A great gift for those who love both tea and wine. Photo courtesy Vintage Teaworks.

There’s a way to do just about anything, including making wine from tea (by fermenting brewed tea).

The folks at Vintage TeaWorks take another approach to tea and wine, creating tea blends flavored with natural ingredients that evoke different varietals of wine.

The results don’t taste like wine, but have aromas and palate nuances that are reminiscent of four different varietals:

The blends are also attractive, with flowers and armomatics mixed in. A giftable tube of 3.5 ounces of tea is $16.99.

Purchase them online at VintageTeaworks.com.
 
Discover the world of fine tea in our Gourmet Tea Section.

What we want for Christmas: Yummy Cupcake’s Cupcake Of The Month Club. Photo by GG Merkel | THE NIBBLE.

At the top of our favorite cupcakes list are Yummy Cupcakes, a Los Angeles bakery that we‘re lucky hasn’t opened up down the block from us. Otherwise, we’d be creating a new 12-step program: Cupcake Addicts Anonymous.

If you can’t pop in to the L.A. stores, they’ll mail Cupcakes in a Jar—a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week—that are even better than cupcakes in a paper wrapper.

Cupcakes in a Jar are hand-crafted cupcakes in a glass Mason jar, sliced and layered with fresh fillings, whipped frostings, ganache and a selection of scrumptious toppings.

The reusable jars keep the moisture in, and the jar cupcakes, which have much more frosting than convention cupcakes, stay fresh for a week. You can have just a nibble a day, or more.

YUMMY CUPCAKES’ “JAR OF THE MONTH” CLUB

Six- or 12-month memberships are available for $21 to $24 monthly, plus shipping. The lucky giftee will receive a four-flavor assortment, a rotating mix of classic and seasonal specialty flavors.

Order yours at YummyCupcakes.com.

Chocolate and red wine pair well together. So the inspired producers of ChocolatRouge wines have created a line of dessert wines that blends rich chocolate flavors into quality red wine. Instead of the traditional dessert wine technique, which uses late harvest, sugar-laden grapes, ChocolatRouge infuses chocolate flavors into dry red wine.

We tried two of the three bottlings. We enjoyed both; one in particular has made it onto our personal holiday gift list.

Dark Red Blend: We’ll use the vintner’s description, “reminiscent of chocolate-dipped red berries with a soft velvety finish.” The chocolate notes are subtle; if you didn’t know the chocolate was there, you might think it was a conventional red dessert wine.

While Dark Red Blend is charming, our favorite is Milk Chocolate Flavors: We ordered a case for holiday gifting

Milk Chocolate Flavors: Looking like chocolate milk in a wine bottle, this treat is a chocolatey, creamy and rich. It reminds us of a chocolate shake blended with some red dessert wine…

Dessert wines made with chocolate. Photo courtesy ChocolatRouge.com.

…so much so, that the next time we open a bottle of red dessert wine, we’re going to blend in some chocolate milk to see if we can achieve something similar. Unfortunately, the contents of Dark Red Blend were consumed by THE NIBBLE team before we had a chance to make and add chocolate milk.

While Milk Chocolate Flavors is also a dessert wine, it’s an anytime chocolate treat.

We didn’t have the third variety, Sweet Red Blend; but based on our satisfaction with its two siblings. we’ll certainly pick up a bottle when we come across it.

The ChocolateRouge website has recipes for lovely winetails (wine-based cocktails): Café, Cherry Cordial, Julep, Milky Way, Orangette, Red Velvet, Spiced and Winter Sangria. But we enjoyed drinking both bottles chilled, straight up.

There’s a store locator on the website.

You can also order it on Amazon.com for $12.99/bottle.

With a gold felt-tipped pen, you can turn a Champagne or wine bottle into a memento of friendship and good times.

It’s the concept of a guest book ported to a bottle. With the gold ink, date an unopened bottle of Champagne and record the occasion (e.g., Christmas Party, 12.9.12).

Next, have party guests or the members of your family gathering sign the bottle of Champagne. Then:

 
We use the gold (and silver) metallic ink marker pens from Sakura, available in stationery stores or online.

Autograph a Champagne bottle as a memento. Photo courtesy Moet et Chandon.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE AUTOGRAPHED BOTTLE

What to do with the bottle after you’ve drunk the Champagne? We scoured the Internet for ideas:

 
Or, simply recycle the bottle and enjoy the memories.

WRITE YOUR MESSAGE ON GIFT BOTTLES

Use the gold pen to write any message on a bottle, from Congratulations! to Happy Birthday to Wishing You Health And Good Cheer in 2013.

The latest innovative way to enjoy caviar: Caviar Cream. Photo courtesy Petrossian.

The Petrossian brothers introduced caviar to Paris and went on to become the premier buyer and importer of Russian caviar worldwide. You’d think that just providing the world’s finest caviar would have been enough. But the company has outdone itself in innovation. (What’s caviar innovation Read on!)

Born on the Iranian side of the Caspian Sea (home to the beluga, sevruga and osetra sturgeon) and raised on the Russian side, Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian emigrated to France to continue their studies of medicine and law, which had been interrupted by the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

The brothers missed caviar: The French had yet to discover the rare delicacy. So the Petrossians set out to remedy the situation.

Unable to gain entrance to French medical and law schools, they became caviar merchants. Had they become a doctor and a lawyer, their names would probably have been lost to history. Instead, they became known worldwide for setting the standard in fine caviar and creating a dynasty of purveyors of the finest delicacies.

They pestered the Soviet embassy to sell them caviar and, eventually, the diplomats arranged for a shipment to Paris.

Initially, the French were uninterested in the salty, fishy eggs. The first customers to patronize their shop and restaurant were White Russian émigrés. Finally, Cesar Ritz, the great hotelier, placed an order and caviar became the rage. The rest is history—exquisitely delicious, if pricey, history.

The current generation of Petrossians does not rest on the family laurels. Their creative product development has been remarkable. Three of our favorite food products of last year—and forever—were the Petrossian’s newly-launched Caviar Powder, Caviar Cubes (see photo below) and Papier Russe (Russian Paper—think nori, the sushi wrapper, made of caviar instead of seaweed).

Many thanks to Alexandre Petrossian (grandson of Mouchegh and son of Armen), director of the New York shop and restaurant, for introducing us to these marvels of quality and creativity.

INTRODUCING CAVIAR CREAM

Sturgeon caviar is one of the most expensive foods on earth. But create Caviar Cream by mixing it with some heavy cream (plus a pinch of salt and some stabilizer), and it brings the cost down—as well as creates a simply delicious spread for hors d’oeuvre: blini, brioche, toast points and potato slices, for example, or stuffed into miniature tomatoes and potatoes. Had we won the recent half-billion-dollar lottery, we’d be ordering it by the case as a dip.

Definitely at the top of the “good things come in small packages” category, Caviar Cream will be a long-remembered gift for the caviar lover. Buy it at Petrosian.com. A two-ounce jar is $42.00; but the memories are worth far more.

For a bit of romance, all you need are a bottle of Champagne, a jar of Caviar Cream and some toasted brioche.

CAVIAR POWDER

We’re on our second refill of Petrossian Caviar Powder, a unique way to enjoy caviar. We gave it our Food Innovation Award of 2011.

http://www.thenibble.com/zine//food-awards-2011.asp#belowFine caviar is dried via a proprietary technique that intensifies its flavor. It comes in a grinder that enables you to grind the pearls over your food (eggs, buttered toast, grilled fish or seafood, potatoes and pasta for starters) or sprinkle full pearls of the caviar on the food.

A 30 gram mill of Caviar Powder is $88.00; refills are $74.00, at Petrossian.com.

The greatest garnish for a Martini: Caviar Cubes. Photo courtesy Petrossian.

CAVIAR CUBES: THE PERFECT MARTINI GARNIS

Another beloved caviar innovation: Petrossian Caviar Cubes. Wow your guests with these cubes of pressed caviar, the size of a cocktail garnish.

On a martini, atop canapés and other hors d’œuvre, these cubes of caviar create luscious memories.

To paraphrase Loreli Lee, upon seeing her first diamond tiara in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, “I just LOVE finding new ways to eat caviar.”*

Get them at Petrossian.com: 20 grams, 16 to 20 cubes, $45.00.

Learn all about caviar in our Caviar Glossary.

*The original quote: “I just LOVE finding new places to wear diamonds.”

This box will turn you into a goat cheese maker. Photo courtesy Belle Chevre.

Ever wanted to make your own cheese? Are you a lover of goat’s milk cheese—or do you know one?

Then here’s the perfect item: Belle Chevre’s Do It Yourself Goat Cheese Kit. It’s so easy (and fun) to make goat cheese at home.

Belle Chevre is one of our favorite makers of goat cheese: a Top Pick Of The Week twice for their wonderful flavored goat cheese spreads and heavenly goat cheese cheesecake.

The award-winning cheesemakers have put together a cheesemaking kit with everything you need to make goat cheese in your kitchen in just a few hours, and with only about 10 minutes of active kitchen time.

The gift-ready box and storage container includes:

 
You need only supply the goat milk, available in most supermarkets and all natural food stores.

The same day your kit arrives, you can be rolling your own chevre logs or mixing a bowl of fromage blanc, a fresh cream cheese that’s much lower in fat and calories (and one of our favorite foods).

You just might become obsessed with making goat cheese. That’s good news: In addition to solving your gift needs (“Yes, I made it myself”), goat cheese is delicious in/on everything from:

 
And of course, there are hundreds and hundreds of recipes, from appetizers to desserts, like goat cheese cheesecake and ice cream.
 
Get your goat cheese kit from BelleChevre.com.

The kit is $27.95, but after you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to buy the ingredients for very little and make goat cheese for less than it costs to buy it.

What’s inside the box. Pick up goat’s milk at the supermarket. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Some people think of Kahlúa as one single type of coffee liqueur, to be used in Black Russians, White Russians, Espresso Martinis and Mudslides.

The brand is actually a delicious family of coffee liqueurs, including Kahlúa Especial, Kahlúa French Vanilla, Kahlúa Mocha and Kahlúa Hazelnut, among other flavors.

There have been limited holiday additions such as Gingerbread Kahlúa and Peppermint Mocha Kahlúa. Last year we loved the debut of Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice, and gave it as holiday gifts.

This year, Kahlúa Midnight is on our gifts-to-give-to-coffee-lovers list.

A combination of 70 proof rum and black coffee, Kahlúa Midnight was designed to be served as a chilled shot. But Kahlúa and other liqueurs are much more than a liqueur or cocktail ingredient. We’re been enjoying Kahlúa Midnight:

New Kahlúa Midnight was designed for shots…but you can also shoot it into a cup of coffee or on top of ice cream. Photo courtesy Kahlúa.

 
Last night we finished dinner with the ice cream approach: Kahlúa Midnight over a melange of vanilla, chocolate and coffee ice cream.

How’s that for a very special—and very easy—dessert!

Kahlúa Midnight is available at retailers nationwide.

Find more of our favorite liqueurs in our Cocktails & Spirits Section.

This delicious cheesecake is part goat
cheese, part cream cheese. Photo by Elvira
Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

When you review food for a living, you never have to worry about scrambling for gift ideas: The products present themselves all year long.

So we’re coasting into the holiday season, giving luscious goat cheese cheesecakes to our favorite cheesecake lovers.

Cheesecake is one of those foods that either excites people or doesn’t interest them in the least. We’re part of the excited group, and are especially excited to have discovered Belle Chevre Goat Cheese Cheesecake.

A mixture of goat cheese and cream cheese, there’s nothing “goaty” about it: just smooth, creamy cheesecake splendor.

A six-inch diameter cake is $29.95.

Cheesecake trivia: Cheesecake isn’t cake: It’s a cheese-flavored custard-like pie.

Read the full review.

Find more of our favorite cheesecakes and cheesecake recipes in our Gourmet Cakes Section.

So many holiday gifts are well-intentioned, but end up being things people don’t really need and don’t have space to store or display.

One of our favorite gifts that’s always well-received is gourmet pasta sauce, with or without a package of gourmet pasta.

Marinelli’s pasta sauce is a double winner: delicious and beautifully packaged. The new boxes (and jar labels) are such fun works of art, we’re not even wrapping them. (Those who sell packaged products take note: Look at the old, boring labels (just another jar of sauce) and the exciting new design (beautiful and giftable).

Marinelli sauces are also certified gluten free, certified non-GMO, OU-kosher, sugar/sweetener-free and vegan.

Handmade in small batches from the very best all natural ingredients, the pasta sauces are healthful and low in calories—and are not just for pasta. On carb-sparing days, we ladle it over spaghetti squash or steamed zucchini.

Marinelli’s gourmet pasta sauce has both great taste and great packaging. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

The sumptuous sauces are made in nine flavors: Hot & Spicy Sicilian, Meat Ready Bolognese (add your own meat), Mushroom & Onion, Oven Roasted Garlic, Roasted Red Pepper, Spicy Black Olive & Garlic, Sweet Sundried Tomato & Oregano, Tomato & Basil and Vegetable Primavera.

The sauces are available on Amazon.com in six-packs, about $12.65/jar.

Learn more at MarinelliSauce.com.

Find more of our favorite pastas, sauces and recipes.

Inspire someone to cook with these fun knife
designs. Photo courtesy Kuhn Rikon.

Over the past few years, Swiss kitchenware manufacture Kuhn Rikon has produced some stylin’ knives. Blades are coated with everything from polka dots to pineapples; or have cut outs ranging from baguettes (for the baguette knife) to watermelon seeds (for the watermelon slicer).

To encourage teens and other untamed potential chefs to roam free in the kitchen, how about a gift of a Kuhn Rikon Safari Colori Knife Set? There’s a 6-1/2-inch chef’s knife and a 3-inch nakiri knife that slices, dices and juliennes.

The nonstick coating not only bears the design; it ensures that food doesn’t stick to the blades. Each knife has a matching protective sheath. Sets range from $25.00 to $37.00; some are available with a paring knife as well. Designs include:

KNIFE TRIVIA

The chef’s knife, also known as a French knife or a cook’s knife, was originally designed to slice and disjoint large cuts of beef. Today it is the primary all-purpose knife in most Western kitchens.

Japanese nakiri knives are the opposite: thin bladed and not suitable for chopping through bones or other solid items like frozen foods. However, like a Chinese cleaver in mineature, they require very little effort to wield.