Omnom, the delightful Icelandic chocolate line that was our recent Top Pick Of The Week, has a special holiday collection of three bars—dark, milk and white chocolate—that are a treat for the chocolate lover.

The Winter Collection draws inspiration from Icelandic festive traditions. Packaged in Omnom’s stunning artwork, as are all the bars, (we think the outer packaging is too nice to throw away), it’s a feast to look at as well as to eat.
 
 
CHOCOLATE BARS FOR THE HOLIDAYS & WINTER

The Winter Collection 2021

The Winter Collection includes three chocolate bars (photo #1):

 
Individual Bars

Of course, you can buy individual bars for stocking stuffers. It’s hard to choose, so here are our must-have favorites:

 
There are also three-bar collections of single origin chocolate:

 
 
GET YOUR OMNOM BARS & GIFTS

Head to OmnomChocolate.com.

Don’t worry: It’s already here in the U.S. headquarters. You don’t have to worry about shipping from Iceland.

Lay in a supply to warm you on cold winter nights.
 
 
MORE ABOUT CHOCOLATE
 
> CHOCOLATE TYPES & TERMS
 
> CHOCOLATE HISTORY

[2] Dark chocolate with cacao nibs and dried raspberry bits is a heavenly combination of flavors.

[3] The winter white chocolate bar has bits of crunchy caramel.

[1] Sfoglini artisan pasta makes beautiful shapes like these reginetti, ribbon-shape pasta, shown here with black truffles. It’s a gourmet’s fantasy realized (all photos © Sfoglini Pasta except as noted).

[2] The Pasta-Of-The-Month Club delivers two boxes of artisan pasta each month.

[3] The famous dish Cacio e Pepe, madw with trumpet pasta. Here’s the recipe.

[4] Flower shaped rye trumpets are made from stone ground organic whole rye flour, grown in New York’s Hudson Valley.

[5] These cuttlefish spaccatelli are made with black cuttlefish ink. Cuttlefish and squid are cousins. Here’s the difference. Spaccatelli, sometimes called strozzapreti (“priest’s collars”), resemble a rolled-up scroll.

[6] One of our favorite shapes, zucca, Italian for pumpkins, have eye appeal and are a shape to sink one’s teath into.

[7] Malloreddus, sometimes called gnocchetti sardi (small Sardinian gnocchi), are popular Sardinian pasta in the shape of thin ribbed shells. Malloreddus is derived from the Latin for “small morsel.”

For a pasta lover with a good palate, there’s no better gift than artisan pasta made with old-school Italian techniques: the best wheat, traditional bronze dies and plates, slow-drying at a low temperature to preserve both flavor and nutrients. (The original pasta noodles were hung over rods and lines to air dry.)

The result: great flavor and an appropriately rough texture that makes the sauce stick.

Sfoglini (sfo-LEE-nee) pastas are made with organic grains grown on North American farms and milled in the U.S.

It’s our Top Pick of The Week.

The dough is extruded through bronze dies, slow-dried, and packaged in New York’s Hudson Valley, an artisan food mecca.

The wheat and other grains are the best in North American. The grains are organic, and include conventional semolina plus einkorn, emmer, rye, spelt, and whole-grain flours.

In Italian, a sfoglina is someone who makes sfoglia, a family of Italian pastas.

A sfoglina (sfo-LEE-na) is historically seen as a middle-aged woman who kneads and spreads out the dough with a rolling pin on a pastry board.

At Sfoglini, there are two men who carry on the tradition: chef Steve Gonzalez and creative director Scott Ketchum.

Every sfoglina from the old country would be proud of their work.
 
 
ARTISAN PASTA VARIETIES

Oh, what a choice of shapes, flavors, and grains! Where to begin? We had to use the “eeny, meeny, miney, mo” technique.

While it may be relatively easy to eyeball this list, when you see all the boxes on the website, the going gets tough.

Semolina Shapes

 
Semolina Ribbon Pasta

 
Other Grains/Blends

 
 
GIFT SETS & PASTA-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB

There are a number of gift sets, including a Kids Pasta Craft Kit, Lobster Dinner Kit and Ultimate Mac & Cheese Kit.

There’s also a pasta-of-the-month club, for 3- or 6-month subscriptions.

Each month’s contents are a surprise, including one box of Sfoglini organic semolina pasta, one box of Sfoglini specialty pasta (think grains, flavors, and limited editions).

Recipe cards are included with each box, with inspiration for scrumptious dishes. You can add ingredients and choose sauces to customize each recipe.

In order to keep the boxes vegan, the Cuttlefish Spaccatelli, made with cuttlefish ink, won’t be included.

Thus, vegans, vegetarians, and those with seafood allergies can enjoy each box of pasta without worry.

(There are no gluten-free options.)

There are also quite a few recipes on the website.
 
 
BUY THEM AT SFOGLINI.COM & FINE RETAILERS NATIONWIDE.
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASTA
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PASTA
 
 
 
 
CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

With its fresh, lively flavor and light-to-medium body, rosé has historically been a warm-weather wine. But many Americans have taken to drinking it year-round, and Hampton Water, marketed by Jesse Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi’s son, and partner Ali Thomas, has become a popular brand.

 
Hampton Water is a French wine, grown and produced in the region of Languedoc, on the southeast coast of France.

But given an American name and cachet, sales have been great!
 
 
THE STORY

The story is that Jon Bon Jovi was in the Hamptons with his son and Mr. Thomas one evening, and offered them some rosé.

“You’re drinking ‘Hampton Water,’” Mr. Bongiovi told his father, referencing an ongoing joke that rosé is the water of the Hamptons.

Bon Jovi latched on to the name “Hampton Water,” and…fast forward…

Bongiovi and Thomas found a vintner and importer, designed the label, and put together the brand.

And why not? The volume of still rosé wines in the U.S. has increased by 118% from 2015 to 2020, while wine volume overall has grown only 1.5% during the same time period.

It’s a great time to make rosé!

In the south of France, dry rosé wine is the all-occasion wine—no surprise, since Provence, Languedoc’s neighbor, is the world base of dry rosé production. There, vin rosé is paired with all the foods, all year round.

In fact, dry French rosé outsells white wine in France!

Hampton Water is from a classic French blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Syrah grapes.

We found the style to be medium-bodied, with aromas of cherry and strawberry and touches of citrus and minerality.

Consider it as a gift for a rosé lover, a Hamptons lover, and of course, a Jon Bon Jovi lover. We’re certain that more than a few people hit the trifecta here.

Here’s a store locator.

Plan a celebration: National Rosé Day is the second Saturday in June.
 
 
> WHAT IS ROSÉ WINE & ROSÉ WINE TERMS

> ROSÉ FOOD PAIRINGS
 
 
ROSÉ RECIPES

 
 
________________

*In the second phase of voting, the 50 most voted wines in each category are judged in person by professionals.

[1] Rosé is now a year-round wine in the U.S. (both photos © Hampton Water | Facebook).

[2] Rosé on a cold day? Why not!

[3] Dive into a glass, anytime.

[4] Enjoy a casual sip at sunset…

[5] …Or fancy, with oysters.

December 4th is National Cookie Day, and it’s also the time when happy bakers are whipping up dozens of Christmas cookies. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite recipes, below. But first…
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Modern Christmas cookies can trace their history to recipes from medieval northern European biscuits (cookies), when many “modern” ingredients became available for the first time: almonds, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, ginger, mace, molasses, and nutmeg, along with dried fruits from southern climates, such as apricots, citron, and dates.

These ingredients were still costly, and only for Christmas would many families be able to afford to bake with them. This led to special Christmas cookies. Unlike pies or cakes, cookies had a long shelf life and could be easily given as gifts to friends and neighbors.

This led to the creation of spiced butter cookies as well as gingerbread, krumkake, lebkuchen, pepparkakor, pfeffernüsse, and springerle.

Decorating the cookies with icing began in the 1600s, when bakers used a mixture of sugar and egg whites to top the cookies. The cooled frosting looked like ice.

While gingerbread cookies existed, the first gingerbread men were created in the royal kitchens of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603), who had the cookie molded into the shapes of her favorite courtiers.

Christmas Cookies In The U.S.

The earliest examples of Christmas cookies in the U.S. were brought by German settlers in Pennsylvania (the “Pennsylvania Dutch” in the 1700s. But it wasn’t until the period between 1871 and 1906 that import laws made cookie cutters from Germany widely available, including those with holiday images that were designed to hang on Christmas trees [source].

While holiday cookies are often cut into the shape of angels, candy canes, Christmas trees, holly leaves, reindeer, stars, and other seasonal themes, some are conventional round cookies or bars in holiday flavors (eggnog, cardamom-spice, gingerbread, peppermint, etc.).
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF COOKIES

> THE 8 DIFFERRENT TYPES OF COOKIES
 
> A GLOSSARY OF COOKIES
 
 
CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES

Not all of these are shaped like stars or spiced like gingerbread, but they represent holiday traditions in the U.S. Check out:

 
 
Happy Baking!

[1] Christmas tree brownies. Here’s the recipe (photo © Orange Glad | Facebook).

[2] Stacked snowman cookie. Here’s the recipe (photo © Lila Loa).

[ ] Chocolate mint Christmas cookies. Here’s the recipe (photo © Wisconsin Dairy)

[ ] Peanut butter cup Christmas tree. Here’s the recipe (photo © Delish).

[ ] Iced peppermint butter cookies. Here’s the recipe (photo © Wisconsin Dairy).

[1] Creamy eggnog pie. The recipe is below (photo © Taste Of Home).

[2] Store-bought eggnog can be found in conventional versions as well as with plant milks (photo © Kemps).

[3] Hand whipped cream (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[4] You can substitute real rum for the rum extract (photos #4 and #6 © McCormick).

[5] Cornstarch is a powerful thickening agent that is colorless and virtually flavorless. In addition to thickening the filling, it can help keep the bottom crust from getting soggy. See more about cornstarch below (photo © Roots Circle | Verno Goods).

[6] Freshly-grated nutmeg is the way to go.

[7] We also grated some chocolate to garnish (photo © Microplane).

[8] Or, you can make a special holiday garnish of sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs (edible!). Here’s the recipe (photo © Eryn Whale).

[9] Eggnog French toast. Here’s the recipe (photo © Driscolls).

[10] Spiced eggnog cheesecake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Charlie Palmer Holidays).

[11] How about an eggnog Martini? Here’s the recipe (photo © Cedar Mill Liquor).

December 24th is National Eggnog Day, but we didn’t want to wait until then to share these eggnog recipes and many more below.

“Eggnog on a plate” is what Florence Shaw calls her creamy eggnog pie, the first recipe. It delivers the rich, wonderful flavor of a glass of eggnog.

And it’s so easy to make, especially if you purchase the eggnog and the pie crust. There is no alcohol in this recipe, just some rum extract (or real rum).

Spell it egg nog or eggnog, whether you’re drinking it or enjoying this eggnog pie, eggnog cheesecake, eggnog fudge, eggnog French toast, or any of these recipes, you’re in for a treat.

We’re bringing this eggnog pie to our neighbors’ New Years Eve fête. It’s easy to make and you don’t even need to decorate it (although we’re using easy decorations).

> The history of eggnog.

> The history of pie.

> More differences between pies and tarts.

> The different types of pie and pastry: a photo glossary.

> Specialty eggnog recipes.

> December 24th is National Eggnog Day.

> The history of eggnog.

> There are more eggnog drinks and desserts recipes below.
 
 
RECIPE: EGGNOG CREAM PIE

About the crust: You can also take the easy way out with a store-bought crust, and skip the first two steps. Store-bought eggnog is fine.

Because we personally prefer tart crusts to pie crusts, we substituted a tart crust recipe. See the differences between pie and tart crusts in the footnote* below.

Prep time is 30 minutes + chilling time. Baking is 10 minutes + cooling time.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation
 
1. MAKE the crust. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pie dough to a 1/8-inch-thick circle and transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate. Trim the crust to 1/2 inch beyond the rim of the plate. Using your fingers, flute the edge of the crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F; you will be using the lower rack.

2. BAKE the crust. Line the crust with a double thickness of aluminum foil. Fill the crust with pie weights (substitute dried beans or uncooked rice). Bake on the lower oven rack for 20 to 25 minutes until the edge is golden brown. Remove the foil and weights, and bake for three to six minutes longer until the bottom is golden brown. Cool the pie crust on a wire rack.

3. MAKE the filling. Add the water to a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let stand for several minutes (typically 5 to 10 minutes) to allow it to fully bloom (absorb the water and soften properly before you heat it up to dissolve it).

4. COMBINE the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan. Stir in the eggnog until smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cook and stir for two minutes or until thickened.

5. STIR in the gelatin mixture until dissolved. Remove the filling from the heat and cool to room temperature. While the filling cools, whip the cream†. Once the filling has cooled…

6. STIR in the extracts and fold in the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the cooled crust. Refrigerate the pie until firm, either covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container, until ready to serve (it will keep for up to 3 days‡).

7. DUST the pie with cinnamon or nutmeg before serving. We used nutmeg and added chocolate shavings plus raspberries, although we’d have loved the time to make a sugared cranberries and sugared rosemary sprigs garnish.

8. TO SLICE, dip the knife in hot/warm water and wipe it between slices for cleaner slices.
 
 
MORE DAYS TO CELEBRATE WITH THIS RECIPE

 
 
MORE EGGNOG RECIPES

 
 
EGGNOG-FLAVORED FOOD RECIPES

 
 
THE HISTORY OF CORNSTARCH

Cornstarch has been used for thousands of years, but it didn’t become a household staple until 1842, when Thomas Kingsford invented modern cornstarch in 1842 in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Cornstarch is made from the endosperm of corn—the part of the kernel that contains the most energy for the seedling. It’s the pure starch extracted from corn kernels, milled into fine white powder. Because it’s made from only the endosperm, cornstarch is gluten-free.

Kingsford used a process similar to wheat starch extraction to isolate cornstarch from corn kernels.

He originally intended cornstarch to be a laundry starch. Until the early 1850s, cornstarch was used primarily for starching laundry and for other industrial uses [source].

In 1854, John Polson of Brown & Polson, in Paisley, Scotland, patented a method to produce pure culinary starch from maize. It was sold as “Patented Corn Flour.”

In a parallel world, Brown & Polson were muslin manufacturers who had been producing laundry starch for the Paisley shawl industry. But cornstarch was found to have many applications, from food and beverages to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. It was also originally used as a food for babies and invalids.

In today’s kitchen, cornstarch is used as a thickening agent in sauces, gravies, soups, and puddings, custards, and pie fillings. Denser than flour, less cornstarch is needed to thicken a liquid (the starch molecules absorb water and thicken the mixture).

Affordable and versatile, cornstarch quickly became popular in the U.S.

Across the pond, in 1854, John Polson of Brown & Polson in Paisley, a Scottish maker of custard powder, patented a method for producing pure culinary cornstarch from maize (the difference between corn and maize).

Same product, different words: The U.S. says “cornstarch,” the U.K. says “cornflour.” It’s the same thing; both are compound nouns.
 
________________
 
*Pie vs. tart crust: A pie crust typically has a flakier, lighter texture and can include a top crust. Tarts only have a bottom crust, and the tart crust is crumbly instead of flaky.

Tart crusts have a pronounced buttery flavor due to the higher proportion of butter compared to pie crusts. Tart crusts also have higher proportion of sugar.

While tart dough uses only butter as its fat, pie crusts can be made with butter, lard, or oil. Lard produces the flakiest crust due to its higher melting point, but we personally prefer the rich flavor of butter.

**Real rum vs. rum extract substitution: Use 3 tablespoons of rum to replace 1 teaspoon of rum extract. Per McCormick, 2 teaspoons of rum extract equals 1 tablespoon of dark rum, or 1 tablespoon of rum extract equals 5 tablespoons of light rum.

†Hand-whipping takes 3–4 minutes to reach soft peaks, when the cream starts to thicken. Continue to whip until the cream is more solid—no more than 9 minutes total whipping time. If you over-whip, the cream will become grainy and begin to turn to butter (no kidding).

‡To make ahead and freeze: Once the pie is chilled until firm, cover it with storage wrap and aluminum foil or place it in a freezer-safe airtight container Freeze for up to two months. Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight, then garnish and serve.
 
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.