Author: John Fladd

Gift guide for foodies of all stripes

Kitchen-centric gifts are always a good bet. There are very few people who wouldn’t like something food or drink-related. There are the classics — a Kiss The Cook apron, for instance. Or spring-loaded tongs in a stocking. A beautifully wrapped box of cookies — homemade, or even Oreos — always, always gets a smile. Or a bottle of Old Grandad with a bow around the neck.

But here are a few ideas you might not have thought of.

18-piece gift box of Bergin marzipan

$14.98 at the Granite State Candy Shoppe (13 Warren St., Concord, 225-2591; 832 Elm St, Manchester, 218-3885, granitestatecandyshoppe.com)

In my opinion, marzipan is the second most under-rated candy. (Don’t even get me started on the mean-spirited hate campaign against black licorice.) Made from sweet almond paste, it’s often found in Italian bakeries. It’s delicious — let’s get that out of the way. It tastes a little like maraschino cherries. It’s soft. It can be molded to look like anything. There might be some five-dimensional shape from theoretical mathematics that can’t be made from marzipan, but fruit? Or farm animals? **Chef’s kiss**

A box of marzipan fruit is an unexpected indulgence that will earn you so many brownie points.

Microplane zester

$15.99 at Things Are Cooking (74 N. Main St., Concord, 225-8377, thingsarecooking.com)

One Christmas Eve a friend showed up at our house, which we were expecting, with her sister, who was having a super-hard holiday week and needed to get out of her house, which we were not. Because there would be gifts handed out later in the evening, there was some potential for awkwardness, when everyone got something except this very nice lady, who would have to put on an award-show smile and be happy for everyone else.

Fortunately I am married to a woman who keeps an “emergency gift closet” with emergency gifts in case of emergencies, so we were able to present our last-minute guest with several nice presents, including a microplane zester.

She said it was probably one of the five best gifts she’d ever received.

It’s a tool, so it’s cool already. As its name suggests, it removes the zest from citrus fruits, but it is also fantastic for finely shredding Parmesan cheese or grating ginger or chocolate.

It’s a very good gift.

Craven Cranberry Sweet White Cranberry Wine

from Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, 244-3165, averillhousevineyard.com)

Available at the vineyard or at Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com). 750 ml. $44.99.

Made from white cranberries — so it is a white wine, not red — this once-per-year specialty wine comes in a frosted Christmas tree-shaped bottle this year. Supplies are extremely limited, but rumor has it that once the cranberry wine is gone, a blueberry wine will take its place.

Russian candies

$10 to $20 for a generous stocking’s-worth from Siberia Food Market (50 S. Willow St., Manchester, 621-0017)

Unless the person you are giving these candies to grew up in eastern Europe, they are highly unlikely to have ever seen, tasted or even heard of these candies. Covering the gamut from hard candy to chocolate in a couple of dozen iterations to, yes, marzipan, each of these candies is delicious and also beautiful. The artwork on the wrappers of most of the individual sweets is stunning. These will be just as popular with no-longer-kids as they will be with actual kids.

Local community cookbooks

uniquebooksforcooks.com/uniquebooksforcooks.com/New_Hampshire.html

Sometimes called “Church Lady Cookbooks,” recipe collections printed in the 1960s and ’70s to raise money for church congregations, social clubs or ladies’ auxiliaries are magnificent in their own way. Each spiral-bound cookbook contained recipes written and submitted by individual members of whatever organization published it. Some of the recipes are inspiring and beautifully written. More often, however, they include mystifyingly vague ingredients and amounts — “a good-sized lump of lard” — and instructions — “bake in a not-too-hot oven until done.” Fans of these books pore through library book sales, flea markets and yard sales, hoping to find a gem.

If you don’t have that kind of time or energy, you can buy one from this online used bookshop.

An aspirational gift:

Professional Movie Theater Popcorn Machine

$609.95 from New Hampshire Restaurant Equipment (783 Second St., Manchester, 668-1151, nhrestequip.com)

While it is true that not everybody wants to own a legitimate professional-grade movie theater popcorn machine, the few who do really really want to. This is the kind of gift that several cousins might pitch in on for their film buff grandfather.

It’s an actual movie theater popcorn machine. If you get it, you get it.

Featured photo: Bergin marzipan. Photo by John Fladd.

• Closing: In a Nov. 25 announcement on its Facebook page, Rock n Roll Meatballs & Angel City Music Hall (179 Elm St., Manchester) announced, “Unfortunately, we’ve made the difficult decision not to renew our lease at Rock n Roll Meatballs at the end of the year. There were several factors behind this choice. While we absolutely love the concept — and still believe in its future — the overhead on an 8,000-square-foot space was simply unsustainable.” The post said the restaurant was open for normal business through the end of November with two December concerts: “December 27th will be our last official day open,” when the venue will host a concert with Chasing the Devil and guests Angry Hill, Silent Season and Trawl, according to the band Chasing the Devil’s Facebook page. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 21+ show, the post said. See facebook.com/angelcitymusichall.

• Cookies, Cocoa, and Kindness: The Capitol Center for the Arts will host an evening of Cookies, Cocoa, and Kindness on Monday, Dec. 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the BNH Stage (16 S. Main St., Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com). According to a Nov. 13 press release, “While children take part in fun activities and crafts, parents will have the opportunity to head upstairs to select gifts, wrap presents, pick out winter clothing, and take home food from the Saint Parish Food Pantry. We’ll also have dinner, dessert, and a holiday movie to make the evening extra special.” Reserve a spot at eventbrite.com.

• Cookies and inns: The annual Holiday Inn to Inn Cookie Tour will take place at 11 locations in the White Mountains on Saturday, Dec. 13, and Sunday, Dec. 14, according to countryinnsinthewhitemountains.com/annual-holiday-inn-to-inn-cookie-tour, which has links to inns offering two-night packages for the weekend. Tickets to just the tour are available at cookietour.square.site.

• Pasta and ricotta: The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com) will offer an adult workshop Friday, Dec. 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. teaching participants to make Homemade Pasta for Cheese Ravioli.​Students will make a batch of egg pasta with a four-cheese filling for a homemade ravioli, then sit to dine in the Playground’s kitchen.

• Wine and gift pairing: Sweet Hill Farm (82 Newton Road, Plaistow, 974-7279, sweethillfarm.com) will host a “Great Gift Pairings & Tasting Notes” event on Friday, Dec. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. Discover amazing gift pairings and savor detailed tasting notes at a relaxed, in-person gathering. Tickets are $12.51 through eventbrite.com.

• 2/3 cup (150 g) olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup (90 g) flour
• 1/3 cup (66 g) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups (133 g) rolled oats
• ½ cup (85 g) dried sweetened cranberries
• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 4 ounces (115 g) aged Gouda cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Peel and core the apples. Chop into a fine dice — the pieces should be about the same size as chocolate chips. Eat a small handful of the apple pieces. Set the rest aside. (OK, you want about a cup and a half of chopped apple, which works out to roughly an apple and a half.)

If the cheese has a cloth or waxy rind, remove it, then chop it into more chocolate-chip-size pieces.

Measure out the olive oil, then add the egg and vanilla right into the measuring cup if it’s big enough; otherwise combine the wet ingredients in a bowl. Regardless, beat the mixture with a fork until it’s combined. Set the eggy mixture aside.

Add the flour, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine it thoroughly. Set the whisk aside and thank it for its brief-but-meaningful contribution to this endeavor.

Wash and dry your hands, then add the oats to the flour mixture and toss it with your hands. (Tossing, in the sense of tossing a salad. Don’t throw it up to the ceiling.) Add the dried cranberries and mix them in with your fingers. Then do the same for the chopped apple, and then for the cheese. Finally, add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Or, if you find yourself committed to the mixing-with-your-hands thing, go ahead and do that. Nobody will report you to the cookie police.

Scoop ping-pong-ball-sized lumps of cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. If you evenly space six cookie lumps, that will be about right.

Bake for 17 minutes, but check on them at 15. You want them to be lightly browned on top. If your oven is especially eager, you might want to take the cookies out a little early. Alternatively, you might have to give each batch an extra minute or two. Ovens are fiercely independent and each insists on heating in its own way. Respect that. You and your oven are in a partnership; you have to work with each other.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking mat or parchment. You should get 15 to 20 cookies to a batch.

Are these the most beautiful cookies you will come across this Cookie Season? No. In the Cookie Beauty Pageant, they are definitely the Miss Congeniality. They are lumpy and have bits sticking out in unexpected places. The edges might look overbaked.

And yet.

These cookies are subtly sweet, with hits of fruitiness and cheesiness. These are not the cookies you will bring to your kids’ school bake sale. These are the ones you can bring to your book club and serve with a glass of wine. These are the ones that you can have with a pot of tea on a morning when you have the house to yourself. These are the ones you give to your friend who is feeling overwhelmed and needs something to focus on other than a world spiraling into chaos and lamentation.

Featured photo: Photo by John Fladd.

A German Christmas market in Amherst

There will be a German Christmas Market in Amherst Village Green on Saturday, Dec. 13. According to founder and organizer Lindsay Buchanan, it was created as a way to pull the Amherst community together.

“This is a small-town community event,” she said. “It is a traditional winter Christmas market with elements of European and German traditions tied in. I really enjoy travel and learning about foreign cultures, and I’m passionate about Christmas. I grew up in Amherst and have been living locally as an adult again. And personally I feel like it’s very quiet here. It would be great if we had more to do. I also noticed that there was a lack of events that could appeal to people of all ages. Usually Christmas events, in my opinion, are geared toward little kids. And I wanted to create something that people of any age could enjoy. I want teenagers to have something to do. And people who don’t have children, there’s still stuff for them too.”

This will be the Market’s third official year, Buchanan said, and there will be a focus on community and food.

“This year we will have about 55, I’d say over 55 vendors. That includes food trucks and artisans, some farms and craftspeople. We will also have live music, some German music, as well as traditional Christmas, winter market music, Christmas carols. We will also have Santa Claus and the Krampus on hand for photos.”

“We will have a beer garden with German beer and hot glühwein,” Buchanan continued. “It’s a hot spiced mulled wine that is known at these types of European Christmas markets. This will have a taste of the actual Christmas markets of Germany and Europe, which is a bit different from what people are used to here. Our vendors include local artisans, farms and more. Some vendors will sell German-themed goods and food. Some of our authentic lineup … includes bratwurst with sauerkraut, schupfnudeln [a German potato pasta] with sauerkraut and braised pork, pretzels, Bavarian waffles, Liège waffles [rich, chewy, brioche-like waffle with a shell of caramelized sugar], raclette [melted cheese], pierogi, and a variety of other German and Swiss treats.”

With so many different elements on hand, Buchanan said, each visitor can curate their own personalized experience: “It’s not just a craft fair. It’s not just a concert. You’ve got some different things to choose from, in a cute New England historic setting.”

Buchanan said guests should dress for December in New Hampshire.

“It is a fully outdoor event,” she said. “Though we will have tents set up and some areas with heaters, it is an outdoor event. This is a special, festive, kind of magical-looking Christmas event. The Christmas lights are on. Each of the vendors have put tons of work into their personal stations. We’ve got Santa Claus dressed to the nines and the people at the beer garden reveling. It’s kind of amazing when you see it all coming together and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh; it’s actually real.’ It’s actually something special that’s like a new tradition and people are creating memories.”

The Amherst German Christmas Market
When: Saturday, Dec. 13, from 10:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.
Admission is $10. See amherstchristmasmarket.org for tickets, to select an arrival time and information on parking.

Featured photo: Past German Christmas Market. Courtesy photo.