TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES

Sometimes it feels as though I have spent a lifetime plodding through malls and department stores, searching for, but never finding, the perfect holiday gift. Sick of the seasonal slog, I opted last year to skip the shopping trips and give edible items instead.

Rather than an already-read book or soon-to-be-returned sweater, my family and friends received wicker baskets filled with tea, coffee, cookies, candies and sweet breads or bottles of local wine or infused oils and tins of biscuits, crackers and spiced nuts. Seeing their happy faces, I realized how the simplest presents can be the most gratifying. Whether homemade or store-bought, gourmet edibles satisfy this harried shopper's needs.

Giving food is not a novel idea. During the Viking Age, the Norse god Odin traveled across the cold winter landscape with his reindeer to deliver fruit and corn. Centuries later, Saint Nicholas took over Odin's route and filled European children's shoes with sweets. In Colonial times, old Saint Nick brought American youth cakes and fruits while they in turn left out hay and carrots for his faithful white horse.

As a little girl, I often heard tales of how my uncle and mother would bound down the stairs on Christmas morning to find their stockings bulging with oranges, whole walnuts and penny candy. The oranges were a particular thrill as many children of the 1940's encountered fresh citrus only at Christmas.

My generation has not overlooked the pleasure of bestowing these kinds of goodies. Fruit and gourmet food retailer Harry and David (www.harryanddavid.com) boasted sales of $389 million during the 2006 holiday season, an increase of 7.4 percent over the same 13 weeks in 2005. I can attest to the chain's popularity and success. Boxes of their signature pears, chocolate truffles and "Moose Munch" invariably appear on our doorstep throughout December.

Likewise, AnnMarie French, owner of Custom Cookies and Sweet Baskets Designed by You (www.frenchsdesigngroup.com) in Bucks County, Pa., notes a boom in holiday business. During this period, orders for her baked goods, including their chocolate-covered strawberry, cookie and brownie laden "tower of goodies," triple.

"We all know that the way to a person's heart is through his stomach so we buy something that is truly a treat for just them," she says.

By giving food, French points out, we bypass concerns about the recipient returning or exchanging the gift. "No need for a receipt because I guarantee it will be gone before the next business day," she says.

While professionally made and packaged foods are a delight, I find the items created in my friends' kitchens to be extra-special delicacies. Knowing they painstakingly crafted that bag of peanut brittle or individual chicken pot pie makes the offering all the more thoughtful and nurturing. I am not alone in this thinking. Across the country, people are furiously baking and cooking.

Inspired by the wife of his family's Italian landlord, Cody Wilmer has given tins of pizzelles, the Italian waffle cookie, as Christmas gifts since junior high school. More fun than shopping for presents, making pizzelles quickly became a family tradition, he says. "We would hear from aunts and uncles who looked forward to them every year, and it felt like it brought the family a little closer together," the owner of Apple Frankie's Funnel Cakes in Fredricksburg, Va., says.

Julie Hunt (no relation to the author) of Leola, Pa. also cites custom as one of her reasons for laboring each December over homemade Russian tea cakes, Swiss spitzbuben and Swedish gingerbread cookies. "When you think about it, people have always helped each other out by sharing the food they had. Our tradition stems from this showing of good will and appreciation to friends, neighbors and professionals through food," she says.

For Elizabeth Theisen, cooking dinners for her brother Chuck represents not only family convention but the perfect bequest for the man who has everything but free time. "Because he goes to school and works, he doesn't have time to cook. If I prepare and freeze or vacuum-pack ravioli, lasagna, meatballs, pot pies and tuna casseroles, he's set for dinner," the Crofton, Md., card designer says.

In an increasingly commercialized and homogenized season, I appreciate how individualized these presents can be. Whether cookies and candies for a friend who loves sweets or dinners for a guy on the go, they suit the person's unique tastes and desires.

When making last year's baskets, I strove to keep the ingredients personal as well as home or locally produced. For those craving saltier foods, I included such tasty treasures as nuts toasted and spiced with dark brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Wine lovers got bottles of a local vineyard's dessert wine or my husband's home-brewed cabernet sauvignon. Candy consumers received my late maternal family's customary Christmas sweets: hand-rolled chocolate truffles, which are a traditional holiday confection in France, and walnut-topped divinity.

The most popular and effortless item had to be rosemary-infused olive oil. For this I inserted three sprigs of homegrown, freshly washed and dried rosemary into a clean, glass bottle. Using a funnel, I poured in olive oil until the sprigs were submerged. I then capped off the top and allowed the flavors to meld for three weeks. Talk about uncomplicated gift giving.

With a little thought and work in the kitchen, my fretting over the elusive perfect present has ended. Gourmet edible treats - these are the gifts that please everyone on my Christmas list.


THE UNION SQUARE CAFE'S BAR NUTS
Taken from Nigella Lawson's 2001 "Nigella Bites" (Hyperion, $35), these nuts are delicious and fool-proof presents. Prepare a day or two in advance, then place the nuts in a festive tin or pretty serving bowl and you'll have two gifts in one.

2-1/4 cups assorted unsalted nuts such as peeled peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and pecans
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons muscovado or dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and place in the oven until they become light, golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Combine the rosemary, pepper, sugar, salt and butter in a large bowl.

Pour the toasted nuts into the bowl with the topping. Toss together until well-coated. Cool then place in a decorative bag, box, tin or bowl.


DIVINITY CANDY
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Special equipment - candy thermometer

Grease an 8 x 8-inch pan then set aside.

Place the sugars, water and salt in a large, non-stick saucepan and cook on medium-high, stirring periodically, until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until the syrup reaches 265 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer and has thickened.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

With the beaters running, slowly add the syrup to the egg whites. Beat on high until creamy.

Add the vanilla and continue beating until the mixture holds its shape when dropped from a spoon.

Spread the candy into the prepared pan. Sprinkle nuts over the top and allow the divinity to cool. When it has cooled completely, cut the divinity into small squares and wrap the squares individually in waxed paper. Makes 16 pieces.


SPITZBUBEN A/K/A "CHEEKY BOYS"
Recipe courtesy of Julie Hunt and Chris Hash

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup seedless raspberry or apricot preserves
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract and salt.

With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, into the mix. Using a fork, lightly blend after each addition until the dough is just moist enough to hold together. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove a third of the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Refrigerate the remaining dough until it is needed.

Using a flour-covered rolling pin, roll one-third of the dough until it is 1/8-inch thick. With a flour-coated 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into as many circles as possible. These will be the bottom of the sandwich cookie. Place the bottoms 1/2-inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Cut as many tops with a 3-inch round, scalloped cookie cutter, if available. Using a straw or a 1/2-inch hole cutter, make three small holes - about 1/2-inch in diameter - near the center of the tops before placing on a baking sheet.

Bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and place on wire racks to cool.

Once cooled, sprinkle the tops - the cookies with the three holes - with confectioners' sugar. Spread one rounded teaspoon of raspberry or apricot preserves over the center of the bottom cookies. Carefully place the tops onto the bottoms. The preserves should reveal themselves through the holes.

Sift the confectioner's sugar over the cookies. Store the finished spitzbuben in a sealed container. Makes approximately 2-1/2 dozen sandwich cookies.


CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TRUFFLES
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon raspberry liqueur
1/3 cup almonds, without shells or skins
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, put the chocolate chips in a medium-sized bowl.

Once the cream has begun to boil, pour it over the chips. Stir the two together until the chips have melted and the ganache is smooth and creamy in texture.

Add the raspberry liqueur to the ganache and stir until well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.

In a frying pan, toast the almonds until they become a light, golden brown. Place the almonds and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely chopped. Pour the almonds into a small bowl and set aside.

Remove the bowl of ganache from the refrigerator and uncover. Using a melon baller, scoop out a portion of the chocolate. Roll it between the palms of your hands, forming a well-shaped ball.

Drop the truffle into the bowl of chopped almonds and roll it around until it is completely covered with nuts. Place the truffle on a baking sheet or in a container lined with waxed or parchment paper. Repeat the ball forming and coating steps until all the truffles have been made. Refrigerate the batch until ready to use. Makes between 25 to 30.

Note: Placed in an air-tight container and refrigerated, truffles can keep between 2 to 3 weeks. Frozen, they last for around 2 months.


© 2007,  KATHY HUNT. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC.