Christmas Gift Guide for Foodies 2021

Kath November 23, 2021

It’s that time of year again, Christmas Gift Guide time. Christmas seems to be rolling around incredibly quickly this year, I’m sure our various lockdowns have had something to do with it.

Whether you are looking forward to it or feel like having a year off, here are some fun local Australian based gifts from (mostly) small businesses for the foodies in your life. Or just yourself - we all need a pick me up now and then!

Bec Fing Designs* Tea Towels - Finally some super bright and colourful linens! Bec Fing Design’s Tea Towels (and her whole range really), are such a fun sight to behold and are great for the colour lovers in your lives. Everything is made in Goondiwindi Queensland, and are based on paintings by Bec.

Pantone Tea Cups from Rabbit Hole Tea - When I saw these I was instantly in love. I haven’t bought any for myself (yet), but I feel it’s only a matter of time. I really like the pink and the green cups, and paired with one of Rabbit Hole’s teas (I can highly recommend Ginger Snap), it would make a lovely gift.

Tea & Blooms Tea Towel from Tilly’s Table

Tilly’s Table Tea Towels - I am still obsessed with everything Tilly creates, and her tea towels are no exception. These are the type of tea towels that will instantly beautify your kitchen and take pride of place as ‘the good tea towel’. I also love the cards Tilly produces, especially these new Australian Summer ones. Everything made by Tilly are photographs by her, with her amazing styling and use of florals.

Yo-Dan Glass Vases - These amazing glass vases are made in Adelaide, and they are truely some of the most beautiful work I’ve ever seen. The vases come in different sizes (pictured here are the small size - light pink and green vase is called ‘paradise rock candy’ and darker pink and purple vase is called ‘rose rock candy’), and there are cups too. There is a Yo-Dan online store restock planned for this weekend (Sunday November 28 2021, 7pm Adelaide time).

Harvest Apron by Gorman x Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation - This is the cutest apron I’ve seen in a while! And I know I’ll be pretty disappointed if I don’t manage to get myself one. Along with a few other items like kids clothes and a picnic rug, the profits from this collab will be contributed to the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.

Ruby Pilven Ceramics Jug - I love everything Ruby makes, especially the kitchen/baking ware like this jug (this is the small size). I love her colourful style and use of metallics in some of her designs. Everything is handmade by Ruby in Ballarat, Victoria.

Spreads by Messina - I think these sets of Spreads made by Gelato Messina would make a lovely gift. You can buy them from their online store so you don’t need to live close to a Messina store to get them. They have two sets, the Christmas Spreads which contains Dulce De Leche, Choc Hazelnut Spread and Pistachio Fudge Spread and Signature Spreads which has Waffle Cone Spread, Choc Hazelnut Spread and Dulce de Leche. You know which set I picked!

A Year at The Market Subscription from Naomi Loves

Naomi Loves A Year At The Market Subscription - I have been subscribed to A Year at the Market all year and have so enjoyed receiving a guide each month. Each guide is designed by Naomi with her magnificent illustrations, along with two printed cards each month with an illustration of the fruit or vegetable which is the topic of that months guide. A lovely present for a food or market lover in your life, or a year long present to yourself.

Italian Food from La Dispensa - For the Italian food lover in your life (all of us?!). I recently found La Dispensa when I was googling ‘crema di pistacchio australia’, as I do every few months and finally came across a local business who not only sells crema di pistacchio, they sell 1kg tubs of it (!!!), AND so.many.other.Italian.goodies! They have what looks like every type of panatone possible, and the fancy Dolce & Gabbana food collabs too which would make a great gift (I obviously want this one).

Iced Voco and Strawberries Felt Food by Catering by Lucy Alan from Wattle and Twine

Handmade Felt Food by Catering by Lucy Alan from Wattle and Twine - These are just so cute! I know they are made for children, but I really couldn’t resist these when I first discovered them. The selection of food available has expanded since I first bought some, and you can also get choc chip biccies, fried eggs, fairy brad and more, along with the Iced Vovos and strawberries pictured here.

Feather and Nest Tea & Toast ’Bake’ Letter Parcel - For the stationary lover! I adore Kim’s Tea & Toast Boxes, and this little Tea & Toast Letter Parcel is the perfect little gift to pop in the post for someone who loves baking and stationary. Kim curates these parcels and there is always a gorgeous illustration from her son Lew in there too.

Variety Gift Box from Grounded Pleasures

Grounded Pleasures* Variety Gift Box - The ultimate gift for the chocolate lover in your life! A 50g mini of every Grounded Pleasures drinking chocolate, plus their chai. A great way to try them all. Add a packet of their marshmallows to your order and you’ll be set for hot or iced chocolates for the festive season!

Handmade Chocolates by Meltdown Artisan, Ms Peacock and Chocolate on Purpose - If you are looking for delicious, interesting handmade chocolates from excellent small businesses these are the businesses I would look to first!

Olssons Sea Salt Flakes Stoneware Jar - I bought this canister of salt a few months ago, well, because the canister is really nice looking! However I’ve actually used quite a lot of the salt, and have found having the canister on the bench really handy, especially with it’s little spoon attached to the jar. It would make a lovely gift, as would the Christmas special Gift wrapped version of the salt. I also really like the Sea Salt Flakes made in collaboration with EmmyLou Loves.

*The tea towels by Bec Fing Designs are a mixture of those I have purchased myself and been gifted by Bec.

*The Grounded Pleasures Mini’s Gift Box was gifted to me by Grounded Pleasures as part of a paid photography job. Image used is from that paid project, however the recommendation is my own and not part of the paid project in any way. I love the Grounded Pleasures products and buy them myself when I am not working with them.

Carrot Cake with Biscoff Buttercream for Easter

Kath April 2, 2021

Yes, I know. Again with the Biscoff Spread!

Since discovering this caramelised biscuit spread, I have had many ideas for what I could do with it, apart from just using it as a spread. Adding it to a buttercream was one of them, and I can confirm it is delicious!

Since I don’t eat chocolate, I always need to think of something a little different to enjoy at Easter. I thought a carrot cake was quite a fitting alternative, especially decorated with a few pastel Easter eggs.

I have used panela sugar in this recipe as I love the caramel flavour it gives, however you can use the same quantity of brown sugar. I have also used some date syrup to add a little deeper flavour and colour to the cake, but if you don’t have any it can be substituted for more honey.

I hope you have a lovely long weekend, and get to enjoy a slice of cake, Easter egg or hot cross bun - or even better get to spend some time in the kitchen and bake some for yourself!

Carrot Cake with Biscoff Buttercream

Ingredients:

110g panela sugar (or light/dark brown sugar)

185ml canola/vegetable oil

85ml date syrup

100ml honey

4 eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste

335g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp bicarb soda

2 tsp Hot Cross Bun spice*

4 large carrots, grated

Ingredients for the Buttercream:

150g unsalted butter, at room temp

190g icing mixture/sugar

130g (approx. 1/2 cup) smooth Biscoff spread

pastel Easter eggs, optional

edible flowers, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line two 20 cm round springform baking tins with baking paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, date syrup, honey, eggs and vanilla.

Then add the flour, baking powder and Hot Cross Bun Spice. Sift in the bicarb soda and whisk together until combined.

Then add the grated carrots to the cake mixture and mix to combine.

Equally divide the batter between the two prepared tins and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until each cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave the cakes the cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, then remove from the tin and leave to cool completely.

To make the icing, beat the butter using a stand mixer and the whisk or paddle attachment for 1-2 minutes, or until it is pale and creamy (if your butter is still a bit cold, you will need to beat it a bit longer than this). Add in the icing sugar, and beat for another 1-2 minutes or until the icing is fluffy.

Add the Biscoff spread and beat until combined.

Place one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand, and spread half the buttercream over the top. Top with the second cake, and spread over the remaining buttercream. Decorate with pastel Easter eggs and edible flowers if you wish.

Serves about 8.

*I have used the Hot Cross Bun Spice from Gewurzhaus, as they kindly sent me some. This spice is a combination of cassia, coriander, ginger and clove. You can substitute with your own mixture of these spices or just add 1tsp cinnamon and 1tsp mixed spice.

Caramilk Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cookies

Kath December 16, 2020

These cookies came about as I have had in my mind for the past year that a dried cherry and pistachio nougat would be an excellent Christmas recipe, but as it always does by this time of the year, time did not allow for a thorough testing of the recipe.

As it started to become clear that my nougat Christmas dreams weren’t going to come true, I decided my Plan B for a new Christmas recipe would be a cookie with the same flavours.

Of course, a cookie and nougat are hardly comparable, but what cookies lack in finesse and wide eyed compliments on how much effort you went to, they gain on the fact that they don’t take much effort but are extremely delicious.

Like the Caramilk Cookies I posted this year on which this recipe is based, these cookies require very little prep, and need no time to chill in the fridge. You could make these in about half an hour. Which at this time of year, sounds pretty good to me.

You can swap the dried cherries (also labelled as sour cherries sometimes) for dried cranberries and you can use any type of chocolate you wish if you don’t have Caramilk - though I do highly recommend Caramilk for baking as it tastes so good and is considerably cheaper to buy than better quality caramelised white chocolates which I personally find can be a bit lost in baking (save those ones for snacking!).

So if you have unexpected guests this festive season, or want to drop off homemade goodies if you are socially isolating still, these cookies will have your back and won’t eat up all your time!

Caramilk Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cookies

Ingredients:

120ml canola oil

225g caster sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 egg, beaten

290g self raising flour

120g Cadbury Caramilk, roughly chopped

120g dried cherries, roughly chopped

1-2 tbsp slivered or roughly chopped pistachios

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, golden syrup, vanilla and egg.

Then add the flour and the chopped Caramilk and cherries, and mix to combine with a wooden spoon.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the trays. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between.

Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with some of the pistachio, pressing it in gently so they don’t fall off.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.

Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container (they will last 5-7 days).

Makes about 30 cookies.

Cherry Pavlova Ice Cream

Kath December 9, 2020

This recipe came about as a way to use up some leftovers from a Christmas shoot I did for Little Big Dairy Co recently. I had a lot of milk (20 litres to be precise!), and some additional Christmas-y things like cherries and pre-made mini pavlovas that were used for the shoot. I hate things going to waste, especially good quality produce like Little Big Dairy Co milk and Australian cherries so I decided I would go on a ice cream making spree in an attempt to at least use up some of the milk that had been sent to me for the shoot.

I bought some Little Big Dairy Co cream to use with my ice cream, and I made one lot of this ice cream plus some vanilla ice cream at the house I was staying in for the shoot. I then brought back one 300ml jar of the cream I had left, and needed to make it last for 4 different types of ice cream I wanted to make (all in an attempt to thoughtfully use up some of the delicious milk I had!).

So for this recipe I have split the amount of cream needed between pouring cream and plain Greek style yoghurt. Greek style yoghurt works well in homemade ice creams along side cream, however if you have enough cream you can just use that (250ml total).

Cherry Pavlova Ice Cream

Ingredients:

165ml milk

5 tbsp caster or white sugar

150ml pouring cream

100ml plain Greek Style Yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

365g cherries (unpitted weight), pitted and roughly chopped

70-75g pavlova*, roughly chopped, plus extra

Edible dried rose petals, optional

Method:

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and sugar until the milk is frothy and the sugar has dissolved. I use an electric hand held mixer for this, but you can also use a stand mixer if you prefer.

Once the sugar has dissolved into the milk, add the cream, yoghurt and vanilla. Whisk on medium speed until everything is combined and the cream has thickened to form soft mousse like peaks.

Transfer the mixture to your ice cream maker, and churn according to your machines instructions. I use the ice cream bowl attachment to my KitchenAid stand mixer and I find this ice cream takes about 5-10 minutes to churn. I find the ice cream is ready once it has frozen/thickened and is clinging to the paddle of the machine.

Once the has been churned fold through the cherries and pavlova using a spatula. Transfer the mixture to a freezer safe container (about 1.5L capacity). Sprinkle any extra crushed up pavlova over the top, and sprinkle over some dried rose petals if desired.

Allow ice cream to freeze for a few hours before serving.

*I used about 6 pre made mini pavlovas (I got mine from Woolworths). You could also use pre made meringues.

Everyday Bakes by Kath Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath

Christmas Gift Guide for Foodies 2020

Kath December 3, 2020

For the past couple of years I have put together a small Christmas gift guide aimed at the foodies in your life.

This year I have curated a list of gifts, cards and stationary that are predominately by small businesses or creatives. I don’t know about you, but I think Christmas and gift giving generally is a great time to shop small and support cool people (especially women) doing really fun and interesting things.

Enjoy!

. . .

For more ideas check out my previous gift guides: Gift Guide 2018 & Gift Guide 2019.

Books

Everyday Bakes

Olive and the Larder

The Art of Cake

The Art of Cake by Alice Oehr - I have fallen in love with Alice’s illustrations this year and this book contains so many of them! And they are all of cake! Perfect for a cake loving friend. This book contains a short history of each cake along with the colourful illustrations, plus a few recipes from Alice at the end of the book too.
Everyday Bakes by Kath Vincent (me!) - I couldn't not recommend by own recently published cookbook Everyday Bakes! I really believe in the usefulness of this book and the recipes inside. They are all fairly simple and many can be made in an hour or less. These recipes will see you through busy weeks, tough times and sweet craving time and again, great for yourself or as a gift to a avid baker or baker to be. Select the Everyday Bakes Bundle to get the cookbook and Everyday Bakes tea towel (and save $5!).
Oliver and the Larder by Bianca Tzatzagos - my friend Bianca created this all ages picture book this year (along with a gorgeous set of cards too) with illustrator Inga Campbell. The short story follows Olive, a gentle food loving lady who has the most amazing larder (and garden!).
Graziher Magazine - I discovered this magazine this year, and have been really enjoying it. The stories from the bush are engaging, the photography and design is stunning and each issue I have has excellent recipes too. You can buy Graziher as single editions or as a subscription.
The New Way to Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi - This book by UK based Benjamina, has a stunning collection of cake recipes. I haven’t had a chance to bake any myself yet, but I have multiple post it notes marking the pages of recipes I desperately want to try. I love the way the book is set out, each section is based on a type of ingredient e.g. spices, floral and citrus. This is a great gift for yourself or for a cookbook loving friend.

Foodie Gifts

Fairy Bread Iconic Tea Towel

Everyday Bakes Tea Towel

Bikkies Iconic Tea Towel

Garlic from Longview Garlic - sign up to Lee’s newsletter and you can then place your order with her once the garlic is ready. Great for an avid cook and lover of all things organic and Australian.
Fairy Bread and Bikkies Iconic Tea Towels from Add to Cart by BabyMac - These are so fun, and extremely nostalgic if you grew up eating fairy bread at birthday parties and assorted Arnott’s biscuits like I did.
The Somewhere Co Picnic Cooler Bag - I bought one of these earlier in the year, thinking it would make a great work lunch bag. I was very wrong about that (besides working from home most of the year, this bag is very much a large sized cooler bag, not a lunch bag!), however it has come in handy when I’ve been taking food to a gathering or transporting shopping home. If you know someone who loves a good picnic or outdoor event, this is the gift for them!
Baked Goods from the Sweet Chick, Sydney - While I am yet to get to this bakery in Sydney’s Surry Hills, the Christmas menu looks amazing. If you aren’t into baking or just don’t feel like it/have time this year you can get a selection of things from a bakery like Sweet Chick and give them as gifts or use them as your Christmas Day dessert. Keep an eye out in your area for independently run bakeries and delis, you will find some great food gift ideas in there whilst supporting a local business.
Everyday Bakes Tea Towel - My tea towel! 100% cotton tea towel screen printed here in Australia, with the Everyday Bakes motto ‘bake share eat repeat’. A trusty and sturdy piece for your kitchen, or a great addition to a gift for a baking loving mate. Select the Everyday Bakes Bundle option if you would like to buy the teat towel and Everyday Bakes cookbook together (and save $5).

Cards and Stationary

Cards by Borrow Street

Cards by Tilly's Table

Christmas Cards from Borrow Street - I stumbled across this brand recently which is designed and printed in Adelaide. I love the fun, very Australian designs and bright colours. Borrow Street also prints wrapping paper with the same designs, which I know I will have trouble giving away it’s so nice!
Cards by Tilly’s Table - Lovely stylist and creative Tilly has these wonderful botanical cards, some Christmas themed some that would suit any occasion. I adore Tilly’s styling and photography and was so happy to stumble across these cards in the Blue Mountains recently. Tilly also sells tea towels with the same prints, which would also make a lovely gift.
Xmas Cakes Cards by Alice Oehr - As soon as I saw these cards by Alice I ordered some. These are the perfect cards for all your food loving friends and family, featuring Alice’s illustrations of plum pudding, ice cream bombe, pandoro, panettone and classic fruit cake. Printed in Melbourne.
Bespoke Letterpress - There is nothing Bespoke Letterpress does that I don’t like. I love their classic and rather romantic style, and they have a great range of cards and paper for your Christmas presents. Printed in Bowral, NSW.
Farmers Market Food Calendar by Naomi Bulger - This is the perfect gift for any avid market goers in your life, or anyone who is new to cooking and wants to know more about seasonal produce. Naomi has illustrated the calendar herself, and I think it would make a lovely addition to any kitchen wall.

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing

Kath September 17, 2020

I always enjoyed honey jumbles as a child, mostly the store bought ones from Arnott’s that I’m sure a lot of Aussie kids grew up with too. But like many things I liked as a child, the store bought version just doesn’t seem as good now. So it was time to make my own.

Honey Jumbles are a spiced biscuit shaped in a log, with either pink or white icing. Oddly, lots of honey jumble recipes don’t use honey, but golden syrup. While golden syrup can give baked goods a great flavour, I don’t see why honey jumbles wouldn’t actually have honey in them. So for my attempt I have used honey, and I think they taste great - and do what they say on the tin so to speak.

I had the idea to make honey jumbles with pomegranate icing many months ago. A friend gave me a 2020 planner for my birthday late last year and since I had already bought myself a diary, I decided to use the planner for blog, recipe development and photography work. It’s been great to use (even if having a planner/diary for 2020 has been a little ironic and redundant at times!), and around Christmas last year I sat down and in the notes page before each month listed what holidays etc fell in that month.

I like using holidays (both ones I celebrate and ones I don’t) as recipe inspiration, and when it came to September, a few honey based recipes for Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, came to mind. Including this one. Both honey and pomegranates are important foods at this holiday, and I thought the combination of the two would be great. Especially considering honey jumbles traditionally have pink icing, and let’s face it the pink ones were the best anyway (everyone fought over them in our house anyway!).

Using pomegranate juice in a glaze icing like this is also a great way to get a fantastic natural colour in an icing. It doesn’t add much to the taste, but I think it’s well worth it for the amazing natural colour. You could do half the honey jumbles with pomegranate icing, then make a lemon glaze for the rest if you wanted some pink and some white.

When I first tested this recipe the honey jumbles baked into a jumbo size biscuit. And while everyone said the size was fine, I still felt I needed to perfect the recipe! So this is the final recipe, with honey in like it should, and a bit more regular sized too. If you want to make jumbo ones use all self raising flour instead of the self raising and plain combo, and roll the dough into slighter bigger logs - and leave lots of room in between each on your baking trays as they will be massive (and make a few less than the recipe below)!

NB. You will need three or four large trays to cook these all at once. If you don’t have that many trays or the oven space, bake half and leave the remaining dough in the fridge until you can bake it.

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing

Jumbo Honey Jumbles

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing for Rosh Hashanah

Ingredients:

120g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

50g dark brown sugar

50g (2 tbsp) honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

190g self raising flour

100g plain flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Ingredients for the Icing:

250g icing sugar (confectioners)

3 tbsp pomegranate juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a small/medium saucepan over low heat, mix together the butter, sugars, honey and vanilla extract. Mix until everything has melted and is well combined. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down a bit.

In a large bowl combined the flour and spices, whisk to remove any lumps.

Once the butter mixture has cooled a little, mix in the egg. Then add to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least 30-45 minutes so the dough has time to chill and firm up.

Roll small teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls, then shape into a small narrow log and place on the trays, about 3cm long and no more than 1cm wide. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.

Allow to cool on their trays.

Once the honey jumbles have cooled, make the icing by mixing together the icing sugar and 2 tbsp of the pomegranate juice. Continue to add pomegranate juice a little at a time until you have a thick, smooth spreadable icing. If the icing is too runny it will run off the biscuits, so add a little more icing sugar if needed.

Spread a thick layer of icing over the middle of each biscuit, and leave to set for 2-3 hours.

Makes about 40-42 biscuits. Store in an airtight container

Carrot Cake with Biscoff Buttercream

Caramilk Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cookies

Cherry Pavlova Ice Cream

Books

Foodie Gifts

Cards and Stationary

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing for Rosh Hashanah

Kulinary Adventures of Kath

Food Photography, Recipes & Baking