The word ‘gourmet’ describes a ‘discerning palate’ and above average tastes. It’s generally used to define food (and drink), with Christmas being the perfect time to indulge. After all, you’re likely to spend hours on Christmas lunch and/or dinner, so it’s gourmet all the way. And for those too far away to engage your culinary labour, send them a Christmas gourmet gift basket. You could buy something commercial or prepare them yourself. Whichever option you select, ensure it gets delivered in time by avoiding the rush.
Gifting Gourmet
If you were a gift concierge, what would you put in the hamper? This particular Gourmet Gift basket is available to shoppers all over Australia, with options for same day delivery, but only if you time it right. Part of that requires advance planning and early booking. You don’t want last minute Christmas-week deliveries at hiked prices. Plus, if you shop last minute, many things will be out of stock so your options will be limited. For now, the Gourmet Gift Basket is available and ready to order.
The hamper is built around a bottle of Chandon, and is a mix of sweet and savoury, in a pretty black box, tied with a ribbon, and escorted by a free gift card. It contains a mix of textures, from Dijon mustard to crunchy biscuits and crispy crackers. On the sweet side, there are rolled chocolate wafers, almond roasted biscotti, caramelised biscoff, and strawberry conserve. Over to the savoury, we’re talking pretzels and rice crackers. The hamper also comes with extra virgin olive oil.
Build your own
Glance around the web and you’ll find hundreds of gourmet recipes you can make at home. They’re quick and simple, and you can package them in custom labels. Start by deciding which mix of recipes you’ll combine. It could be anything from five to fifty, though if you’re gifting in multiples, reduce the selection to save time. Pick three or four exceptional snacks and make them in batches. You can buy sparkly Christmas packaging paper, or print some out with a family crest or portrait.
Examples include tart chocolate bars moulded out of dark home-made chocolate. Just melt the chocolate, add tart cherries, and pour the molten mix into Christmassy moulds. They don’t have to be shaped like regular chocolate bars. You can use season-friendly cookie moulds like stars, angels, santas, shepherds, gingerbread figurines, or even sheep. Set the mould by leaving them in the fridge (not the freezer) for 5 to 10 minutes. They’ll stay fresh for a month.
For a taste of savoury, create your own line of spiced salt. Try paprika, chilli, cumin, lavender, dried mushroom, garam, ginger, or lime. To make the flavoured salt, pick your chosen ingredient, grind into powder as needed, then mix it with the salt. Pack each variant in cute glass jars with air-tight lids that hold the flavour in. Pack the jars in sets of six. Close off the trifecta with a sweet-and-savoury treat of popcorn candy stars.
Raid the cookie jar
Think of a Christmassy jar filled with crunchy gourmet biscuits. Accessorise the jar with ribbon and tinsel. It could be as simple as a satiny sash tagged ‘Merry Christmas’, or a mason jar coated in sparkly spray paint. You could even make your own ‘snow globe’ by painting white dots on the jar, along with reindeer, snowmen, santa, or other ‘Christmassy’ motifs. To fill the jar, bake gingerbread men, snowball cookies, or Christmas-light cookies. The latter are shaped like bulbs, iced in colourful designs, and strung together with liquorice. Decorate the biscuits with candy and mints. Add a jar of toasted cookie dough to the collection.
Close off your gift basket with flavoured vodka. You can use the store-bought kind, or you can flavour them at home using hibiscus, horse radish cucumber, or lime. Package your vodka in clear bottles topped with corks and wrapped with ribbons at the rim. You can put a tag on each ribbon that lists the flavour and offers seasonal sentiments. To season your booze, pour your vodka in a pitcher with flavoured tea bags, cucumber slices, peppercorns, or horseradish roots. If your hamper still feels too light, fatten it up with rosemary honey (just toss in a sprig and close), espresso sugar cubes, or home-made tomato sauce.
Christmas condiments
In case you’ve always wanted to pickle your own fruit, Christmas is as good an excuse as any. Create your delicious delicacies, pack them in clean, see-through jars, label them, and tie coloured string around the rim. You could put a seasonal motif at the end of the string or ribbon. Ideas for your basket of condiments include jam, whisky caramel, olives roasted in fennel, bacon jam, limoncello, or vanilla extracted at home by soaking beans in vodka.
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