12 Days of Edible Gifts

Quick breads are one of the easiest things to bake and one of the most enthusiastically received gifts. My grandmother must receive at least 20 loaves from friends during the holiday season! She stacks them high in her freezer and pulls them out throughout the year.

I have fond memories as a child, waking up to the smell of banana nut bread reheating in the oven on Christmas morning. Call me strange, but growing up, I soaked bits of toasted banana nut bread in corn grits along with bacon crumbles. I still think it's the most incredible sweet-salty combination.

This recipe is on the cakey side, and it's not overwhelmingly sweet. When I make breakfast breads, I prefer things that are slightly crunchy and complex, which is why I added some wheat flour and a hefty dose of walnuts to the mix. Remarkably, this banana nut bread tastes even better reheated; I recommend toasting thick slices in the oven until the edges become crunchy. Gift this banana nut bread the day of or day after you make it and include a card that recommends the recipient eat it within three days or freeze it for later use.

Learn how to make banana nut bread.

I don't remember much about my 10th birthday party, but I do vividly recall receiving one present: a small, spiral-bound book called Magic Spoon Cookbook. Now, undoubtedly I was more excited by the eponymous glittery "magic spoon" that was included, but, tellingly, only the battered and food-stained cookbook remains on my shelf (the cherished utensil is long lost).

Longtime fans of Klutz books (the cookbook's publishing house) won't be surprised, but despite being a solid decade-and-a-half out of its intended demographic, I still flip through its thick card-stock pages with surprising frequency, generally landing on the recipe for "can't fail killer fudge." This ultrasimple recipe turns out exactly as promised time and time again; not exaggerating, I've made it at least 100 times over the years. Lush and velvety, and finished off with a pop of salt, this was my secret recipe (further protected since the cookbook is sadly now out of print), until now . . .

Make the fuss-free and utterly delicious holiday treat.

When it comes to bloody Marys and appetizer plates, spicy pickled green beans are an absolute must. They are fairly easy to find in the canned section of the store, but friends and family will enjoy receiving your homemade batch as an edible gift this holiday.

This particular green bean recipe has a semimulled flavor, due to the coriander. Consider it the recipe's secret ingredient! The dill is subtle, so these green beans don't taste too much like pickled cucumbers. I upped the hotness by adding whole red chile peppers and crushed red pepper flakes, but not to worry; these green beans won't coat your throat with capsaicin.

When gifting these pickled green beans to others, attach a recipe card for a bloody Mary cocktail; that way, these spicy pickles are paired in the perfect way.

Click here to start canning.

As soon as the holiday season arrives, my first stop is Trader Joe's for a box of the Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, which are essentially Double Stuf Oreos with pieces of crushed peppermint candy inside the cream filling. Given the insanely addictive quality of these cookies, I knew this year I had to incorporate them into a holiday gift.

Easy to make and beautiful to bestow, these snappy chocolate clusters are packed with crushed Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, then sprinkled with colorful peppermint pieces. I used a high-quality dark chocolate, but if tempering seems too difficult or too tedious, these candies can be made using hard chocolate shell too.

To package these clusters for the holidays, simply wrap up six in a cellophane bag, tie it with festive ribbon, and encourage your gift recipient to eat these cooling clusters frozen.

Click here to start making peppermint cookies and cream clusters.

Low-effort yet luxurious, garlic confit (garlic stewed in fat — in this case, olive oil) is my favorite sort of edible gift. In addition to its ease of preparation, it's also a welcome respite from the deluge of holiday sweets — though I'm certainly not denouncing fudge, truffles, or holiday cookies. To top it off, garlic confit is the gift that keeps on giving, thanks to its highly adaptable nature.

Creamy and mellow, garlic confit shines wherever one might use roasted garlic. Try mashing it into butter (or the garlic oil it's packed in) and spreading it on a crusty baguette for extra-special garlic bread, add it to compound butter to top sizzling steak, whip it into mashed potatoes, blitz it with its oil for a pungent salad dressing, or tuck the cloves under the skin of roasted chicken. Its uses are near infinitesimal.

Keep reading for the recipe.