Giving the Gift of Food

Every fall, one of our neighbors makes a plate of cookies for everyone who lives in the surrounding houses. It’s a sweet (literally) gesture, and after over a decade of living here, a plate of her cookies has become a regular rhythm of kindness. It makes me smile every year she hands off that plate to me––and it also inspires me to do more of the same.

Priest, author, and chef Robert Farrar Capon wrote in his book The Supper of the Lamb:

Food and cooking are among the richest subjects in the world. Every day of our lives, they preoccupy, delight, and refresh us. Food is not just some fuel we need to get us going toward higher things. Cooking is not a drudgery we put up with in order to get the fuel delivered. Rather, each is a heart’s astonishment. Both stop us dead in our tracks with wonder. Even more, they sit us down evening after evening, and in the company that forms around our dinner tables, they actually create our humanity.

I contend that food can help create our humanity even away from our dinner tables because even food dropped off on a doorstep brought to the food pantry or gifted to a friend is an offering of love and kindness. And doesn’t humanity need more of that? Don’t we need less vitriol and more granola? Fewer social media rants and more loaves of bread left on porches?

I mean, think about it. What if we made a container of soup for everyone we disagreed with? What if, each time we found our hands restless and our hearts heavy with the weight of the world, we opted to stir and mix, wrap, and deliver boxes of cookies? What if we brought breakfast over for an elderly neighbor on a random Tuesday, just because?

Food can be a far more powerful gift than we sometimes realize. Maybe it’s an overstatement to say that food can change the world. But maybe food can offer you a chance to meet a new neighbor when you drop off a plate of treats. Maybe a batch of granola can help a new mom who needs something to munch on in the middle of the night. Maybe an annual delivery of cookies to those who live around you can provide a taste of delight for a family.

Food is not merely fuel to keep us going. Food helps cultivate joy, connection, creativity, and compassion. And maybe if we have more of those things, well, maybe food could change the world.

It certainly doesn’t hurt to try.

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In this resource, I’ve provided three recipes that can be easily gifted. You can double or triple each batch and package them up into as small or large portions as you’d like. I’ve also included a few packaging ideas and tips, as well as other ways to gift food to those in your community. Get creative, have fun, and make sure to share with us what you made!

Cocoa Cardamom Mixed Nuts

Yields 3 cups

1 egg white
1 cups raw almonds
1 cups raw hazelnuts
1 cup walnuts
⅓ cup granulated sugar*
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with a little bit of cooking spray.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, add the nuts, sugar, cocoa powder, cardamom, and salt. Mix well. Fold in the egg white and stir until combined.
Pour everything onto the prepared baking sheet, being sure to scrape out all the liquid from the bowl. Spread everything out so it’s in a single layer. Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice during the baking process.
Remove from the oven and allow the nuts to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet. Then transfer to a plate or jars to allow them to cool completely. Serve immediately or store in a tightly sealed container for up to two weeks.

*Use up to a half cup of sugar total if you want this recipe to be sweeter.

Mix and Match Shortbread

Basic Shortbread

Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Basic recipe from Ina Garten

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until combined. Mix in the vanilla along with two teaspoons of water.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix until ingredients are fully incorporated.
Place the dough on a floured surface and form into a log shape. Wrap the log in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the dough and slice it into about ½ inch slices. Place cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on a wire rack. Serve and enjoy!

Cranberry + Thyme Shortbread

2-3 teaspoons dried thyme (or you can use chopped fresh thyme)
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
Turbinado sugar (or other coarse sugar)

Follow the basic shortbread recipe above. Stir the thyme and cranberries into the dough.
Before baking the cookies, sprinkle each one with a bit of turbinado sugar. The sweetness of the sugar complements the tart cranberries. Bake as directed above.

Cinnamon Shortbread with Bourbon Soaked Dates

1 cup chopped Medjool dates
¼ cup bourbon
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Add the dates to a small bowl. Pour the bourbon over the dates to soak them. Set aside and continue making the basic recipe, mixing in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into the dough.
Strain the bourbon out of the dates. Stir the bourbon soaked dates into the shortbread. Bake as directed above.

Dark Chocolate Dipped Shortbread with Smoked Sea Salt

6 ounces dark chocolate
Smoked sea salt

Bake the basic shortbread recipe as directed and allow the cookies to cool.
While the cookies are cooling, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in 20-second intervals in the microwave, stirring frequently. Dip the cooled shortbread cookies into the chocolate and then lay them out on parchment paper.
Before the chocolate completely cools and hardens, sprinkle it with a little smoked sea salt. Allow the chocolate to harden completely before serving. (You can place the cookies in the refrigerator to speed up this process.)

Honey-Almond Granola

Yields 5-6 Cups

1 egg white, beaten until slightly frothy
3 cups old-fashioned, rolled oats
1 cup roughly chopped almonds (raw, unsalted)
½ cup honey* (plus more or brown sugar if you want it sweeter–see note below)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Add all the ingredients to a large bowl. Stir until everything is thoroughly mixed.
Spread the granola mixture out onto the baking sheet. For larger clumps of granola, using the back of a large spoon or a spatula, press down on the mixture to help it stick together.
Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes, rotating the pan (most ovens don’t heat evenly) and turning the granola over halfway through. For nice, big pieces of granola, use a large spatula to turn large chunks of the granola over at a time. If you don’t want the big pieces, you can just give it all a quick toss before returning the pan to the oven.
When the granola has browned and feels mostly dry to the touch, remove it and set it aside to cool completely. (If you’re using the brown sugar, it may not feel quite as dry until the sugar cools and hardens.) Resist the urge to stir, otherwise you’ll lose all those glorious big chunks!
Once it’s cooled, break it into whatever sized bits you prefer. Serve with yogurt, fruit, or any other toppings you like!
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple weeks, or freeze for several months.

*The recipe as written makes a lightly sweetened granola. If you want it sweeter, add additional honey or up to a ¼ cup of brown sugar. With the brown sugar, you’ll get a rich, sweet, and slightly sticky granola that’s rather addicting.

Packaging Ideas:

You can be as creative or simple as you’d like when it comes to packaging your food items. Here are a few ideas:

Canning jars, such as Weck or mason jars

Cookie boxes - I’ve also seen boxes like this at Hobby Lobby.
Kraft paper bags - I like the ones with the clear window in them so people can see what’s in the bag.
Cellophane bags - You can buy these in pretty much any size you need. These are a great budget-friendly option, and you can easily add a cute label or ribbon to each one to dress it up a little bit.
Add a decorative element like ribbon, baker’s twine, or a gift tag. You could also gift the food with an additional accessory, like a new dish towel or serving spoon.

If you want more packaging ideas, check out this post from Simply Recipes. Joy the Baker also has tips for putting together holiday cookie tins, and I love how Heartbeet Kitchen assembled these beautiful bread-themed gift baskets.

Additional Tips:

If you do not know for sure how the recipient eats (i.e. gluten-free, dairy-free, etc.), I suggest taking the time to write out the ingredients for whatever you made. So many people have dietary restrictions, and it’s helpful for them to know immediately what’s in the dish so they can enjoy it or pass it along to someone else to enjoy if they’re not able to eat it.

Additionally, whether it’s a “gift” item or dinner for a MealTrain, tell the recipient they don’t need to return any containers. For things packaged up as a gift, it may be obvious they don’t need to return the jar or bag you used. But if you’re gifting something in Tupperware or a similar container, let the recipient know you don’t need it back. It’s one less thing they have to worry about, and not having to deal with returning containers makes the gift all the more enjoyable.

Whatever you make, don’t feel like you need to go overboard. I once gave my neighbor banana bread wrapped in plastic wrap, and that was it. No cute label, no fun bag. And you know what? They texted me shortly after saying how much they loved it. Playing around with the packaging can be a fun creative exercise, and people enjoy those extra touches. But if that part of it is stressing you out, a Ziploc bag of granola dropped off on someone’s doorstep is still a beautiful act of love.

Other Ways to Gift Food:

Grab a jar of sauce, pasta noodles, a bag of salad, and a bottle of wine and drop it off for a friend or neighbor. Package it nicely if you’d like, but that brown Trader Joe’s bag will suffice just fine.
Find your local food pantry and drop off a few donation items. Sometimes, we take our kids to the store and have them pick out the needed items so they’re involved in the giving.
Leave prepackaged snacks and drinks on your front steps for delivery drivers, especially during the busy holiday season.
Ask senior centers or other care facilities near you if they would enjoy gifts of food. I had someone in my town who works as a nurse at a nursing home offer to take unwanted Halloween candy to work. The senior citizens she serves love the extra treats. Another organization near me delivers plates of homemade cookies to homebound people and their caregivers in the community. There are so many fun and needed ways to offer the gift of food, and sometimes it just takes a little bit of asking around and maybe a little googling.