I’m certain it was Maggie, founder of Eat Boutique, who turned me on to gifting food. Aside from trading turkeys made from Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies, Rolos, and candy corns with neighbors growing up, the idea never crossed my mind. Two years ago, when we still lived on the east coast, we made the trek to Boston for Maggie’s annual Holiday Market. (Boston locals, it’s going on now! Details here.) The shelves of the market were filled with thoughtful, beautifully packaged, small batch food items. In that same spirit, Maggie recently published her first book, Food Gift Love. It’s full of homemade recipes for gifting—from pickled cucumbers to limoncello to candied blood orange rinds. I dog-eared her Salted Dark Caramel and prayed it was the caramel sauce recipe I’d been waiting for. The one I could actually replicate. It’s been my achilles heal since the first day I stepped foot in the kitchen. Not to sweet, almost burnt in flavor. That’s how she describes it. That’s also how my first successful caramel tasted. It worked!
Edible Gift Guide
I’ve said it before, I don’t shine when it comes to gift giving. I don’t plan ahead. I hate to be wasteful on gifts that will go unused. And my need to find the perfect gift is so paralyzing. It wasn’t until two years ago, after attending Maggie’s Holiday Market, that I started making big batches of my favorite recipes to gift. That’s when gift giving made sense. Because I’m forever forgetful, I keep a couple gifts on hand at anytime during the holidays. Here’s a couple recipes that make great gifts.
1. Salted Dark Caramel—See recipe below. Shelf life of 3-4 weeks in the fridge. 2. Kitchen Sink Bark— Shelf life of 1 week stored covered at room temperature. 3. Peppermint Mocha Syrup— Shelf life of 4 weeks in the fridge. 4. Chocolate Bread— Bake loaves in advance and store well packaged in freezer for up to 1 month. Gift frozen or thawed. 5. Peppermint Bark— Shelf life of 1 week stored covered at room temperature. 6. Maple Granola— Shelf life of 2 months stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Salty, barely burnt caramel slightly adapted from Food Gift Love.
Ingredients
Scale
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Instructions
Measure out all ingredients. Once the caramel turns, the recipes moves quickly so you’ll want everything ready. Read recipe through before beginning.
Into a tall pot (around 8″ in diameter), pour in sugar. Shake pot to position sugar in an even layer across the bottom. Turn the heat to medium-low. (I’ve found the most success cooking caramel low and slow. The pot will retain heat and continue to cook caramel even once turned down. It’s easier to control at a lower temperature.) After about 4-6 minutes, the sugar will begin to liquify. Shake the pot every 30 seconds or so until this happens. Once it begins to melt, gently stir the sugar to help it along in the melting process. It will look a bit like a frozen lake melting. Once completely melted, sugar will quickly turn amber in color. At the first barely burnt smell to hit your nose, remove from heat.
Quickly stir in butter a tablespoon at a time. The caramel with foam. Once melted through, pour in heavy cream. It will foam a bit more. Finally pour in salt. Stir well to incorporate and release the heat. If clumping occurs, return it to the heat for a second, stirring until they dissolve.
Being very careful, pour into jars to stop the caramel from cooking anymore. If you have tiny clumps remaining, pour through a sieve first. Allow to cool completely before covering. Store in fridge for 3-4 weeks.
Notes
• Use freshly bought heavy cream to get the maximum shelf life out of the caramel.
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Packaging details: Buy 6oz. jars and plaid napkins from Target. Cut the napkin into fourths. Using a bit of craft glue, run a tiny bit around the outer edge of the lid. Place the napkin square on top. Carefully press down the sides to adhere to the glue. Place a rubberband around the lid for a couple minutes. Meanwhile, tie bakers twine twice around the outside of the lid. Knot and trim excess. Trim off excess napkin at the base of the lid. Remove rubberband. Using sticker or label paper, cut a thin rectangular label. Write on label. Adhere to lid and jar.
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I really want to make the packaged granola gift but it doesn’t look anything like the maple granola recipe. Can you tell me what you substituted? Also, do you just put the dry ingredients in the package and give the instructions on the side? Sorry if that’s a dumb questions and thanks!
Hey Melissa, thanks for sharing your recipe. I’m having a couple problems on the process though. Once I start adding the butter by the fifth tablespoon the caramel starts hardening and clumping and adding the cream doesn’t really do much. I’ve tried twice and the same thing has happened. So the second time I went ahead and put it back on the heat to try to get the lumps out. It mostly worked but I thought it might have messed up the integrity of the recipe or the desired result specially consistency wise. Any suggestions?
Good question. I’ll update the recipe with more information. Heating it a bit more and stirring lots should help. I’ve been pouring it through a sieve to catch any clumps at the very end. It shouldn’t mess with the consistency to cook it a little bit more. Let me know if you find that it does and I’ll try to troubleshoot some more.
Hey Melissa! I am making Christmas on a Plate! for a dinner meeting tomorrow night and am wondering just how to serve it! How do you?
And I am thinking about Christmas in a Cookie, but substituting the chocolate wafers from the Christmas on a Plate recipe for your cookies, just cuz, well time you know and the lack of it for many of us!
I have made Christmas in a Bowl twice, did you know it freezes beautifully?
Thank you so much for your time, inspiration and delicious recipes!
Faithfully, Mary Ann (still waiting to make My Birthday in a bowl, thank you for that recipe!)
You are the best. I seriously hope we can hug one day. And yikes, I’m a little late at responding. I cut it in thin wedges like a cake. I LOVE the idea of using the chocolate wafers for christmas in a cookie. Those wafers are killer. Birthday in a Bowl just might happen this year. It’s about time! Hope you have a Merry Christmas! PS—do you freeze the whole trifle and thaw before serving? this is genius!
This caramel sounds easy and looks so lovely. I’m bad at gift giving, but I’ve been thinking about trying a homemade Christmas this year. This looks like a beautiful place to start.
Edible gifts are the best kind of gifts! Love your recipe for salted dark caramel too! 😀 Thanks for sharing dear! Hope you are doing well. Let me know if you ever want to start planning that blogger retreat. 😉
Hi! I’m wondering if I can process the jars in a water bath to preserve them longer. Have you ever done that with this recipe?
I really want to make the packaged granola gift but it doesn’t look anything like the maple granola recipe. Can you tell me what you substituted? Also, do you just put the dry ingredients in the package and give the instructions on the side? Sorry if that’s a dumb questions and thanks!
I added pepita seeds and cacao nibs after baking but it’s the same recipe!
Hey Melissa, thanks for sharing your recipe. I’m having a couple problems on the process though. Once I start adding the butter by the fifth tablespoon the caramel starts hardening and clumping and adding the cream doesn’t really do much. I’ve tried twice and the same thing has happened. So the second time I went ahead and put it back on the heat to try to get the lumps out. It mostly worked but I thought it might have messed up the integrity of the recipe or the desired result specially consistency wise. Any suggestions?
Good question. I’ll update the recipe with more information. Heating it a bit more and stirring lots should help. I’ve been pouring it through a sieve to catch any clumps at the very end. It shouldn’t mess with the consistency to cook it a little bit more. Let me know if you find that it does and I’ll try to troubleshoot some more.
Thanks for your response Melissa! Maybe I am also expecting the wrong thing. Do you think this caramel would work for filling in chocolates?
I think should! It will harden up a bit as it cools. You might want to try piping it into the chocolates for control.
Ok will give it a go! Thanks. ☺️
Let me know if other questions/hiccups come up!
I agree with Sarah–you make everything look SO SO PRETTY!! I want to eat/make/gift all six edible gifts!!!
You make everything look so pretty! This caramel sauce sounds perfect and I’d be thrilled if someone gifted it to me.
Hey Melissa! I am making Christmas on a Plate! for a dinner meeting tomorrow night and am wondering just how to serve it! How do you?
And I am thinking about Christmas in a Cookie, but substituting the chocolate wafers from the Christmas on a Plate recipe for your cookies, just cuz, well time you know and the lack of it for many of us!
I have made Christmas in a Bowl twice, did you know it freezes beautifully?
Thank you so much for your time, inspiration and delicious recipes!
Faithfully,
Mary Ann
(still waiting to make My Birthday in a bowl, thank you for that recipe!)
You are the best. I seriously hope we can hug one day. And yikes, I’m a little late at responding. I cut it in thin wedges like a cake. I LOVE the idea of using the chocolate wafers for christmas in a cookie. Those wafers are killer. Birthday in a Bowl just might happen this year. It’s about time! Hope you have a Merry Christmas! PS—do you freeze the whole trifle and thaw before serving? this is genius!
Our posts are so similar today — great minds think about food gifts, I guess. 😉 Thanks for the link love, friend!
These would be perfect stocking stuffers. I love them!!
I love these ideas! Your packaging is sooooo cute!
Edible gifts are my go to for my coworkers. Everyone loves getting a tasty treat!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
This caramel looks delicious. But please share how and where the lid covers and labels came from? Thanks.
The packaging details and sources are just below the recipe. Let me know if any other questions come up!
My bad! Old eyes. Thank you! So clever.
No worries! I think I stuck too much info in this post. Whoops!
This caramel sounds easy and looks so lovely. I’m bad at gift giving, but I’ve been thinking about trying a homemade Christmas this year. This looks like a beautiful place to start.
Edible gifts are the best kind of gifts! Love your recipe for salted dark caramel too! 😀 Thanks for sharing dear! Hope you are doing well. Let me know if you ever want to start planning that blogger retreat. 😉