Yup – it’s time to gather all the tasty treats I’ve been working on into a gift basket for good little buzzyfoodies.
Or, in this case, a group of goodies for Jon, the very nice gentleman who cuts our hair.
I have some of the usual suspects, barbecue sauce, bacon jam, a nice assortment of cookies (Rich is iffy about one – but I believe him to be full of bean dip), and some kinda cunnin’ new additions – wanna check ’em out?
Not to worry – the six peppers aren’t all hot – just a nice blend of red, yellow, orange and green sweet peppers, a nice dash of Tellicherry black, and a bit o’ crushed red pepper flakes for general goodness.
Let this baby sit at room temp for an hour, and then prepare your mouth for a whole lotta lovely cheese. This is great as a munchie or in salads, and the spiced oil isn’t too, too bad with bread, either.
Kind of a mash up of my grandmother’s relish and a giardiniera that is shelf-stable and can be canned at home.
I added six serrano peppers, which was the upper level recommended by the recipe I found, but think I could’ve easily gone for an even dozen without worrying about burning anyone’s taste buds off.
Still mighty tasty, tho’.
I usually make clementine marmalade at this time of year, but found myself with a big ole bowl of oranges left over from Thanksgiving, so went the traditional route with a recipe adapted from one of the barefoot contessa’s cook books.
If you’re looking for a bitter marmalade, keep searching, but this is still one fine way to greet the morning. It’s also quite nice in thumbprint cookies.
Espresso Toffee Shortbread
This is the cookie that Rich is not feeling the love for, but I believe it’s rather tasty, and has potential.
Brown sugar, instant espresso, crushed Heath Bars, a bit of flour and some salt – all come together to make a subtly flavored cookie that is most certainly not too sweet.
I need to play around with the recipe a bit, but think it’ll be a keeper.
This took a bit of advance planning – you’ll need at least 3 weeks – but the end result is really quite nice.
Rich thinks this would make a fine addition to a glass of champagne, and I remain convinced it should be splashed over ice with a dab of sparkling water – we will obviously need to run some extensive taste testing.
And what assortment of goodies would be complete without Angeletti di Saronno?
Light little balls with a hint of almond flavor and a merry glaze sprinkled with nonpareils just kinda SCREAM the holidays – tho’ this cookie is one of Rich’s all-time favorites and as such is a staple in our house. Good thing you can make 2 dozen in just about an hour with one bowl – if you plan it right.
‘Tis the season indeed!