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Posts with tag holiday gifts

Make filled chocolates at home

rows of homemade chocolates
For all the cooking and baking I've done in my life, one area of food preparation that I've stayed fairly far away from is the realm of candy making. I already eat enough candy without adding to the load by making my own. However, I am always impressed by the people who take it upon themselves to make gorgeous hard candies, fudges and chocolates.

I ran across this very awe-inspiring post over on Caramel Cooks a couple of days ago, all about his adventure making filled chocolates for the holidays. I am dumbstruck by the amount of work that went into those chocolates, as well as totally envious that I didn't get a chance to taste them, as they look fantastic. If you want to whet your appetite for making filled chocolates at home, definitely take a look at this post. If that's a project you'd prefer to stay far away from, still take a look, because it is impressive.

Homemade dulce de leche

spoonful of dulce de leche
I am constantly in awe of my friend Jennie's (she of Straight from the Farm fame) level of food creativity. She is constantly coming up with delicious new recipes, doing things like making cheese (people keep telling me that cheesemaking is easy, but I've yet to give a whirl) and making cranberries dance and sing (well, not literally). But I do believe that she has outdone herself this time with these jars of homemade dulce de leche. It actually appears to be pretty easy to make and if you're looking for a last-minute homemade holiday gift, this might be your answer.

Make no bones about these shakers

Dem bones. Dem bones. Hand bone connected to the arm bone. Arm bone connected to the salt!? Well, in this case, yes.

Don't worry dese bones are not hollowed bones that have been harvested from the morgue and fitted with corks. They're porcelain shakers created by Chris Stiles, a Los Angeles artist who calls the set Dry Bones, after the famous spiritual.

At $24 a set, they are a tad pricy, but not nearly as much as Vera Wang's sleek pair, which sells for over $50. They're perfect for the Deadhead chef on your holiday shopping list. Or perhaps, the dog lover, then again maybe not. Fido might run off with one and try to bury it. Of course, if he's one of those dogs who like people food, you just might find him sitting down to a feast and using the salt and pepper to fine-tune the flavor of his table scraps. [Thanks to Spluch for the tip and photo]

Gifts by the Personal Shopper for the Chef at Heart

chocolate as giftI am assuming that if you're reading this, then you have very wisely chosen to stay in today and either 1) keep digesting all the food you ate last night (I am, too!), or 2) start your holiday shopping from the comfort of your own home. That is, of course, unless you are surfing the Internet from your Sidekick 3, in which case, good for you for reading Slashfood everywhere!

In order to help you with your shopping, I am poking around the web for great places to find gifts for your food-ish friends, family, and of course, for yourself. Personal Shopper is a website that has put together quite a comprehensive list of gift guides . Rather than simply listing gifts "For Him," "For Her," and "For Kids," they have narrowed the lists down by fairly specific "types." Personal Shopper is not a store; rather it points you to online stores where you can find their gift selections. For us here at Slashfood, we like gifts for The Chef at Heart.

Holiday Gift Guide for your favorite foodie - books

Today is Black Friday. It's the biggest shopping day of the year, and if you're smart, you'll stay home to avoid the traffic, the crowds, and the high levels of effort for marginal gains on your shopping list. Perhaps the best thing to do is to stay home, turn on the tv, and get your shopping done online.

Perhaps one of the easiest gifts to give is a book, and for your favorite food-obsessed friend or family member, a book about food, rather than a cookbook, is a welcome change. Sean Timberlake (of Hedonia, and whom we love here at Slashfood) has put together a short list of books that would be a fabulous place to star for your holiday shopping. Most of them we've seen before here, but it's nice to have them all in one neat little list.

Tip of the Day

Expand your grill repertoire by incorporating grilled items into tasty summer soups.

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