The winner will enjoy three special
cheeses each month. Photo
courtesy EatWisconsinCheese.com.

Mandi Foods is providing the lucky winner with a three-month subscription to its Cheese Of The Month Club. The club is one of the best cheese club values on the Web and a terrific holiday gift for the cheese lovers on your list.

Each month, Mandi Foods’ cheese buyers will select three special cheeses for club members. You’ll have the opportunity to enjoy some of the world’s great cheeses—as well as realize what an enjoyable gift the Cheese Of The Month Club is.

Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $75.00.

• To learn more about Mandi Foods’ Cheese Of The Month Club, visit MandiFoods.com.
• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Cheese Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, December 20th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!

Delicious, buttery shortbread is packaged into a tin representing the recipient’s favorite team, or in this National Baseball Hall Of Fame commemorative baseball tin, for as little as $14.95.

Many gift variations, including gift towers, are available. If you’re a shortbread lover, you’ll want to get some for yourself (a cellophane Bag O’ Bunts with a team sticker is just $5.99).

• Purchase from CooperstownCookie.com.
• Find more of our favorite cookie and brownie gifts.

A commemorative tin full of baseball-
shaped shortbread. Photo courtesy
Cooperstown Cookie Company.

[1] The harbinger of Yuletide (photo © Candy Warehouse).

[2] Multicolor candy canes from Hammond’s Candies, producer of “gourmet” candy canes (photo © Hammond’s Candies).

We also like to use them as dinner table decor: Fold a candy cane into each napkin, or tie it with a ribbon as a place setting.

Here are other ways to use them.

This is also a good list for what to do when you’ve purchased too many candy canes, or what happens to them after the holidays.

These “leftover” candy canes add bright peppermint flavor to beverages and desserts, throughout the gray winter days.

– Grind three candy canes or eight 1-inch peppermint candies to a fine powder in a food processor or spice mill.
– Set aside 3 to 4 tablespoons of the powder, depending on how strong a flavor you like, and reserve the rest in a small container for future use.
– Beat two cups of cold heavy cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form; fold in the peppermint powder.
 
How do you use candy canes? Please share!

Candy canes were created in 1670 in Germany, by the choirmaster of the Cologne Cathedral. He created sugar sticks for the young singers in the choir, to keep them quiet during the long Living Crèche ceremony. He bent the sugar-sticks to represent a shepherd’s staff.

At this point, candy canes were all-white and had no flavoring. They remained this way for more than 330 years. White candy canes can still be seen on Christmas cards dating to 1900.

Shortly after then, the first red-and-white striped candy canes appeared. The name of the innovator is lost to history. At about the same time, confectioners added peppermint and wintergreen flavors to create the “modern” candy cane.

December 26th is National Candy Cane Day.

This easy-to-make chocolate pecan pie fits the bill. Using only a few simple ingredients and a pre-made crust, the prep time is only ten minutes. (You can substitute your favorite crust recipe if you prefer to make the crust from scratch.)

The recipe suggests serving the pie with a garnish of whipped cream and chocolate-dipped pecans, but we prefer ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Make your chocolate pecan pie as good as it can be by using high-quality chocolate chips. Our favorites are the baking chips from Guittard, one of the world’s great chocolate producers (and made in the U.S.A., in San Francisco). We order them by the case and give them as gifts to friends who bake. At supermarkets, we pick up Ghirardelli.

Don’t be put off by terms like “Extra Dark” and “Bittersweet” on the Guittard and Ghirardelli packages. Both of these products, at 63% and 60% cacao, respectively, are just perfect for chocolate chip cookies and chocolate pecan pies.

This tip is from Sable & Rosenfeld, who gave us the roast turkey recipe below. You can purchase their Port Cranberry Sauce online.

You can use your favorite cranberry sauce recipe, or this classic cranberry-orange relish that can be made several days in advance. Another tip: Cranberry sauce can be frozen and defrosted to enjoy with any meat or poultry dish.

CRANBERRY SAUCE WITH PORT RECIPE

Ingredients

• 1 package (12-ounces) fresh cranberries
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 large oranges, washed but unpeeled
• 1-1/4 cups sugar

Cranberry-orange relish, finely pulsed.
Photo by S.F. Foodphoto | IST.

Serves 10.