Too Many Cooks: Edible Gift Time

You'll be hearing from the staff at Food52 every week in Too Many Cooks, our group column in which we pool our answers to questions about food, cooking, life, and more.

Now that we've had our fun with citrus, we can no longer procrastinate. There's no way around it anymore -- it's the season of giving. If you know someone like us (and chances are you probably do), you know that when the weather turns cold and the holiday decorations beckon, you start receiving mason jars with bows, tins of cookies, and everything else, so long as it's homemade, edible, and in a pretty package. (And we hope you like them.) Maybe you're looking to branch out this year (fruitcake be damned), and if you are, you might find some inspiration this week. We're answering the question: 

What's your favorite edible gift (to give, or to receive)? 

Amanda: Other than a full Iberico ham leg? I like unusual jams -- like the time Merrill gave me a jar of Maine blueberry jam! -- and things like homemade limoncello. Friends often send a box of Meyer lemons; I love these friends forever.

Stephanie: It won't surprise anyone, but I love giving and receiving all manner of sweet things. Now that we live in the same city again, my roommate from university and I are reinstating our annual cookie party this year.

Christina: Love getting a loaf of my grandmother's panettone. I like making Union Square Cafe's Rosemary Roasted Nuts.

Merrill: These tend to be popular -- just make sure they don't get too warm during transport!

Brette: I love receiving things that keep for a while, like jams or preserves -- things that will last past the holiday season. And I like giving loaf cakes and boozy things, like the boozy cherries that Jennifer inspired me to make this summer, or little jars/bottles of infused alcohols.

Hally: My parents always put a jar of pickles in my stocking, since I really liked pickles as a kid (and still do, but that's where it started). 

Marian: I like giving granola and homemade pumpkin butter -- things that are festive and sweet-but-not-too-sweet. 

Jennifer: Every Christmas my father-in-law gives us a jar of cherries soaked in grappa.

Amanda Li: My friends and I usually bake cookies/brownies to gift, even though only half of what we bake gets packaged up. 

Maddy: For those who I know like it, I also love sending Dresden Stollen. (I can't help sending myself a loaf, too.)

Lindsay-Jean: This year friends and family will be getting (spoiler alert!) Sweet & Savory Tomato Jam and Dilled Green Tomatoes all made with tomatoes from the garden.

Kristen: This might be stretching "edible gift," but last year I gave my friends and family copies of the Food52 Cookbook with post-its marking the recipes I thought they'd especially like. This year, I get to do it again!

James: My most memorable edible gift (besides the sardines in tomato sauce that my grandma gave me every Christmas) was a pastry wreath that a friend made me when I was in high school one Christmas. Maybe I will pay it forward this year…

Kenzi: I want that! Re-gift to me! It actually sounds kind of dangerous, in a logistical way.