FESTIVE SEASON 2013-2014: Edible Holiday gifts for friends and family!

The little gifts made at home by ourselves always enclose the care and the meaning of offering something special to those we love! The difficult times most people have to deal with the last few years make us to be especially careful with our finances... but having to cut off expenses is not always so bad after all since now more than ever we have the opportunity to discover hidden talents which we had not realised that we possessed... So lets start this year's festive season with a few ideas of how we could create tasty, edible little gifts for those we love. I'm sure that most will appreciate the effort and the time we spend on this and they will enjoy these delicacies made at home. Three simple but very tasty recipes, two sweet and one savoury, which you have plenty of time to prepare

From Fofo Dimareli,

"BHMAgourmet" magazine of "TO BHMA" newspaper (2011)

Vanilla and peanut butter treats

Ingredients (for 40 pieces):

125 gr. of butter, melted

500 gr. of brown sugar

120 ml of milk

250 gr. of crunchy peanut butter

1 vanilla pod, the seeds only
300 gr. of icing sugar

Method:
Mix in a pot the brown sugar with the milk to blend. Put on medium heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sugar is dissolved.  

Put the peanut butter and the vanilla seeds in a bowl and stir. Add the melted butter and milk mixture. Stir the ingredients with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth and homogeneous mixture.

Empty the mixture in a square shallow dish of 20 X 20 cm and allow it to cool down for a bit.

Then transfer the dish in the fridge and leave for at least 2 hours to firm up.

Using a sharp knife, cut the sweet in small square pieces and store in a glass air-tight container.

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Orange and ginger biscuits

Ingredients (for 14 pieces):
175 gr. of all-purpose flour

1 tsp of ground ginger

1 orange, the zest (unwaxed)

100 gr. of butter, cut in small cubes

½ tsp of salt

50 gr. of granulated sugar

1 tbsp of milk
12 fruit-flavoured caramels, pounded in a mortar

icing sugar to dust

about 120 cm of fine colourful ribbon for the decoration

sunflower oil for brushing

Method:
In the bowl of a standing mixer beat the flour, the ginger, the orange zest, the butter, the salt and the sugar and gradually add the milk until the ingredients are blended into a homogeneous mixture.

Dust with some flour a clean surface, transfer the mixture there and knead with your hands until you have a smooth and homogeneous dough. Wrap the dough with some cling film and leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush with some oil 2 large shallow baking tins and lightly dust with some flour.

Stretch the dough out with your hands (or a rolling pin) into a thin sheet and using various shapes of cutters, cut pieces of the dough. Using a smaller dough cutter press and cut out the centre of each biscuit and with the point of a knife make a small hole on the top of it.

Gently shake the tins to discard the excess flour and carefully place the biscuits on.

Sprinkle at the opening of each biscuit with some caramel pieces and put in the oven. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the biscuits are golden and the caramels are melted.

Take out of the oven and spread the biscuits on metal racks to cool down. Dust on top with the icing sugar, pass the ribbon through the small hole and the edible Christmas decorations are ready!   

Notes:

These biscuits they can be stored up to 1 month although it is preferable to be consumed in three days. On the other hand, because that's the case with this idea, they will become a great idea as a decoration on your Christmas tree.

If there is no pestle and mortar you can break the caramels easily if you place them in a plastic bag and pound them with a rolling pin.

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Easy and fast garlicky black olives and capers pâté

Ingredients (for 1 small vase):

100 gr. of black olives, pitted

2 tbsp of capers, well rinsed and drained

1 clove of garlic, minced

85 ml of extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Method:

Put in a blender the olives, the capers and the garlic and whiz until the ingredients are completely mashed and blended.

Slowly add in the blender the oil and continue whizzing until you have a smooth mixture. Check the seasoning and transfer the mixture into a sterilised vase with a lid. Store the condiment in the fridge.