Last-SECOND Gifts for Cooks

I say last-second as they can be ordered online and all you have to do is print a receipt or a card. We’re talking memberships, subscriptions, and lessons here, all stuff you don’t need to leave the house to buy. Who wants to go out in the cold, especially if it means fighting your way into Christmas Eve Wal-Mart?

Ungift Guide 2007: Best Last Minute Online Gifts for Cooks (The Kitchn)

A Gift in a Jar for Oatmeal Cookie Fans

. . . like my grandpa. My mom always makes sure I prepare some oatmeal raisins for him. And why not — they’re yummy.

They almost feel healthy, too, with all that whole grain and fruit. They’re a great cookie for everyone to make after swearing to those New Year’s resolutions!

Quaker Oats provides the recipe for creating the jars on their site. It’s kind of nice because it even incorporates the fat yet, like Bisquick, it doesn’t require refrigeration. That’s miracle of shortening for you.

Don’t forget to print out the cookie recipe to attach to the jars, else your recipient won’t know what to do with a jar full of floury oats.

Grocery Goodies Gift Baskets

I wrote previously about magazine subscriptions as last-minute gifts for the cooking-minded, and I mentioned the grocery store as a source for an accompanying token (such as a copy of the magazine or a food product that fits the magazine’s theme) that the recipient could open on Christmas day.

Today, it’s a great deal closer to Christmas, and the stores are even more swamped back in America, I’m sure. But even if magazine gifts aren’t your style, you can still avoid the worst of the holiday-shopping crowds and buy lovely gifts for friends and family at the supermarket or even the corner drug store. All you need is some creative thinking!

And since the energy for creative thinking may be in short supply at this time of year, rest assured in knowing that there are many people on the Internet who have gone to the trouble of thinking creatively for you.

I have a few suggestions myself before I send you off to the web’s collective genius. My focus here, both in suggestions and in links, is on gifts that add up to more than the sum of their parts by virtue of being placed together in a basket.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be a basket — let the theme of the gift dictate the vessel. And if desperation strikes and CVS or Walgreens doesn’t have anything basket-like beyond zip-top bags, you can always use a standard gift bag or even a box bottom wrapped in holiday paper.

Onward!

Cookie Tins

Every year, I plan on giving most of my extended family a tin of homemade cookies on Christmas. If you bake a lot during December like I (usually) do, then all you need to do is find some pretty containers because you’re bound to have more cookies than anyone will eat at the big party anyway.

The assumption here is that you have cookies around anyway, so the key to making this last-minute gift for someone is finding a container. If you had planned ahead, you would have picked up something round and festive at the Container Store or Wal-Mart. But we’re not planning ahead! If you’re lucky, your grocery or drug store will have some holiday tins in their Christmas-merchandise areas. If not, now’s the time to hit up the disposable Tupperware aisle. Often, you’ll find containers with pretty pictures on them at this time of year, but if not, swing by the greeting cards and buy some stickers for decoration.

Raid your cookie stash in the freezer Christmas morning while you’re putting everything out to thaw anyway to fill the containers. Add gift tags and maybe some bows and you’re done! Plus, if you fill a few extra unmarked boxes, you’ll have ready presents for unexpected guests.

Take it to the Next Level: Put the cookies in cellophane bags tied with ribbon and gather the bags in a pretty basket. Tuck in recipes for all the cookies along with a cookie scoop and cookie cutters. Consider including a jar of homemade chocolate-chip cookie mix or some coffee and a mug to accompany the dessert.

Movie Bucket

You see this idea a lot, so I’ll try not to dwell. Look for a big plastic bowl or, if you’re lucky, a popcorn bucket to present this one in.

First, fill your bowl with a jar of popcorn or microwaveable bags and some yummy popcorn seasonings. Some stores offer bottles designed specifically for popcorn, but if you don’t see any, look in the spice aisle for seasoned salt blends, Molly McButter, ranch dressing packets, and cinnamon sugar. You could also include a shelf-stable jar of parmesan if your recipient is OK with cheese in a green can.

Next, hit up the candy aisle for anything that they sell at your local cinema. Think Dots, Twizzlers, or Raisinets in big boxes.

Because your recipient can’t eat all that junk without something to wash it down, nestle in a couple of bottles of a favorite soda, too.

If you’re seriously pressed for time, shop your pantry for the food items. I bet most people have some bags of popcorn, sacks of candy, and cans of soda kicking around. Check your own spice supply for unopened packets or pour some of your favorite blends into labeled and decorated zip-top bags.

Finally, pick up a DVD to complete the basket. Every supermarket and drug store offers a limited selection these days. If you don’t see one you know is on the must-watch list, try looking for either a holiday-themed movie or something that looks seriously so-bad-it’s-good kitschy. Or, if you’re pulling this together last second, throw in a recently acquired DVD from your own collection in its pristine case. You can buy it for yourself again after the holidays are over.
Take it to the Next Level: Swing by the movie theater for a gift card on a weekday or in the morning, when it’s least busy. Or, find more cinematastic treats to include, such as tortilla chips with cheese dip and pickles (hey, our local theater used to have a big jar on the counter). If you don’t want to spend more time out shopping, consider upping the ante by adding in a Netflix gift subscription.

For more ideas, check out these other web sites:

Slashfood: Gift Guide: Yes, you can get presents at the supermarket

Hungry Girl: Last-Minute Guilt-Free Gifts

Bite of the Best: Holiday Food Gifts

Real Simple: Hostess Gift Baskets and Gift Basket Dinner

Every Day with Rachael Ray: Homemade and Handpacked

Gifts in a Jar recipes: Gifts in a Jar | Organized Christmas, Jar Mixes, Gifts in a Jar Recipes, Gifts in a Jar, and more — just search Google.

Last-Minute Cooking Magazine Gifts

Have you ever visited Wal-Mart this close to Christmas? Surely few Americans are still untouched by that yearly nightmare. The mall and other standalone stores are just about as bad this time of the year.

Unfortunately, if you haven’t found something for everyone on your shopping list yet, you’ll probably have to face the hordes as online shopping’s pre-Christmas shipping window is nearly closed.

But you could also see the time crunch and punishing prospect of crowds as a challenge to think creatively. While checking out Cooking with Amy’s gift guide today, I discovered her link to a site specializing in finding low-priced magazine subscriptions. She recommends Saveur (a beautiful, beautiful publication), but I thought I’d point out all the food-featuring magazines available for purchase so you could hit every sort of cook on your list.

Every Day with Rachael Ray $3.94 for 10 issues: It’s not all 30-minute meals, though Rachael Ray does publish a selection of them each month. Good for anyone interested in what celebrities eat or cook.

Family Fun $2.98 for 10 issues: Features kid-friendly recipes, both for meals and creative cook-with-me projects.

Saveur $4.95 for 9 issues: The photography and writing are both delicious. Many of the recipes are complicated, but this magazine is more a culinary adventure that is intended to stretch your mind and skills.

Vegetarian Times $3.55 for 9 issues: An obvious choice for any non-meat eaters you are shopping for, true, but also consider this one for any person you know who is interested in healthy recipes in general (and doesn’t mind any rhetoric that might creep in).

Weight Watchers $3.94 for 6 issues: For anyone you know will be making that annual weight-loss resolution.

Check the web site for more magazines in other subject areas and for some $5-plus deals on other food publications. Wish I’d found this kind of site last year when I was in the United States — I’m so tempted to subscribe even now.

To turn a subscription into a holiday gift, pick up a copy of the magazine you’ve ordered when you next stop at the grocery store. Attach a pretty holiday card or a certificate created on your computer telling the recipient what they’ll be receiving in the new year. You could also tuck this certificate in a grocery-store created gift basket that features items built around the magazine’s theme (for example, give bottles of “EVOO” and Montreal Steak Seasoning along with your card promising a subscription to Every Day with Rachael Ray).