An Edible Gift Guide
Delicious things for your favourite people
Home-made gifts are my favourite to give and receive - they feel so thoughtful and personal. And crucially they’re sure to be be used/consumed. There’s very little risk of them being forgotten at the back of a dusty cupboard. I’ve included some delicious options here that can keep at room temperature - great for a time of year when fridge spaces might be at a premium. These make great host gifts or just lovely little Christmas presents that won’t break the bank.
Rosemary maple nuts
These are highly addictive - the ideal balance of sweet and savoury. You can switch the nuts up to your preference, but I think this mix feels really luxurious. To be consumed by the handful with a cold drink or chopped and scattered over a goat’s cheese salad. It works especially well as a gift for a host as they can be cracked out on the day or not.
Recipe
400g cashew nuts
200g macadamia nuts
200g whole blanched almonds
200g whole blanched hazelnuts
160g runny honey
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
16g flaky salt
40g olive oil
Preheat oven to 170c / 340F fan
Mix all ingredients together and place on parchment lined metal baking sheet(s) in a single layer
Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then stir. From this point keep checking them regularly until the nuts are nicely golden and there is very little honey left pooling in the tray
Allow the nuts to cool completely on the tray before transferring to an airtight container - keeps well for a week
Parmesan & walnut shortbread
I can’t overstate how delicious (and easy to make) these buttery little biscuits are. I went through more than I thought possible when recipe testing. A little honey in the mix really rounds out the sharpness of the cheese.
Recipe
Makes around 30 biscuits
For the biscuit mixture:
90g walnut halves
120g room temperature butter
Big pinch salt (omit if using salted butter)
120g plain flour
130g finely grated parmesan cheese
20g runny honey
To roll:
Around another 100g walnut halves
1. Place all of the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Tip the walnuts out into a bowl
2. Add the butter and flour to the food processor and blitz together until incorporated into a sand like texture
3. Add 90g of the chopped walnuts back into the food processor with the Parmesan, honey and salt. Blitz until it comes together into a dough
4. Roll out into roughly 2cm round sausages. Roll these sausages in the remaining walnut crumbs to coat well, then roll tightly in cling film or parchment. Leave to chill in the fridge for at least an hour or for up to 3 days
5. Preheat oven to 170c/ 340F fan. Cut the biscuits at roughly 0.5cm thickness, place well-spaced on a parchment lined metal baking sheet and cook for 10-12 mins until nicely golden. Allow to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container - keeps for up to three days
Best Ever Granola
Where are traditional granola might use egg whites to help form its signature clumps, this one relies on ground flax. Flax can be used as an egg replacer in recipes as it has similar binding properties - this means the granola can be kept vegan but also you don’t have to waste any egg yolks and can relax about its shelf-life. The clumps are big and crispy, but so light and delicate. The recipe is customisable to a degree - switch up the seeds, nuts and fats used or swap the vanilla for some warm spices like cinnamon or ground cardamom.
