Christmas gifts for our lovely gourmands
As you know, men are big gourmands, so homemade tofu or Nutella are perfect as a gift for, for example, grandfathers, fathers, brothers and so on. And if you're not sure if tofu could irritate their taste buds, you have two options - either take a risk and maybe not completely reveal that it's not cheese, but tofu... Or use classic cheese to prepare this yummy treat. You can make it at home too! And here you will find all kinds of suitable helpers or ingredients for that. Anyone who buys them and learns to make homemade cheese will not be disappointed. (Check out our recipe for soft homemade camembert!)
When it consumes you...
If the production of homemade products has unexpectedly absorbed you, we have a tip for you. Just like cheese, you can make tofu at home. Here you will find the correct procedure, look here for helpers & ingredients, and while you're at it, you can start making homemade tempeh! You will be entertained and you will certainly not regret it when you enjoy 100 homemade delicacies.
However, whether you have homemade tofu or not, grab it quickly and it's ready to load!
Homemade pickled tofu
Its excellent spiciness equals the taste of classic cheeses, and if you prepare it for someone with love as a Christmas gift, it will definitely be even better! It is also great as an original treat for a New Year's Eve (or any other) party or celebration. And because it is gluten-free, lactose-free and animal-free, you can't go wrong with it, even if your guests are people with various food allergies or vegetarians or vegans.
What does it take?
- Classic white tofu (you can also experiment with smoked or other flavored tofu)
- Whole pepper, allspice, bay leaf and other spices according to your taste and your choice, for example turmeric, wild garlic or classic cumin, we can also use zatar spice or orange pepper
- Onions
- Garlic
- Chili peppers, optionally also dried tomatoes
Dosing the ingredients depends entirely on you and the size of the mason jar you use.
How to do it?
Cut the tofu into cubes and mix it well with a little salt and selected spices (paprika, turmeric, mixed spices, etc.). Chop the onion and garlic and prepare all the other ingredients. The glass in which we will put the tofu must be properly boiled and dried, water is a big scare when preparing such more durable products, so be careful not to leave even a drop in the glass. Then we can finally start "loading" the glass. It looks very nice if we take care and play with the ingredients so that the outside of the glass also looks nice in color. Then we don't have to wrap it in Christmas paper at all, because it will look beautiful on its own! We layer tofu, onions, garlic, chili peppers or tomatoes in a glass and intersperse everything with spices - balls of pepper and allspice, let's not forget the bay leaf. Finally, cover the entire mixture with olive oil and close the jar properly. We can tie it around the neck with some beautiful, Christmas ribbon, and shove it under the bright and fragrant tree!
Store the tofu in the refrigerator and chop it within four days of making it.
And would you rather have something sweet?
She ordered homemade chocolate
But beware… this is an absolute delicacy! Much better than the "real" Nutella. And of course much healthier too! It is ready in half an hour and you will definitely have the ingredients at home even after baking the cookies. It's great as an edible gift, but for us...for us, it's best simply on a spoon.
What does it take?
- 400 g of hazelnuts
- 100 g of high-quality chocolate (preferably homemade, of course) or 3 spoons of cocoa and about 3 spoons of syrup or other sweetener
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (and again, preferably homemade :))
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
How to do it?
First you need to roast the nuts. Be really honest here and don't skip this step, roasting the nuts will give them a much better flavor, and most importantly, they will mix much better. Slide them onto a baking sheet and put them in an oven heated to 170 °C for about 8 minutes. Then rub the cooled nuts thoroughly in your hands and remove the skins. Place the shelled nuts in a high-powered blender or food processor and blend for about 10 minutes or until the nuts turn into fine butter. Then add salt, vanilla extract and melted chocolate, and mix everything nicely with a blender. Then adjust the nutella to your liking, sweeten it with syrup, lightly salt it, add cinnamon or maybe a pinch of chili. Then transfer the chocolate delicacy to the selected glass, decorate as desired, and that's it!
Homemade nutella can last at least a month in the cold. But we are almost certain that it won't "warm up" at home for that long.
And what else for our men?
What else can we please our beloved men and at the same time have fun making at home? How about aftershave? Its production is very fun, as you can freely play with the scents of essential oils. And in the end, it will be a gift for you as well, because you can mix your loved ones with exactly the kind of fragrance that you like to smell on them too! This boyish soap with a cute packaging is sure to put a smile on your face too.
What are you giving your loved ones this year?
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