Column: Tuffy's Table gives the gift of homemade snacks – The Daily Titan
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Updated: December 9, 2021 @ 1:42 am
Tuffy’s Table presents a homemade bacon jam, perfect as a holiday gift. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Perfect packaging for this gift includes small jars filled with bacon jam, a gift tag and shiny gold ribbons. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Olive oil poured on a jar filled with cheese and herbs, a scrumptious gift for the holidays. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Tuffy’s Table presents marinated cheese and herbs on olive oil as one of the best food gifts for the holidays. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Tuffy’s Table presents a homemade bacon jam, perfect as a holiday gift. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Give your loved ones a gift from the heart this season. Homemade presents always feel so much more special due to their personal touch. They can be tailored to fit your budget, and are a great activity that can involve everyone. These particular snack recipes are tasteful and gourmet without breaking the bank.
First up is an easy and fun way to make a homemade gift that a lot of people already love in the first place, I mean, who doesn’t love bacon? Bacon jam is a yummy addition to many home-cooked meals and barbecues.
Without further ado, here is a bacon jam recipe that you can make at home, complete with suggestions for packaging to give as a gift during the holidays.
Ingredients:
Perfect packaging for this gift includes small jars filled with bacon jam, a gift tag and shiny gold ribbons. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
2 pounds bacon slices, coarsely chopped
2 large white onions, chopped
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup honey
1 cup brewed coffee
½ cup rum
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, cook the bacon over medium heat until oil is rendered and the bacon starts to crisp and turn golden. Drain and set it aside.
2. Leave about three tablespoons of bacon oil in the pan and add onions.
3. Cover and cook the onions over low heat for five minutes until onions become soft and translucent.
4. Uncover the pan and stir in ¼ cup of sugar. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally to caramelize the onions for about 15 minutes.
5. Pour in honey, coffee, rum and vinegar. Return bacon to the pan and increase the heat to medium and let it simmer, stirring regularly until the mixture thickens.
6. Once the ingredients thicken and finally look like a jam, spoon it all into sterilized jars and cool completely before sealing.
The bacon jam can be kept in an airtight container for about two weeks at room temperature, or up to four weeks when refrigerated, so there would be plenty of time to consume it throughout the whole holiday season.
Pro Tip:
Bacon jam can be smooth or chunky, depending on one’s preference. Make it chunky by slicing bacon into bigger pieces before cooking. If you want a thick, sauce-like consistency, simply give the bacon jam a spin in the food processor once all the ingredients have been cooked together.
To prepare it as a gift for the holidays, simply bottle in pretty jam jars or Mason jars. A handwritten label adds a cute personal charm to the present. Tie on a gift card and a pretty ribbon in gold, silver or metallic red to enhance the holiday spirit and voila, you’re ready to give out your DIY bacon jam gift!
The next recipe is one of my ultimate, drool-worthy snacks. This recipe is the star of any charcuterie board. It’s so easy to make that all you have to do is gather the ingredients and put it all together in a jar.
You buy the cheese. You slice the cheese. You eat the cheese. And then you do it all over again. That’s how the cheese-lover’s life goes, right?
Olive oil poured on a jar filled with cheese and herbs, a scrumptious gift for the holidays. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Not so fast. Fresh cheeses, such as baby mozzarella balls and cubed feta, aren’t living their best life unless you give them some time to marinate in a jar. Just like roasted red peppers or a skirt steak that’s destined for the grill, fresh cheese only becomes more flavorful when it’s left to sit in olive oil and a few choice seasonings.
One of the easiest DIY recipes perfect as a gift for this holiday season is a simple marinated cheese in a jar.
Furthermore, since the cheese is fresh and mild, it doesn’t compete with the flavors you add to it. It becomes even more delicious — just the perfect ingredient to pile on crisp, garlic-rubbed toast or pretty much any salad.
Since the olive oil protects cheese from exposure to air, your cheese will stay fresh for up to 14 days.
Ingredients:
1 cup feta cheese cubes or fresh mozzarella balls
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 stems fresh dill
2 stalks fresh sage
1 tablespoon pink peppercorns
1 whole lemon peel, sliced
½ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil, cut into strips
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Tuffy’s Table presents marinated cheese and herbs on olive oil as one of the best food gifts for the holidays. (Ferry Baylon / Daily Titan)
Directions:
1. Place cheese cubes in sterilized jars.
2. In a bowl, combine lemon juice, salt, dill, sage, peppercorns, lemon peel, tomatoes and olive oil. Stir all the ingredients together.
3. Pour ingredients over the cheese in the jars. Cover and keep in the refrigerator.
Pro tip:
I used fresh dill, sage and peppercorns in this recipe, but you can create your own flavors by choosing to only use a single herb or different herb combinations, like marjoram and oregano, or basil and thyme. You can even add roasted garlic to get a wonderfully smoky flavor.
To package, tie a pretty ribbon to the mason jar and place the bottle in a small gift bag. Make sure to tell the recipient to put this gift in the refrigerator so it won’t spoil and also for a longer shelf life.
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