FROSTING

It’s a sugar technicality! Icing is made with confectioners’ sugar, frosting with granulated sugar. The consistencies are different, hence different words to identify them. Most people use the terms interchangeably; but now that you know, you can correct them!

Cream of chestnut soup is just one delicious way to enjoy roasted chestnuts. Photo © Evegny B | Fotolia.

When the air becomes crisp and the autumn leaves rustle, the aroma of roasting chestnuts fills the air. Served up by street vendors in our town, this is old-time comfort food.

In addition to snacking on roasted chestnuts, we have a passion for chestnut soup and for the classic French dessert, Mont Blanc, which uses sweetened chestnut purée. (More about that below.)

Much of our canned chestnut supply is cultivated in, and imported from, southern-central France. Canned chestnuts are peeled and pre-cooked, so they can be enjoyed without “roasting on an open fire.”

Look for the Roland brand at your grocer’s or specialty food store. They’re available whole, peeled and pre-cooked, in water, or as a cream or purée. (If you’re new to cooking, please note: Chestnuts in water are NOT the same as water chestnuts. You want the former.)

Chestnuts are chock full of antioxidants, and studies show that they may reduce the risks of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Chestnuts also deliver one’s daily dose of vitamins B6 and C, and are a good source of fiber and potassium.

Chestnut soup is an easy-to-make comfort food and a classic to ward off the fall-winter chill. A recipe from chef and beekeeper Laurey Masterton follows. It’s from her forthcoming “The Fresh Honey Cookbook” (September 2013 / Storey Publishing).

“From-scratch advocates may want to roast and peel their own chestnuts,” says Laurey, “which is easy enough to do although time-consuming. Or you can purchase whole, peeled chestnuts.”

Don’t pair chestnut honey with the chestnuts. “Chestnut honey has too strong a flavor for this recipe,” she advises. “Instead, I suggest eucalyptus, a dark honey that doesn’t have an overly assertive taste, so the chestnut flavor can shine.” (See the different varieties of honey.)

The recipe serves 6–8.

We don’t like a lot of sweetness in soup, so we use only a teaspoon of honey.

CREAM OF CHESTNUT SOUP RECIPE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE. Melt the butter in a large soup pot over low heat. Add the onion and sauté until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the chestnuts, carrots and stock. Simmer over low heat until the chestnuts are very tender (until you can poke a fork through one), about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. BLEND. Blend the soup with an immersion blender until completely smooth, or drain the vegetables in a colander and pulse them in a food processor until smooth; return to the pot and blend with the broth.

3. ADD. Add the cream, honey and sherry. Add the salt and a few grinds of pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings. If the soup is too thick, add additional stock or cream. Warm over medium-low heat but do not boil, as the cream will curdle.

4. GARNISH. Garnish as desired and serve. We like the combined garnishes of chestnut pieces and fresh herbs, but you can serve the soup plain, with just a bit of fresh pepper and/or a simple crouton.

Find more of our favorite soup recipes.
 
MORE WAYS TO ENJOY CHESTNUTS

While chestnuts can be eaten raw, cooking them allows for a sweeter, more delicate flavor. Other delicious uses include:

There’s nothing like fresh-ground nutmeg. The pre-ground product is pallid in comparison.

You may use nutmeg in baking—custards and pumpkin pie, spice cakes and cookies—and it’s de rigueur in egg nog. But what about savory uses?

Following the demise of our decades-old nutmeg mill, we’ve been enjoying our new chrome nutmeg mill from William Bounds. We’ve been adding daily grinds of fresh nutmeg to coffee, eggs and greens.

We asked THE NIBBLE’s chef Johnny Gnall how he uses nutmeg. Here are his favorite uses, along with some musings on nutmeg:

Nutmeg is a bit of an unsung hero. It’s used in a surprisingly large number of recipes and dishes, but it’s rare that you notice it, especially up front on your palate. In fact, that’s kind of the point. Nutmeg is a spice often used to accent other flavors, the same way a recipe uses salt to bring out the flavor of other ingredients.

Nutmeg. Photo courtesy Spice Islands.

Nutmeg is often perceived as a “holiday spice,” but it’s delicious year-round. As with other spices, use it up as quickly as you can. Even a whole nutmeg in an airtight jar will dry out in a few years. If you’ve had the nutmeg for a while, pierce it with a pin. If you get a droplet of oil, the spice is still lively.

10 SAVORY SHOWCASES FOR NUTMEG

In desserts, nutmeg is often combined with allspice, cinnamon and clove. But nutmeg on its own is a pretty delicious flavor.

Nutmeg is also a strong flavor, so you only need it in very small doses. Even a pinch can pack a punch that will kick things up a notch.

Here are 10 ways to give new punch to your recipes with nutmeg. Remember to use it sparingly: Start with a tiny bit, taste often and pump the brakes as soon as its flavor gets to the front of your palate.

1. Bacon & Pork Belly
Bacon fans find it practically perfect in every way, virtually impossible to improve upon. It can be amplified, however. The next time you have a recipe with bacon as a primary ingredient (a quiche, perhaps?), try complementing it with a touch of nutmeg. Bacon and nutmeg are at very different ends of the flavor spectrum, but they share earthy roots. You may even start dusting your bacon strips!

2. Béchamel
A classic béchamel sauce is made with a dash of nutmeg early in the cooking process. In most fine-dining restaurants, béchamel is usually the start of mac ‘n cheese and other creamy pasta dishes. If you up the nutmeg just a touch, the new angle on a familiar flavor will surprise you. Just be sure to think ahead: If you are adding béchamel to a dish along with other cheeses or ingredients, be sure the flavors complement one another. Nutmeg doesn’t always play well with others (seafood, yes; mushrooms, not really).

William Bounds nutmeg mill. Photo courtesy
William Bounds.

3. Carrots
Roasted carrots with nutmeg is easy and will knock your socks off. Just toss roasted carrots in a bit of melted butter and season with fresh-ground nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

4. Dough
Bread dough, cookie dough, pasta dough, pie/quiche dough: Any of these can benefit from the kick a little nutmeg supplies. As with béchamel, however, make sure that whatever else you are putting in or on that dough does not clash with nutmeg.

5. Goat Cheese & Burrata
Take ordinary goat cheese and add a pinch of nutmeg to make it extraordinary. Add the seasoned goat cheese to salads, use chunks to garnish soup or just spread it on a slice of toasted baguette. Along the same lines of cheese enhancement, go for pure indulgence with burrata: A tiny drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of nutmeg create fireworks in your mouth.

6. Hazelnuts
A bowl of warm, toasted hazelnuts sprinkled with nutmeg is as perfect a holiday party snack as you can find. But don’t wait for the holidays: Serve them year-round with cocktails, wine and beer.

7. Lamb
Lamb is a protein that loves nutmeg—perhaps more than any other. If you season the meat with salt and just a teaspoon or so of nutmeg, as opposed to pepper, you will discover a delightful flavor profile. If you’re going to stew lamb, you’re in for a real treat with nutmeg. Remember, though, that with lamb, the “less is more” rule especially applies.

8. Scalloped Potatoes
A little nutmeg in the dish adds depth of flavor, while a dusting over the top will give you an up-front hit of nutmeg that then fades into creamy potato.

9. Spinach & Collard Greens
If you’re braising, add nutmeg early; you may want to re-up as the vegetables cook. If sautéing, a quick sprinkle when your greens start to wilt should do the trick.

10. Squash & Squash Soup
The nuttiness of squash, from acorn to zucchini, is accentuated by a sprinkle of nutmeg.
 
FOOD TRIVIA

The nutmeg tree produces two different spices, nutmeg and mace. Nutmeg is the seed of the fruit that grows on the tree, and mace is made from a red substance that covers it.

Today is National Fruitcake Day. The most maligned food in America is not cilantro. It is fruitcake.

Unlike cilantro, which delivers a consistent take-it-or-leave-it flavor, regardless of where it is grown, it is man who has manipulated cheap ingredients and preservatives into frightful fruitcakes.

But yes, Virginia, there is great fruitcake—the kind that, 100 and 200 years ago, people had reason to celebrate—and not just at Christmas. It was the wedding cake of choice.

Several weeks ago we received a simply superb fruitcake sold at Williams-Sonoma (and alas, now sold out). It was made by the fabulous Beekman Boys, a.k.a. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, of the website Beekman1802.com and the Planet Green reality series.

The luscious classic fruitcake from Beekman
1802. Photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma.com.

Made with a century-old family recipe, there’s no candied citron, maraschino cherries or unrecognizable, nuclear-colored fruits in the Beekman 1802 fruitcake. It’s made with dried fruits soaked in applejack brandy (apricots, dates, cherries, figs, pineapple, raisins), brown sugar, butter, eggs and flour. Every ingredients is delicious and the cake is so lovely, we didn’t share a bite of it.

The recipe isn’t in the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook, although said book has a smashing carrot cake and a lovely gingerbread with exotic spices. We did, however, find the fruitcake recipe on the Beekman 1802 website. So start soaking those dried fruits in applejack or rum.

BEVERAGES WITH FRUITCAKE

We love a good cup of black tea with our fruitcake, or a spice tea like Constant Comment (which is also available in a decaffeinated version and a green tea version).

Port is the wine of choice. But beer is a delicious, if seemingly unconventional, pairing.

Here’s a discussion of beer with fruitcake, certain to delight beer lovers.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FRUITCAKE

The earliest known recipe for fruitcake dates to ancient Rome, using pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and raisins. By the Middle Ages, honey, preserved fruits and spices had been added and the cake was enjoyed throughout Europe. Recipes varied widely by region.

In the 16th century, sugar from the Caribbean—and the discovery that sugar could be used to preserve fruits—made fruitcakes more affordable and popular. Everything was delicious for a few centuries.

But the mass-production of prepared foods that followed World War II led to low-priced and not great-tasting fruitcakes. Following tradition, people gave them as Christmas gifts, but few recipients enjoyed eating them. Many of them regifted their fruitcakes; thus the joke from comedian Johnny Carson, that there was only one fruitcake in the world and it got passed from person to person.

Bake yourself a really good fruitcake and see why it deserves its place among delicious Christmas foods.

Ice cream that smells and tastes like
gingerbread. Photo courtesy
KitchenKonfidential.com.

Ice cream is one of our favorite desserts—heck, it’s our favorite food, period.

For New Year’s Eve, we like to make a special flavor. Last year it was lavender. Prior years included anise, chipotle chocolate, chocolate pretzel, peppermint schnapps and white chocolate with edible gold flakes. For the Millennium, we splurged on black truffle ice cream.

This year, we’re making Gingerbread-Trappist Ale Ice Cream, to serve with an apple tart. Those who have no room left for the tart can enjoy a spoonful or two of easy-to-down sweetness. (Note: Trappist ale is one type of Belgian ale, and should be used in this recipe. See the footnote* at the bottom of this post for the difference Belgian beers and ales.)

In addition to serving it as a glammed-up version of apple pie à la mode, you can make ice cream sandwiches by toasting slices of gingerbread loaf or other favorite loaf: banana cake, carrot cake or chocolate or regular pound cake.

This recipe, from Brandon Matzek’s blog, KitchenKonfidence.com, was adapted from a recipe created by Ethan Frisch and Max Falkowitz, and sent to us from the Craft Beer Association.

Made with candied ginger, cinnamon, clove, allspice and Belgian-style ale, the ice cream smells and tastes like gingerbread. The Trappist ale (we used Duvel, one of our favorites) adds a delicious depth of flavor. Brandon Matzek’s serving suggestion is to scoop the ice cream over a warm slice of gingerbread, topped with sautéed apples.

You can serve a glass of Belgian ale along with the dessert. Or a cup of spice tea.

GINGERBREAD-ALE ICE CREAM RECIPE

Ingredients

Serves: 8 – 10

 
Preparation
1. In a large saucepan, add heavy cream, whole milk, 1-1/3 cups ale and molasses, stirring to combine.

2. Add allspice, black peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fresh ginger, nutmeg and star anise.

3. Cook mixture over a medium-low heat until just below a simmer, stirring frequently for about 15 minutes (you want to see steam rising from the surface, but minimal to no bubbles).

4. Whisk the egg yolks and brown sugar in a bowl until slightly thickened. Slowly, while whisking, add 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture to the yolks. Take your time here so you don’t scramble the yolks. Repeat this process with another 1/2 cup of the hot cream, then return everything to the saucepan.

5. Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Set a medium sized bowl in the ice bath and have a strainer ready.

6. Return the saucepan to a medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. You will know the custard is thick enough when you see steam rise from the surface and the custard coats the spoon.

7. Add the chocolate, lemon zest and the last 1/3 cup ale. Continue to cook for another minute or two, until the proper thickness is achieved again.

8. Strain the custard into the medium sized bowl sitting in the ice bath. Stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Stir occasionally until the mixture has cooled. Refrigerate until cold (preferably overnight).

9. Freeze custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is three quarters of the way done, add candied ginger and continue to freeze until frozen.

10. Serve to delighted guests.

*Trappist ale is one of nine categories of Belgian beer and ale. Others include everyday Belgian ale, brown ale, golden ale, lambic, red beer, saison, specialty ales and wheat beer (witbier). Under an official designation established by the International Trappist Association in 1997, only beer brewed under the direct supervision of Trappist monks may be called Trappist. There are currently seven such breweries in the world: six in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. Abbey beer—which originally referred to any monastic or monastic-style beer—is the designation of products similar in style or presentation to Trappist beers, such as beers brewed in non-Trappist monasteries, commercial breweries that license the name from an extant Trappist monastery, beers named for a defunct or fictitious monastery, and so on.

JOY TO THE WORLD

Whether you
celebrate
Christmas,
Chanukah,
Kwanzaa,
or anything else,
we wish you
peace and
happiness.

The digital gift certificate is followed by a
snail mail version, with olive oil! Photo
courtesy Nudo.

It’s the 11th hour and you still need a special gift?

We’ve got the solution: an email gift certificate that will arrive the same day. There’s no need to scramble—or even leave your house. Most online merchants have a gift certificate that will be sent within 12 hours.

We’ve got two special recommendations that range from as little as $5.00 to $500.00.

Gift Certificate #1: Olive Oil & A Tree

Here’s gift that’s sustainable, green and healthy. Everyone can use fine olive oil.

Nudo, a family-run cooperative of 12 artisanal olive oil producers in Le Marche,* Italy, offers a delightful idea: an Adopt-An-Olive Tree gift certificate, complete with delicious olive oil. Here’s what’s included:

 
The entire adoption program costs $109.00, plus shipping. It’s not inexpensive, but it is memorable! You may not be able to afford a villa in Tuscany, but you can own a little piece of the Italian countryside.

A digital gift certificate will be mailed within 12 hours, and a paper version will arrive with the first oil shipment. Order your gift certificate.

*Pronounced leh-MAR-keh. One of Italy’s 20 regions, it lies on the Adriatic coast, immediately south of Emiglia-Romana and west of Tuscany.

Gift Certificate #2: Customized Chocolate Bars

For $5.00 to $500.00, you can send a chocolate bar gift certificate that allows the recipient to customize his/her own chocolate bars. It’s chocolate perfection!

Just a few toppings you can add to the dark, milk or white Belgian chocolate bars:

The excitement of creating your own bars is part of the fun of this gift. Visit Chocomize.com. See our review of Chocomize bars.

Add anything you want to create your ideal
chocolate bar. Photo by Katharine Pollak |
THE NIBBLE.