Want to go really outside the box with your homemade gifts this year? Let’s talk about giving the gift of home-cured bacon! Or jar of preserved lemons! Or some duck confit! Or…maybe you should just give them a copy of The Artisan Market and let your pals do their own tinkering in the kitchen. Either way, this cookbook has you covered and then some.
My children have never been the best at waiting, and their gift-giving style is no exception. Christmas is coming, but not soon enough. My youngest came home the other day with a wonderful gift he made in his afternoon art class, a classic woven potholder, most likely created on one of the plastic looms of my youth, though he swears he and a friend did it with just their hands. “It’s easy!” However he made it, I love that potholder, as useful as it is sweet.
One of the greatest holiday traditions at my parents’ house is the making of a half dozen cheesecakes. Guided by a top-secret recipe — from an original 1980 issue of The Kansas City Star that lists a recipe for New York Cheesecake, along with years of handwritten notes and variations — my father spends a full day in the kitchen pressing graham cracker crusts into springform pans, whipping up rich cream cheese filling, and fretting over water baths.
The result: one of the most decadent holiday treats and a beautiful gift for family members.
Q: Do you have any good ideas for room temperature appetizers I can make in advance? I’m having a large party and don’t have the time, refrigerator space, or oven space to make too many hot or cold things. Thanks!
Sent by Kristin
4.18 / 5 Stars | 53 Reviews
by LINDAYURKIW
“A simple dough of flour, salt, oil, baking powder, egg and water yields plenty of pierogi wrappers, ready to be stuffed with the filling of your choice.”