Five easy recipes for a homemade holiday gift - San Francisco Chronicle

With all due respect to the pillars of gastronomic gifting, namely tins of peppermint bark and bags of homemade granola, this year, perhaps, it’s time for something different.

Tins of golden peanut brittle were a holiday staple growing up, made in giant batches by my mother, who passed along the recipe to me. With the aid of a candy thermometer, brittle is easy to make, keeps forever, and feels a bit more special than a batch of sugar cookies. If you prefer, almonds or pecans can be swapped for the peanuts.

If you want something even easier — but no less delicious — make salted butter caramel sauce. It requires just four ingredients, and the ambrosial sauce makes vanilla ice cream awesome, elevates slices of apple pie, and is very good eaten straight from the jar.

For my friends that cook, I like to make multi-purpose condiments they can use for future meals. Packaged spice blends can often be disappointing, dull dust, which is why I prefer to make my own. My friend Anne O’Driscoll, the former chef-owner of San Francisco’s Cafe Cuvee, gave me a jar of her mole spice blend a few years ago and I was hooked. Spicy and sweet, it’s great dusted over chicken, added to ground meat for a simple taco filling, or tossed with chunks of sweet potato before roasting. Homemade harissa is revelatory; the brick-red paste, made with roasted red peppers and spiced with cumin, coriander, caraway, cayenne and smoked paprika, enlivens everything from store-bought hummus to quotidian fried eggs.

A bottle of wine is always welcome, but better still a bottle of batched cocktails. Boulevardiers — a spiritous version of a Negroni, with bourbon standing in for gin, is my favorite classic cocktail for the colder months. For gifting, I make a big batch, pour it into a bottle and tie on some dried orange wheels, which not only look beautiful but can be used as a garnish for the cocktail, which needs only an ice-filled glass to complete it. Or bundle together dried oranges and cinnamon sticks and give that along with some red wine for a DIY mulled wine kit.

More heartfelt then a gift card, more delicious than a box of Trader Joe’s caramels, any one of these five recipes — which can be scaled up, done ahead and keep for several weeks — would make a great gift for any good food-loving person on your list.

Jessica Battilana is a freelance writer and the author of “Repertoire: All the Recipes You Need.” Instagram: @jbattilana Email: food@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jbattilana

Peanut Brittle

Makes 1¾ pounds

½ tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup water

2 cups roasted, salted peanuts

¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions: Lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet with butter and set nearby. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, then increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage (236 degrees on a candy thermometer). Add the peanuts and salt and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until it reaches the hard-crack stage (295 degrees on a candy thermometer).

Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add the baking soda, butter, and vanilla and stir to combine; the mixture will foam up. Working quickly, pour the mixtures onto the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Let cool completely until hard, then break into pieces.

Store the brittle in a well-sealed tin or plastic storage bags in a cool, dry, place (if it’s particularly humid where you live, you might consider storing it in a sealed plastic storage bag inside a tin). It will keep for a month.

Harissa

Makes one cup; can be doubled or tripled

1 whole roasted red pepper, from a jar

1½ teaspoons whole cumin seeds (or 2 teaspoons ground cumin)

1 teaspoon coriander seeds (or 1¼ teaspoons ground coriander)

1 teaspoon caraway seeds (or 1¼ teaspoons ground caraway)

4 cloves garlic

1 to 2 tablespoons cayenne

1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika

2 teaspoons kosher salt

¼ cup tomato paste

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions: If you are using whole spices, in a small frying pan over medium-high heat combine the cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds and toast until lightly browned and aromatic and a wisp of smoke rises from the pan, about 1 minute. Transfer to a mortar and pestle, add the garlic, and pound to a paste. In the bowl of a food processor, put the roasted red pepper, tomato paste, garlic-spice paste (if using ground spices, add them now, along with the garlic), 1 tablespoon of the cayenne, paprika, and salt. Process until smooth. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Taste and season with additional cayenne. The harissa can be made ahead, transferred to a lidded jar and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.

Repertoire gifts from the kitchen. Pictured: Mole spice mix
Jessica Battilana

Mole Spice Rub

Makes about 4 cups; can be doubled or tripled

1 cup ancho chile powder

½ cup dried thyme

½ cup fine sea salt

½ cup sugar

½ cup granulated garlic

½ cup sweet paprika

¼ cup ground cinnamon

¼ cup ground cumin

Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir well to mix. Transfer to lidded jars and store in a cool, dry place. The spice mix will keep for six months.

Repertoire gifts from the kitchen. Pictured: Salted caramel sauce
Jessica Battilana

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

Makes 1¼ cups; can be doubled or tripled

¾ cup sugar

4 tablespoons salted butter

¾ cup heavy cream

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, to taste

Instructions: Pour the sugar into a medium saucepan and heat over medium. As the sugar at the edges begins to melt, use a rubber spatula to drag the melted sugar into the center of the pan. Continue cooking until all the sugar has melted, stirring to prevent lumps (if, despite your best efforts, lumps form, don’t despair—reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, stirring, until the lumps melt. If they persist, you can strain the caramel at the end). Cook until the sugar is a deep, reddish brown.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, followed by the cream (the mixture will bubble vigorously), whisking until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Let the caramel cool slightly, then taste and season to taste with flaky salt. Transfer to lidded jars and refrigerate; the caramel will keep for 1 month. Rewarm before serving.

Repertoire gifts from the kitchen. Pictured, the boulevardier with dried orange
Jessica Battilana

Batched Boulevardiers

Makes 8 cocktails

10 ounces bourbon or rye

1 cup Campari

1 cup sweet vermouth

Instructions: In a large lidded jar combine the rye, sweet Vermouth and Campari. Stir to combine. Serve chilled, poured into ice-filled rocks glasses. Garnish with an orange twist, or a dried orange wheel.

Dried Orange Wheels

Makes 20

2 small navel oranges

3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. With a sharp knife, slice the oranges into thin, even wheels and arrange them on the prepared sheet pan; it’s OK if they are touching, but they should not overlap. Sift the confectioner’s sugar over the orange slices. Transfer to the oven and bake until the slices are crisp, about 2 hours. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

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