Holiday Gift Guide

Every year I depend heavily on holiday gift guides from my favorite blogs to help me with my gift shopping. This year, I’ve put together my own gift guide based on some of my favorite things. Hopefully, you’ll find it helpful too!

For each corresponding number, I actually have several suggestions, but I only chose one photo as a representation.

1. For the Food Enthusiast:

Treats Subscription– Of all the different food mail subscriptions out there, this is one of my favorites. Treats sends a monthly box allowing you to try snacks from around the world. When I visit a new country, I’m also most curious about what their snacks are like and usually come home with a suitcase full of foreign snacks. This is a great way to try out snacks from other countries I haven’t yet visited. I’ve tried the premium package and been very satisfied. My box was jam packed with goodies and a little card describing all the items.

Goldbely Subscription– For something a little more gourmet, I like gifting Goldbely subscriptions. There are several to choose from. They are my favorite resource to get items like Momofuku’s cookies or Katz’s Deli’s pastrami.

2. For the Baker:

AYL Silicone Heat Resistant Gloves – I have dozens of various oven mitts but I recently discovered silicone gloves while at a friend’s house and now we don’t use any other ones. While cloth oven mitts stain and are often too thin and require doubling up, the silicone ones are very heat resistant. I haven’t had to double up at all. They are also easy to clean so no more stained or burned oven mitts.

Prepworks by Progressive Magnetic Measuring Spoons– This is my absolute favorite set of measuring spoons. They are durable, double-sided and stick together with magnets. I’ve gone through many measuring sets but this is the only one I’ve ever really loved. I’ve been using it for about two years now and no issues.

Wilton 570-1121 Easy Flex 3-Piece Silicone Spatula Set, Blue– Much like measuring spoons, it took me a long time to find these and now I can’t stop raving about them. These are very sturdy and yet flexible too. They don’t fall apart or disintegrate like my other spatula sets.

OXO Good Grips Baker’s Dusting Wand– This dusting wand is not only cute, but it works very well. I use it for all my powdered sugar dusting. You open it, add the sugar and then turn it closed. The sugar stays in while the wand goes from open to close and then it’s ready to use.

3. For the cookbook collector:

5-Minute Mug Cakes– Yes, I wrote this book and I feel a little weird putting this on my list, but I am very proud of it and I do think it makes a great gift. From novice bakers to college students, to anyone who craves a late night sweet, this book is fun to own. I still consult it at least once a week when I’m making mug cakes. By the way, if you are interested in the Kindle version, through the month of December, Amazon has a promotion running where you can buy the e-version of my book for just $2.99!

Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes– Nearly all of Dominique Ansel’s creations are in this book including the Cronut, DKA, and more. Even if you never make a single recipe, it’s such a beautiful book to flip through. The photos are just stunning. I received this book last year as a gift and I’m still determined to make at least a few of the recipes but I just haven’t gotten around to it.

4. For the coffee/tea lover:

Nespresso machine– We fell in love with European-style coffee during our honeymoon, so we are overjoyed to now have it every morning. Right now Sur La Table has a huge sale going on for Nespresso machines.

The original Nespresso line focuses on espresso drinks. We have the Citiz model with milk frother, so in the mornings I’ll make either an espresso shot, cappuccino, macchiato, or latte. Nespresso has a separate line, Vertuoline, just for North America, which brews both regular cups of coffee and espresso shots. We’ve watched and tasted samples at the store before and it’s pretty cool. Even the regular coffee drinks are brewed in a way that creates a creme layer on top making it look so much nicer.

Nespresso also offers a recycling program for its pods. You can bring your used espresso pods into any Nespresso or Sur La Table store to be recycled or ask for their pre-paid UPS bags which you can then drop off to UPS to be mailed back to Nespresso for recycling.

Tea Beyond Flowering Blooms Tea– I recently discovered these flower teas that produce a beautiful flower when you brew the tea. It looks especially nice in a clear glass teapot and is great when you have guests over.

5. For the kawaii lover:

Etude House Missing U Hand Cream– Etude House, a Korean cosmetics and skincare company, produces a lot of quality products as well as some super cute ones too, like this hand cream series. These mini bottles fit in your purse.

Tonymoly– Tonymoly also has some really fun products like fruit-shaped hand cream containers and lip balms. They always smell so good!

6. For the cooking enthusiast:

Masterbuilt Butterball Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer– My friend’s fiance has been trying to convince her they need one of these, which is why I thought to put it on my list. We were given one year ago and we use it often. It’s not just for frying turkeys–you can use it for any big batches of frying. We do a turkey every year for Thanksgiving and the rest of the year we use it for my double fried salt and pepper wings, French fries, etc.

Lodge Color Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven– While I would love to own a full set of Le Creuset dutch ovens, it’s not quite in my budget yet. I love cooking with dutch ovens though. They are easy to clean, fairly non-stick and hard to mess up. I came across the Lodge set and own several sizes and have been pretty happy.

7. Just for fun:

Baker’s Edge Brownie Pan– This pan has been around for a while, but recently I was discussing it with some friends and they were so excited such a product existed. It’s one of those things where you might feel that it’s a lot of money to spend on a pan that has only a singular function, but it’s so much fun and it works really well. Perfectly chewy edge brownie pieces every time. If you really love the edge pieces of brownies, it’s worth it. We don’t use any other pan to bake our brownies.

Nostalgia Hard and Sugar Free Cotton Candy Maker– No one really needs their own cotton candy machine, but it is sure fun to own one. I bought this one earlier this year and I love it. I especially love that you can use hard candies as well as just plain sugar. The cotton candy comes out just as soft and fluffy as the ones I get at the fair and I love using it. It’s also fun for parties on its own or served with drinks.