The List: Give Local Gifts For The Holidays

by Steven Doyle

It’s that time of year when you start making your naughty and nice list up for holiday gifting and we have come up with a simple way to take care of everyone on the nice side. Our short list has a few of our favorite notions and local gourmet items that will fit a budget of any size. Check out our 2013 holiday gift list.  

Scardello Artisan Cheeses: One of our very favorite places to stop and nosh an afternoon away, Scardello offers up a full line of artisan cheeses. Give the gift that will surely make the people on your nice list smile by offering one of the boxes prepared by the staff at Scardello. Choose one of the boxes that start at $45 and contains 3 ¼ pounds of cheese. From there you select the region of origin of the cheeses that go into the box such as France, Italy of the United States. There is even a cheesemonger’s choice where they load you up with the house favorites. You can even add bottles of wine to the gift. Shipping available.

Oh! Brownie: The Queen of Brownies, Iris McCallister, has a knack for providing the perfect treat that is good any time of the year. The Oh! Brownie line up makes for a fantastic holiday gift for friends and family, but she also does the corporate gifting gig and can customize your orders with your logo. Check out her online store to find how you can send the mini bites or the massive 3×3 sized brownies.  Enjoy the many flavors such as Dark and Mysterious, Good Karmel, or the Dirty Blondie. Spiff up your gift with a silver couture bucket.

Dude, Sweet Chocolate: From the tiny kitchen in Bishop Arts pastry chef Katherine Clapner makes delicious hand-made chocolates of the unusual variety. Her special brand is always a crowd pleaser and now she ships across the country. Check out her fun line of gifts that include flavors such as Crack in a Box which contains candied nuts, cocoa nibs in dark chocolate bark, or Fungus Amongus, made with porcini mushroom & pepita soft butter toffee. One of our favorites from Dude, Sweet is the Tub of Love, an Italian hazelnut chocolate spread that will remind you of Nutella, only much better. Order by the specific chocolate, or choose one of the super cool gift tins fashioned into retro lunch boxes that start at $25.

Great One Cookie Company: The owner Pam claims that life is too short to eat an average cookie, and we totally agree. Check out Pam’s amazing line up of cookies that will satisfy the sweet tooth on your gift list. There is nothing better than a chocolate chip cookie, but there are so many more to choose from at Great One.  During the holidays owner Pam offers her famous Frosted Italian Spice cookie made from her secret family recipe. If you ship locally, chances are Pam will deliver the cookies in person. Our staff favorite is the lemon drop in case you wanted to send us a treat.

Kent Rathbun: Chef Rathbun is quite the entrepreneur. On his web site he sells a full line of  products including sauces such as his Thai Red Curry-Coconut Sauce or his Texas Peach Barbecue Sauce. His Steak and Chop Salt is amazing stuff, and his kitchen at Abacus cranks out buckets of the stuff to add to various meats at his restaurant in Dallas. Rathbun also has a line of knives and a limited amount of cookware offered up on his website.

Kate Weiser: Look for Kate to open her shop up in Trinity Groves just after the first of the year. Until then you can find her chocolates at a variety of locations including Eatsi’s and at her pop-up shop in the lobby at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. Delicious, beautiful and fun to give and receive.