Christmas Hampers

[Dave Hatfield]

A Christmas tradition of ours is the Christmas Hamper. We'd make one up if we weren't the family members hosting Christmas dinner. All other units of the family would make up a hamper. It wasn't competitive, but there were favorite things that various relatives always made; "their special treat" One Aunt was famous for her miniature mince pies for example. (homemade mince meat of course)

So, my question is: What do you put in your Christmas Hamper? Even if you'v never done one before what would you like to see in a Hamper that somebody brought to your house for Christmas?

In our family you gained brownie points for a having a high content of home made or grown items. It wasn't necessary that everything be home made, but the more the better.

I'm still working one the items for the Christmas Hamper we plan on taking to our daughter and her family in England this year. Its been a while since we've seen them and even longer since we celebrated Christmas with them so we're really looking forward to it. So far I'm planning on:

- Walnuts. From our very own tree. Very traditional.

- Hazel nuts. Also from our very own tree.

- Dried figs. A friend gave m the figs and I dried them myself.

- Biscotti. My favorite recipe with fennel & almonds plus my mix of spices.

- Comfit de Canard. I''ll buy this as its easy to get good quality here & Louise absolutely adores it.

- Lemon marmalade. My own, first effort & not bad. Not brilliant, but not bad.

- Oriental plum sauce. Linda made this from plums offered by a neighbor and its absolute dynamite.

- Quince chutney. This is from a friend who made it from our Japanese quinces.

- 5 fruit marmalade. From another friend who makes it commercially. Delicious!

That's it so far. We'll think of more as we go. There'll probably be some fresh fruits just to satisfy tradition and some cheese. We won't do Christmas pudding, mince pies or fruit cake as we know Louise will have done those.

So, I'd learn what you do for a Christmas Hamper and/or have any suggestions. Also, what's your ideal hamper? Its a good time to use your imagination and, given the economic circumstances, a good time to think home made.

[Darienne]

Lovely idea, but the first thing that hit me was...can you take all those items from the States to England?

We live in Canada and travel often to the States and there are just some foods which the border guards will confiscate.

You wouldn't want that to happen.

[Kerry Beal]

Lovely idea, but the first thing that hit me was...can you take all those items from the States to England?

We live in Canada and travel often to the States and there are just some foods which the border guards will confiscate.

You wouldn't want that to happen.

I think he's safe - since he's starting out from France.

[Kerry Beal]

If I was putting together a hamper - it would include fruitcake, and this year vin de noix and nocino. And of course chocolate treats of various sorts (handmade.

[Darienne]

Lovely idea, but the first thing that hit me was...can you take all those items from the States to England?

We live in Canada and travel often to the States and there are just some foods which the border guards will confiscate.

You wouldn't want that to happen.

I think he's safe - since he's starting out from France.

Oops.

[Dave Hatfield]

Kerry, good ideas. I'm not a great fan of Vin de noix (if you are ever this way I have several bottles you can have.) The idea did, however, make me think that I should add some walnut oil which is another of out local things.

I'm counting on Louise for the fruitcake, but I'd certainly include it if I didn't think I could count on her.

And, thanks for the concern, but there are no real difficulties taking thing between France & the UK. Taking food items into the states is a whole different ball game & a right pain!

[Nikki Rose]

After many years of cooking together, my family has a way of coaxing each other into making particular dishes that one of us has perfected to unanimous votes of "this holiday would not be the same without your [fill in the blanks]." I don't have much of a sweet tooth any more after working as a pastry chef for many years. I'd rather just braise some lamb shanks and serve a salad and oranges for dessert and call it a night.

However, my family looks at me and sees "pastries" written on my forehead. I make baklava for this reason, which I made long before I went to cooking school (about age 10 with phyllo dough flying everywhere I imagine). I've tweaked the recipe over the years to make it good for all of us. No sugar. Double the roasted walnuts and almonds in any average recipe. Spiced honey syrup laced with a good shot of Metaxa. That works for me. It also works really well for breakfast with yogurt and dried fruits. Kind of like a Greek granola. It sure beats that sugar-laced cereal the children eat...for my tastes. My personal favorite that is also a big hit is galaktoboureko (a luscious custard and phyllo pie). I'll dig up that recipe when I have more time...it's nearly 11pm here in Crete.

Kali Orexi!

Nikki

[della206]

Smoked salmon springs to mind. That's probably because I'm from Seattle.

I also like chocolate-covered dried blueberries and cherries(not cordials--dried cherries)

Super high quality fresh licorice is also good. Trader Joe's is even pretty good.

[snowangel]

Given the cold temps here at Christmas, my Christmas "hampers" are actually boxes left on the front porch as we celebrate. Homemade chicken stock and potstickers, supplemented by peach/raspberry jam (which sits inside) and homemade biscotti.

[Lapin d'Argent]

This is a wonderful inspiration. We are staying home for Christmas, but visiting friends for the New Year, and a hamper would be a really fun project to put together for them.

Right now I'm thinking (everything homemade):

- Orange-grapefruit marmalade

- Vanilla extract + fresh vanilla beans (Dividends from the make-your-own-vanilla-extract project!)

- Some sort of savory shortbread or crackers

- A simple charcuterie item, maybe duck prosciutto

And an interesting bottle of wine to round things out.

[snowangel]

Reminder to everyone to visit the Artisnal Christmas Present topic, which includes food items as well as those which are kitchen related, but not necessarily food (think day-of-the-week dishtowels, etc.).

[kayb]

The hamper I'd give is somewhat different than the one I'd want to get.

In my "give" hamper, homemade goodies would include chocolate covered cherries, pralines, and fudge; spiced pecans and walnuts; roasted chickpeas with wasabi; old-fashioned popcorn balls, from my mother's recipe. Maybe some fresh peach sauce, if I could find out-of-season peaches somewhere that were decent enough to cook. And just because it's cold and any hamper ought to include some comfort food, a crock of Tuscan white bean and sausage soup.

In my "get" hamper -- wine, cheese and charcuterie will do me just fine.

[judiu]

To give to my family in West Florida, some English goodies, Lime and Lemon curd for my Aunt Mary, nice sugar free jams for my cousin Ann, beautiful pecans for my cousin Susan, who makes a wonderful pie, lots of crunchie-munchies for my cousin Liz's boys and smoked salmon and good bagels, just because.

[CKatCook]

I am sending my best friend somethings that she requested. She requested sweet and chocolate, so...chocolate brioche, fudge, brownie pops, homemade chocolate marshmellows. She wanted a sugar buzz, she got one comming.

[Dave Hatfield]

Our hamper is just about finished.

You can see what we ended up with over on my blog. Too many pictures to post here.

All we need is to find some packaging for the biscotti & then we can actually pack everything in the hamper.

Thanks for all the suggestions & good items to add.

Its still not too late to put together your very own hamper.

Enjoy!

[NadyaDuke]

To send to my folks: Cornmeal Cranberry Cookies with Orange Zest, Cardamon cookies, Tuscan Rosemary/Pine Nut Bars and Spiced Pecans.

[Chef Hermes Blog]

My partner & I are doing a hamper for the parents-in-law.

So far it's looking like this;

-Pineapple Chutney

-Pickled onions

-Molakoff

-Strawberry turkish delight

-Local smoked salmon]

-Chilled chocolate fondant (in a kilner jar)

-3 bottles of wine

-Chocolate brownies

-Pickled chillis

-Raspberry & Champagne jam

-Local honey

-Local award winning cheese

-Charcutiere

-Rump steaks

and thats just for starters, got my work cut out making most of this as well.