Local foodie gifts: part two

Everywhere I look I find great gifts for the foodie in your life – or yourself (hint, hint).

Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer have done it again. For the past four years they have been publishing several seasonal cookbooks a year (see our post about one here) from their canal side studio in Lambertville. The books are beautifully photographed and full of doable recipes. In their latest cookbook, Canal House Cooks Everyday, you’ll find many of the recipes included in their earlier, smaller cookbooks, as well as nearly 250 new recipes and more than 130 photographs and illustrations. But this is a big book, and I asked Hirsheimer why the change. “Andrews McMeel Publishing came to us and asked us if we would write a ‘big’ book for them. So always up for a good idea, we agreed and decided to base it on a year’s worth of our every day cooking,” explains Hirsheimer. You can “enjoy” their every day cooking through their blog, Canal House Cooks Lunch, in which they post delicious photos of equally delicious food (maybe not what you’re having for lunch but fun all the same). You can find them on Facebook too. The new cookbook is organized seasonally beginning with spring. But the table of contents also lists the recipes by ingredient: soups, salads, eggs, pasta, pizza, fish, birds, etc. It’s easy to find a recipe for a particular ingredient (I have kabocha squash. What do I do with it??) and the essays sprinkled throughout the book make for great reading. This is a cookbook to sit down with and get to know. The photos alone will inspire you to dive into the recipes. You can find the book at area bookstores ($45) and online here. Makes for a superb present!

Oh wow. How about a gift certificate for oWowCow Creamery’s amazing artisanal ice cream? The Ottsville and Wrightstown ice creamery is offering a Nine Flavor Ice Cream Gift Sampler, including nine 12 oz. cups of ice cream presented in a reusable, hand made wooden pie crate ($58). Or consider walking into a holiday party with a Candy Cane Chip Ice Cream Pie ($21) or Tiramisu Cake ($32) (made with their tiramisu and espresso ice cream and dark chocolate dipped ladyfingers). oWowCow is also offering a dozen profiteroles (cream puffs) filled with a festive variety of ice cream flavors ($24). You’ll also find lots of other great products in their stores like local honey, locally made soaps and lotions, jewelry, baked goods, and locally roasted coffee. And you can always give a gift certificate. Elisa Baxt in her blog, Only in Bucks, published a great photo post of oWowCow’s delectable offerings. See it here and see her photography on oWowCow’s gift certificates.

Got a coffee snob on your gift list? Give the gift that keeps on kicking every morning. We’re lucky to have some very good coffee roasters in the area. Rojo’s Roastery in Lambertville, the Coffee Scoop in Pipersville (at locations throughout the Delaware Valley), House of Coffee in Lahaska, and the Homestead General Store in Upper Black Eddy. A sampler of coffee packaged with some coffee accoutrements is always nice. The Lambertville Trading Company in Lambertville does a great job of gift baskets of coffee, sweets, gourmet foods and unique ceramics.

The Great American Popcorn Works in Telford makes small batch popcorn blended with all kinds of delicious ingredients like caramel, chocolate and cheddar. Their all natural popcorn is made every day in gas-fired copper kettles, and hand mixed with paddles, just the way it used to be. Jalapeno Pepper, Mesquite Barbeque, Herbs and Garlic Butter, Cinnamon Sugar, Dark Caramel with Peanuts, Chocolate Chip and Cashew Toffee Crunch are some of the variety of flavors they offer. Although they are located in Telford, they ship anywhere in the US (but for Christmas, order by December 17). See their website for more information and use this code to get a 10% discount on your first order: BCTaste.