Great Gift Ideas From Your Kitchen
When I tried an old favorite recipe in the microwave
oven and it worked well, my husband was inspired. “Why wouldn’t that
be good for Christmas gifts?” he asked. I was shocked. He’s never paid
any attention to whatever I’ve concocted for food gifts before.
But I’m learning age does funny things to men.
He’s washing his own socks now. He’s decided that is the best way to
make sure they match and don’t disappear. He makes the iced tea
regularly and corrects me if I try. I don’t do it right.
Well, all this is good news, as other wives will
agree. What took so long?
Fortunately, I remember this stage of life with my
mom and dad so I know it is normal. Mom happily relinquished all the
things that she didn’t do right either. She just played more bridge.
But his idea was a good one.
The 1-2-3 Fudge Sauce was in the Virginia Press
Women’s cookbook that I bought in 1963. Mrs. Donald H. Parker of
Williamsburg contributed it. I found it quite good but didn’t make it
often — it required a double boiler. Recently, though, I decided to give
it a try in the microwave.
I should have done that sooner! Much easier and even
better. It sometimes turned out grainy with the old method but this time I
also used my handy little beater and the sauce was nice and smooth —
perfect for gift giving.
Spiced or candied pecans are gifts that we often
either give or receive, always happily.
However, spiced walnuts is a new idea for us. Perhaps
we’re used to pecans instead of walnuts because they are so prevalent in
the South. Walnuts, however, are often less expensive and, we’ve found,
they spice quite nicely.
The candied pecan recipe we’ve used for years is
incredibly high calorie — lots of butter and sugar. These walnut recipes
use no butter, egg whites and spices. A good gift for the diet conscious
or just for your own snacking. More and more I’m seeing walnuts or
pecans, glazed, in tossed salads. Either of these recipes, Indian Spiced
or Cajun Spiced Walnuts are good in salads.
For gifts for your sweets lovers, we’ve tried
Christmas Spirits and Peanut Butter Fudge.
All the recipes we tested are for busy cooks who,
still, want to give a gift from their kitchen.
The Christmas Spirits are a version of rum balls that
use coffee liqueur or rum. We liked the spirited balls with coffee
liqueur.
And, finally, if you’re looking for a recipe so
easy that your younger children can help, or, even make it, Peanut Butter
Fudge is both simple and good.
INDIAN SPICED WALNUTS
Ingredients:
