Awesome Foodie Gifts for Christmas

Walking into a shopping mall during December can be quite hectic. But don’t worry! You don’t have to leave your house to make people happy this Christmas. Instead of dealing with the crowds, why not try making these simple and tasty gifts for your foodie friends? With just a few ingredients, you can whip up batches of shortbread, easy salted caramel, and lemon cordial. Package them in pretty jars with ribbons, and voila! Your Christmas shopping is complete.

An Easy Recipe for Salted Caramel

This is a recipe from my favorite cookbook, “Bitten,” by Sarah Graham. You should definitely check out her amazing food blog. Salted Caramel is so good that you can eat it straight from the jar without anything else. But it also takes ice cream and tiny tartlets to a whole new level of deliciousness. Anyone would be thrilled to receive a jar of this!

Here’s what you’ll need:

– 300g light brown or caster sugar

– 50g butter

– 200ml cream

– 1-2 tsp sea-salt flakes (fleur de sel), to taste

Now let’s get cooking!

First, I’ll melt the sugar and butter together in a saucepan. I’ll keep stirring it gently until everything is smooth. Then, I’ll add the cream and salt to the mixture. I’ll give it a good mix and let it simmer for a few minutes. As the sauce simmers, it will darken in color and become thicker. Once it’s reached a silky smooth consistency, I’ll take it off the heat and let it cool down.

Hey there! I’ve got some great tips for you. Just pay attention to these notes:

Note 1: When you add the cream, be careful! It’ll make the mixture bubble up like crazy!

Note 2: If you want a thinner, more luxurious pouring sauce, just add extra cream. It’ll do the trick!

Note 3: Sometimes, the sauce might start to crystallize a bit as it sets. Don’t worry! This could mean you cooked it too quickly or slowly. It’s hard to tell without a sugar thermometer, though. But here’s the fix: just reheat the sauce for a couple of minutes before serving, and those crystals will melt away, leaving you with a silky smooth sauce again.

Shortbread

Hey there! Let me share the secret of making the most delightful shortbread, a recipe that has been passed down from a pioneering Scottish grandmother. When she first tasted shortbread, she exclaimed, “Sisters! Come, I am tasting the crunchiest stars.” How amazing is that? Now, let me delve into the specifics of this perfect shortbread recipe.

To achieve the heavenly taste of shortbread, all you need to remember is the golden rule: the ratio of 3 parts flour, 2 parts butter, and 1 part sugar. Stick to this rule, and you can’t go wrong. If you want to dive deep into the world of shortbread and explore different recipes, I highly recommend checking out this comprehensive recipe testing.

Now, let’s get to the point – the ingredients you’ll need for this fabulous shortbread:

Ingredients

– 220 gm salted butter

– 100 gm sugar

– 300 gm flour

Method

First things first, let’s preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Now, it’s time to beat the butter and sugar together. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Scottish grandmother’s hands to do this by hand – a blender works just fine.

Next, let’s sieve the flour and mix it in with the butter and sugar. Stir it gently until the dough comes together. Once it does, cover the bowl with cling-film and pop it in the fridge. It can stay in there for anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour.

When the dough is chilled, take it out of the fridge and gently pat it into a thickness of about 1cm. Now you can cut it into whatever shapes you like – be creative!

Time to bake those yummy cookies! Place them in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for around 20 minutes. The exact time will depend on the size of your shapes. If you prefer a lighter color, take them out before they brown too much. But if you’re more into a caramel touch, leave them in until the edges are slightly tinged with caramel.

Let’s Make Some Lemonade Cordial!

The idea behind instant lemonade is really clever. Imagine receiving a beautiful glass bottle filled with homemade lemon cordial as a gift. With this amazing present, you can easily make yourself a refreshing lemonade whenever you want. Just add some soda water to the cordial, and voila! Instantly enjoy a cool and tangy beverage that will quench your thirst.