THE NIBBLE Gourmet News & Views
Trends, Products & Items Of Note In The World Of Specialty Foods
Read all of our content on TheNibble.com, the online magazine about specialty food.
Archive for Gifts
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March 12, 2008 at 7:29 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, Bread, Crackers, Muffins, Gifts, Breakfast
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Can’t you taste the goodness of Callie’s Country Ham Biscuits? The Cheese and Cinnamon are also stunning. |
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She catered Reese Witherspoon’s and Ryan Philippe’s wedding, and other catering clients have been clamoring for her country ham-stuffed biscuits for years. She couldn’t hand over the secret recipe, of course, so Charleston, South Carolina caterer Callie White did the next best thing: She charged her daughter with opening up a division to sell the bodacious biscuits online. Now, there’s no need for you to imagine what super Southern biscuits taste like. Buttermilk, cheese, cinnamon and the country ham biscuits that started it all will come to you. Get yourself a variety pack for Easter dinner or breakfast. Send some to Mom for Mother’s Day. Each biscuit is handmade with just a bowl and no other equipment (save for the oven, of course). Callie says that the secret to making a great biscuit is to not over-mix the dough. Each batch is mixed by hand, and the expert biscuit makers know by the feel when the dough is ready. It’s art, it’s science, it’s delicious! Read the full review. Visit more of our favorite breads and biscuits in the Gourmet Bread Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
| And here’s our Question Of The Week (you’ll find a new one each week on TheNibble.com home page—we usually don’t post them here): Why do the British refer to cookies and crackers as biscuits? It’s because the word biscuit comes from the Latin bis coctum, which means “twice cooked.” This is manifested in biscotti, the hard Italian cookies which are baked twice. Americans get “cookie” from the Dutch word, “koekje,” which means “little cake.” Both terms arrived in America in the 1600s, with their respective groups of Colonists. According to The Encyclopedia of American American Food and Drink, the first American usage of “biscuit” as a soft bread was in 1818, in the Journal of Travels in the United States of North America, and in Lower Canada, by John Palmer.By 1828 Webster’s Dictionary defined a biscuit as “a composition of flour and butter, made and baked in private families.” These small, puffy leavened breads were called soda biscuits or baking-soda biscuits, to differentiate them from the unleavened cracker type of biscuit. These bread-biscuit recipes are ubiquitous in 19th-century cookbooks. In addition to serving up plenty of soda biscuits, Southerners also developed the beaten biscuit, first mentioned in print in 1853. In 1930, General Mills introduced Bisquick, the first packaged biscuit mix. And the rest, as they say, is history. Pass the butter, please. |
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March 3, 2008 at 1:08 pm
· Filed under Chocolate, Gifts, St. Patrick's Day
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| You don’t need the luck of the Irish to enjoy Leprechaun Bombs from Cosmic Chocolate. You just have to read THE NIBBLE (or else, live in Oakland, California and wander into this boutique chocolate shop). Part of the shop’s “Cosmic Bomb” series, these bonbons are the bomb: beautifully hand-painted chocolate shells, dappled with edible glitter. The Leprechaun Bombs are filled with a ganache that is infused with Bailey’s mint liqueur, Irish whiskey and Green Chartreuse, an ancient herb liqueur of more than 130 medicinal and aromatic herbs, flowers and other plants (who can even name that many?). Taken from an old alchemical recipe for an “elixir of life,” it was first made in the 1600s by monks of the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the Chartreuse Mountains of eastern France, intended as a medicine. |
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You don’t have to be Irish to deserve a set or two of Leprechaun Bombs from the Cosmic Chocolate Shop. |
The recipe was enhanced and became popular as a beverage. It’s green in color, hence appropriate to the Leprechaun Bombs. A second Chartreuse liqueur, colored with saffron and milder and sweeter than the original, is called Yellow Chartreuse. The yellow color with the greenish tinge known as chartreuse takes its name from the Yellow Chartreuse liqueur. But back to the chocolate. You can purchase four bonbons for $8.00 in a transparent box, allowing the cosmic glow of the Emerald Isle to shine through (well, not really—but the candy looks great) at CosmicChocolateShop.com—and you can see the other Cosmic Bombs as well. We haven’t tasted the Leprechaun Bombs, but we’ve enjoyed every other Cosmic Bomb that has crossed our lips, so our money is on the Leprechauns. When you order, please tell the Cosmic Chocolate folks that it’s St. Paddy, not St. Patty (you’ll note that error in their website description). No one likes his name spelled wrong, not even the patron saint of Ireland. When your name gets spelled like a girl’s name, even a saint has his limits.
- See our other favorite St. Patrick’s Day chocolate, candy, cookies and more. |
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February 12, 2008 at 1:46 pm
· Filed under Special Sweets, Candy, Gifts, Tip Of The Day, Valentine's Day
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| Coincidentally, since our prior post was about Michael Recchiuti’s new cassis gelée chocolate, our tip of the day focuses on pâte de fruits—a.k.a. fruit gelee or fruit jelly, although we hesitate to use the latter term because these have nothing to do with Chuckles or those jellied watermelon slices. Pâtes de fruits (pronounced pot duh froo-EE) are gourmet fruit jellies, made of fruit purée, sugar and pectin. Those other fruit jellies are made with “fruit flavoring.” A great pâte de fruit is like eating a wonderful piece of fruit in a different form (as is a great fruit sorbet). For people who like sweets but not chocolate, a perfect Valentine’s Day gift is a box of the best pâtes de fruit we know, from Paris’s Maison du Chocolat (which, conveniently, has two shops in New York City from which they do mail order). And keep a box in your own pantry. They’re so versatile: instead of (or in addition to) cookies and petit fours when friends drop by for tea or coffee; as an accent on a dessert plate; when guests can’t eat your regular dessert due to nut or chocolate allergies. In fact, if you’ve forgotten the dessert, or the soufflé flops, bring out a plate of these beautiful, jewel-colored sweets and no one will be the wiser. |
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Our favorite pâtes de fruit, from La Maison du Chocolat. |
| By the way, the difference between pâtes de fruit, plural, and pâte de fruit, singular, is not how many pieces you get, but how many flavors. If there’s more than one flavor, use the plural, pâtes. This nuance of the French language is courtesy of our French cousin Philippe. Read more about our favorite sweets in the Gourmet Candy Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. If you pursue the greatest chocolates, visit our Chocolate Section. |
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February 11, 2008 at 2:15 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, Candy, Gifts, Valentine's Day
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Artisan marshmallows like these, flavored
with real lavender buds, can be as pretty as a box of chocolates. |
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If your Valentine doesn’t like chocolate, how about marshmallows? Gourmet marshmallows come in a variety of flavors that will delight the young and charm the food sophisticate. In addition to Valentine gifts, we like serve them as “petit fours” after dinner with coffee. The medley of available colors and flavors match holiday themes and other occasions. And the flavors are heavenly.- Read our review of America’s best artisan marshmallows.
- Check out Plush Puffs brand of marshmallows.
- People on sugar-free diets will love La Nouba sugar-free marshmallows.
- The fudge-covered marshmallows from Momma Reiner must be experienced.
- The great Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini also makes gourmet marshmallows.
Try some of these beauties and you just might develop a marshmallow habit. |
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January 2, 2008 at 7:33 pm
· Filed under Gifts, Tip Of The Day
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| If you received a food gift for Christmas that wasn’t to your liking—marmalade, spicy cocoa, flavored vinegar, whatever—don’t stick it in the back of the cabinet and forget about it. Products should be used within 12 months, or they begin to deteriorate—some items like cookies much sooner. Many products have expiration dates, but if you don’t like the food to begin with, the dates don’t really matter. It’s better to share the item now, with people who will enjoy it. Bring the food to your co-workers, be a friendly neighbor or donate it to a volunteer enterprise. Then, visit the Main Nibbles section of THE NIBBLE online magazine to find reviews in more than 70 categories of specialty foods, and pick something you’d rather have. |
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Thanks, but no thanks: If you’ll never use those fancy pink peppercorns, don’t stick them in the back of the cabinet to fade—give them to someone who’ll be thrilled to have them. |
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December 24, 2007 at 9:14 am
· Filed under Special Sweets, Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Gifts
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| If you haven’t yet gotten gifts for your favorite organic food fans, print out our review of Liz Lovely Cookies, wrap it in a recyclable box (or send an email with a link to the review, saying “Here’s what I got you for Christmas—they’ll arrive fresh-baked in January”), and point out that the gift will be arriving when the onslaught of holiday baking is over. Then, they’ll be able to properly focus on these delicious, jumbo organic cookies. Liz Lovely Cookies taste like Vermont, the state in which they are lovingly made. Although these soft, chewy jumbo cookies are not health food, each bite seems wholesome and healthy. Nevertheless, you’ll feel good giving these organic and Fair Trade Certified cookies to kids or adults, and eating half a cookie (the suggested portion size) yourself. The line is also certified vegan (dairy free, egg free) and is trans fat free and low sodium. The sugar level is relatively low as well. For grab-and-go convenience or lunch boxes, the cookies are packaged two to a bag to “share the love and make a friend.” |
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Liz Lovely’s lovely, organic, Fair Trade certified Peanut Butter Classics. |
| You can send the variety pack, including Cowboy Cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip with hard chocolate icing piped across the top and totally covering the bottom), Cowgirl Cookies (soft chocolate chip cookies, one step above eating cookie dough), Ginger Snapdragons, Mochadamia Mountain and Peanut Butter Classics. There’s a Green Gift Basket in a totally recyclable gift package: Everything is reusable (the tin tub, the ribbon, the tissue) recycled and/or recyclable (the card is printed on recycled paper). It’s certain to be a popular gift—and sharing those cookies will help make new friends! Find more of our favorite organic foods in the NutriNibbles Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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December 23, 2007 at 9:51 am
· Filed under Special Sweets, Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Gifts
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 Sweet Muse brownies are melt-in-your-mouth fudgy. |
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Need brownies? Sweet Muse makes hand-baked, individually wrapped gourmet brownies that are “inspirational indulgences,” because each is wrapped with an inspirational or philosophical quote. The moist fudge brownies are large enough and rich enough so that they can be shared with a friend and still provide satisfaction. Baked by an actress, the brownies “perform,” and are sure to get a round of applause from both children and adults—assuming the children you know are keen for toppings like toffee, coconut almond and peppermint candy. Read the full review. And find more of our favorite brownies in the Cookies & Brownies Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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December 20, 2007 at 3:37 pm
· Filed under Candy, Recipes, Gifts, Tip Of The Day
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These are from the Wisconsin Cheeseman, but your own homemade peppermint patties will be a much bigger hit. |
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If you love peppermint patties, making them at home is easy. Combine 1 pound confectioner’s sugar, 3 tablespoons softened butter, 3 teaspoons peppermint extract and 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract. Mix in 1/4 cup evaporated milk. Roll into 1-inch balls, place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet and chill for 20 minutes. Next, flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass to 1/4″ thick, so they look like peppermint patties. Now prepare the chocolate coating in a double boiler: 12 ounces of good-quality semisweet chocolate (you can use chocolate morsels, but the key is to get the best-tasting chocolate you can find, like Guittard or Valrhona) with 2 tablespoons shortening (not butter, or it won’t cling to the center). Dip the patties and place them back onto the waxed paper to harden. |
| If you want to go all-out, you can decorate the tops of the patties with candied mint leaves: Dip tiny leaves or cut pieces of leaf and crystallize in sugar syrup. The recipe makes about 5 dozen peppermint patties. Be sure to make extra for friends and family—these are so good, you’ll want to eat the whole batch. If you want to let others make the candy, take a look at the Candy Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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December 19, 2007 at 9:37 am
· Filed under Kosher Nibbles, Special Sweets, Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Gluten-Free, Gifts
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| Michael’s Cookies’ dough was awarded first place for best product in the “Outstanding Foodservice” category by the National Association for the Specialty Foods Trade (NASFT). But the cookies are available ready-baked for consumers, and are beautifully packaged for corporate gifts or for your favorite cookie lover. They’re also certified kosher. Of the 20 different flavors available, we tried five, plus the gluten-free chocolate chip cookie for people on restricted diets. These homestyle cookies taste like you just baked the yesterday (and in fact, Michael’s bakes to order). We enjoyed all of the flavors: Cappuccino Chocolate Chunk Cookies with a good hit of espresso, Maple Pecan (a terrific flavor that the marketplace should provide more of), Oatmeal Cinnamon, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and White Chocolate Cranberry. As much as we liked the regular cookies, we prefer the gluten-free cookies from Curious Cookie, a specialist in the area. Read the full review, and find more of our favorite cookies in the Cookies & Brownies section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. You can find more kosher products in our Kosher Nibbles section. |
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Maple Pecan Cookies: Attention must be paid!
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