12 Days of Culinary Holiday Gifts

Christmas Gift Lists

12 Days of Culinary Holiday Gifts

Are you one of those people that waits until Christmas Eve to go to the Mall to get Christmas gifts because you procrastinate or just don't have a clue what to get for your friends and family or those Secret Santa gift exchanges?  Do you break out into sweats just thinking about having to figure out what to buy for people?  Do you have Foodies in your life that you don't know what to get for them?  I can help you with this one and relieve some of your shopping stress.

Here are my picks for the 12 Days of Culinary Gifts that I think any budding Chefs or Foodies will love.  Prices go from $15 dollars to a few hundred dollars depending on your budget you can choose one of these amazing and drool worthy foodie gifts for those hard to figure out gifts.  To make it even easier I have chosen a few that you can order online and skip those crazy parking lots and packed malls.

Here are my picks for 12 Days of Culinary Gifts:


1.  AMAZING CLUBS  - You can choose a Gourmet gift of the Month from a whole list of different montly clubs like Chocolate, Cheese, Wine, Beer, Pasta and many more.  My pick would be cheese of the month so that I could always have different cheese to cook with, eat or entertain.

2.  FOODIE PAGES  - Foodie pages is a great Canadian company that curates great new products that you can have delivered to your door.  I have sent one to a grieving widow and have tried a couple of the Foodie Boxes myself.   The Foodie boxes start at $14.95.  You can get various sample boxes or choose specific boxes for your needs.   This is a one time delivery but you can probably set it up to get it every month.

Foodie P

3.  VITAMIX BLENDER in Christmas Red - This is the Rolls Royce of Blenders.  There are different models at different prices but I liked this Holiday Red version that you can order on Amazon.


4.  KITCHENAID Stand Mixer - This is the machine to get for the Bakers and Pizza makers in your life.  It can whip and knead and save your arms for hugging your loved ones.  I chose the Red one again to look good on the counter with the Red Vitamix Blender.  Make sure you get all the attachments.  The whisk, scraper and dough hook.  And if you are really nice you can get the pasta roller, meat grinder or ice cream maker attachments.  That's why this machine rocks.  Looks great, works great and does a whole lot of things.  I make cookies and bread dough with mine.



5.   LE CREUSET - Dutch OVEN in Cherry Red
My mom had this Dutch Oven for years and when she passed I kept it.  It is the most amazing pot.  It's a bit heavy but that's a great thing for cooking stews and even making things like caramelized onions which I used it for just yesterday.  You can put it in the oven and then right to the table.  It cleans easily and lasts a lifetime.  So instead of buying crappy pots and replacing them all the time invest in this quality Dutch Oven and pass it down to future generations along with the great recipes it makes.



6.  NESPRESSO Coffee Maker - This is one of the prettiest coffee makers that will look good with the rest of the items above but not only that it makes amazing coffees and has a separate frother that you can use with fresh milk.  This is the one that comes closest to the coffee house fancy coffees.   Cappuccino anyone?



7.  SUPER HERO APRON -  I found these Aprons on Amazon while searching for some things and I thought it might be a fun gift for that Wonder Woman or Super Hero in your life in the kitchen.  It's fun and not too expensive so it's a great gift for those Secret Santa gifts too.




8.  PROFESSIONAL CHEF COOKBOOK from the CIA - Culinary Institute of America's Professional Cookbook for anyone to brush up on great cooking techniques.




9.   DAVID'S TEA - HOLIDAY TEAS - Santa's Secret -  For the Tea lover on your list you can pick up one of David's Tea's Holiday Teas.  You can even order teas on their website and get Free Shipping on orders over $50.  To go with the red theme I chose this one.  It has peppermint in it which is a favourite during the winter months.

10.  CUTTING BOARD by Fred & Friends - OCD - OBSESSIVE - You need to have a solid cutting board to be able to dice and chop like a Pro.  Here's one for those people that want the perfect cut.





11.   CULINARY ADVENTURE from Culinary Adventure Co. OCTA - Book a Food Tour, a class or give a Gift Certificate for a Culinary Adventure like a Wine Tour or some other adventure in Ontario.   Run by a private chef and the owner of Cheeseworks.   A step up from just a gift, it's an adventure in food.




12.  GROCERY GIFT CARD from one of these premium grocery stores in Toronto. McEwan Grocery, Pusateri's or Whole Foods.    Let your foodie special person knock themselves out in the kitchen with premium ingredients from some of the high end grocery stores in Toronto.  Hopefully this will be the gift that gives back to you in a dinner invitation with a special menu prepared with the food from one of these great stores.


Happy Holiday Shopping... enjoy the fruits of your shopping labour.

12 Days of Christmas Food Gifts

 Holiday Gifts Ideas  

There are a few people that I know that can't for the life of them figure out what to get as gifts for people and some people like me try their best to try and come up with ideas that are either specific to the person or a general thing that would make most people happy.

Here are some of my ideas for Gifts that you can give to people that appreciate good food or for those people you have no idea what to get that will make them happy.

1.  A Great Serving Platter something like this Hand Painted Plate.

2.  A unique box of Chocolates or Artisanal Chocoates like these Ginger chocolates

3.  A Cookbook for the Novice or Professional Chef, a Celebrity Chef book, Healthy Cooking or even an ethnic or beginner cookbook.  Always helpful.

4.  There's always a traditional mug but why not be not so traditional and get an Original mug or Artist original painted mug that shows the person you know what their interests are like this camera mug.

5.  How about a Morter and Pestel and some whole spices to kick up their dishes to the next level.  It's something most people don't think about but once they have one they use it when they want really intense flavour in their dishes.

6.  Your friends and family can't cook or too busy or just hate to cook.  Why not get them a gift certificate for a great local and special restaurant like Chef Lynn Crawford's RUBY WATCHCO.  The menu is a prix fixe menu that changes every night.   And you might see Chef Lynn cooking away in the kitchen too.

7.  Ever thought outside of the box for a Foodie gift that can double as a tree ornament?  How about getting your favourite baker a Specialty Cookie Cutter and tie a string on it and present it as a tree ornament that they can use to bake you some delicious cookies the following year.

8.  If you are a decent baker then bake up a batch of your best cookies and present them in a Holiday Tin or Wrap them in Individual bags and tie with a pretty ribbon.  People are always impressed that you went to the trouble of baking specially for them.  From easy chocolate chip to fancy gingerbread.  Just present it well and they will love it.

9.  Present treats or any little gift in a cute little lunch bag like this that can be reused long after the treats are gone.

10.  If you don't know what to get someone then why not get them a gift pack of Specialty teas and maybe present a whole Tea package.  Even if they are coffee drinkers they will appreciate the gift when they have guest visiting them and they can serve them the specialty teas.  No cooking skills or machines required just some tea, boiling water and a mug.

 11.  Is someone you know scare you when they are holding a knife?  Well you can fix that by giving them a gift of a knife skills class to teach them how to wield those sharp objects without people running in the other direction.

12.  And then there's always a safe bet of a movie.  Or pop some popcorn and give them this Dancing Snoopy and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special or maybe a food movie on DVD or tickets to go see a great food documentary like the one I saw recently " Spinning Plates" 

Don't forget the Mistletoe and Gingerbread like Snoopy is armed with.

I hope you find some of these ideas helpful if you are stumped with ideas for the perfect gift.

Foodies are really easy ...they love food and all things about food so there are endless ideas of things that would make them happy if you just look around and think outside the box.