Top 5 Gift Items for Foodies

Here is my list of great gift items for the foodies in your life. Please SHARE your foodie holiday gift ideas here…leave a note in the comments about your favorite kitchen tool, cookbook or cooking class. Tis the season to share.

1. Microplane $15

If there isn’t one in your home then this is a great gift for a foodie. You can find them at William Sonoma or any store carrying quality kitchen supplies. They run around $15..maybe less at some locations. The Microplane is a unique grater that makes a great stocking stuffer – all the chefs use them, it makes haste of zesting citrus, cheese, chocolate –FABO! No kitchen should be without one.

2. Food Magazines $15- $20

If the foodie in your life isn’t getting Bon Appetit, Gourmet or Food and Wine buy them a subscription. New recipes with color photographs every month –a foodie’s dream.

3. Gift Certificate for a Cooking Class From $10 to $425

Click HERE for my list of cooking classes available in the Baltimore regional area.

The classes are diverse from your home to in a restaurant kitchen ~ there is something for everyone. I personally prefer a hands-on class, working in a kitchen. Cooking is very Zen for me. I recommend Chef-for-the-Day at Sotto Sopra for a real restaurant experience and For the Love of Food with Chef Diane Bukatman – both offer hands-on training with a chef.

4. Restaurant Gift Certificates

5. Cookbooks

There are a trillion, well maybe thousands of cookbooks. Let me tell you about a couple of current releases so you won’t be duplicating what might already be on your cookbook shelf. I am listing the suggested retail price on all these books but I recommend you go on line to purchase at http://www.amazon.com/ or www.ecookbooks.com/ . At Amazon, you can buy the books used and in excellent shape.

For the bakers:

The Birthday Cake Book by Dede Wilson $19.95
75 Recipes for candle-worthy occasion

The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri $35.00
Time-savings techniques for breads, tarts, pies, cakes and cookies

For the cheese lover:

Cheese, Glorious Cheese! by Paula Lambert $26.95
More than 75 tempting recipes for cheese lovers everywhere

Cheese Hors d’Ouevres by Hallie Harron $12.95
50 Recipes for crispy canapés, delectable dips, marinated morsels and other tasty tidbits

For the lover of food and wine pairings:

Wine Mondays by Frank McClelland $24.95
Simple wine pairings with seasonal menus

Simple Italian:

Giada’s Kitchen by Giada de Laurentiis $32.50
New Italian Flavors

For holiday entertaining:

Great Bar Food at Home by Kate Heyhoe $17.95

The reference book each cook must have on their shelf:

The Science of Good Food by David Joachim and Andrew Schloss $37.95
The ultimate reference on how cooking works

Everyone wins on this book:

Yum! Tasty Recipes by Culinary Greats by Dara Bunjon and Jeffrey Spear $28.95
100 recipes from culinary greats (Steven Raichlen, Ming Tsai, Elizabeth Faulkner, Norman Van Aken, Jose Andres, Rick Bayless and many more)

Profits from the royalties of the sale of this book go to the National Kidney Foundation and if you purchase the book from the Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation (click HERE) $15.00 is tax deductable and proceeds go towards culinary scholarships to students within our state. This was released last fall.

For the lover of a good food story:

Hometown Appetites by Kelly Alexander & Cynthia Harris $ 27.50
The story of Clementine Paddleford, the forgotten food writer who chronicled how America ate.