ONE YEAR, MY HUSBAND AND I made batches and batches of my mother’s peanut brittle — very successful but expensive and time-consuming. Another year, we gave quarts of crab stew — delicious but too hard to deliver. 
     Yet another year, we made chicken casseroles. Those were good, but one was left too long in the refrigerator at the hospital where my husband’s bosses worked, and I worried that someone would get food poisoning. Another year, we made up batches of a tasty rice mixture. These were inexpensive, easy to do (just measure) and easy to package (sealed plastic bags inside of decorated brown-paper bags).
     I’ve made toffee, chocolate-coated pretzels, cheese straws, cheese bread with herb butter and a pesto dip that we sent along with gourmet crackers. 
     All of this is to say that I’ve done a little of it all, and I’ve narrowed my food gifts repertoire to include only those items that meet the following criteria:
• The recipe must be foolproof. The peanut brittle was delicious, but if you didn’t watch it carefully, it could burn, and then you were out the cost of all those ingredients. Choose something easy that you can’t mess up.
• The finished product has to look good. What a waste to make some goodie that is going to end up in the trash untested because it didn’t look appetizing.
• The finished items have to be easy to transport. Anything that has to be refrigerated or frozen can be an issue if the recipient isn’t home or at work on the day of the delivery. By far the easiest items to give are those that don’t have to be eaten immediately.
• The packaging has to be inexpensive. You don’t want to wind up spending more on the packaging than you did on the ingredients. I’ve been pleased with plastic holiday gift bags that sell in lots of 25 for $3. The food can be put in a sealed plastic bag, stuffed in the decorative bag, and with cute ribbon and stick-on tags, you’ve got a beautiful package that looks more expensive than it is.
• Here’s one more rule: Sometimes giving a gourmet food item that you purchase can be just as thoughtful as making one. One year, we sent my husband’s Pennsylvania relatives peaches in July from Lane Packing Farms — an early Christmas present. They are still hinting. A nice bottle of olive oil, a pound of good coffee, one perfect praline or a bottled salsa or dip make excellent gifts if you know your recipients’ tastes.
     If this is the year you want to try food gifts, here are my all-time best:
 
WHITE CHOCOLATE BARK
This dates back 20 years, when I received a Chinese take-out box of this yummy sweet-salty treat from Lea Reeves, who was not quite 2 at the time. She had assisted her mother, Katherine, in making it for her playgroup friends for Christmas.
 
24 squares white chocolate
3 cups thin pretzel sticks, broken into small pieces
2 1/4 cups dry salted peanuts
 
Place waxed paper on a cookie sheet.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave for about one minute. Stir and microwave for 10 seconds, more if it is not melted. Continue this process until the chocolate is melted. Stir until smooth. Stir in pretzels and peanuts.
Use a rubber spatula to put the pretzel mixture onto the waxed paper, spreading it out as best you can. Let it cool completely, then break into pieces. Crumble a little waxed paper into the bottom of Chinese take-out boxes. Put in about a cup of the white chocolate brittle and cover with another piece of waxed paper. Or put about a cup of the brittle into a small cookie tin.
Makes about 8 cups.
 
 
LEMON-DILL RICE MIX
This is good with seafood and also with chicken. The recipe was given to me years ago by Joanne Morrison and was published in “Paula Deen Celebrates!” by Paula Deen with Martha Nesbit (Simon and Schuster, $26).
 
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, dried (found in grocery spice section)
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion (found in grocery spice section)
2 chicken bouillon cubes, crushed, or
 2 teaspoons granulated bouillon
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/4 cups raw white rice
 
Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Do not mix this in quantities, as the spices will not work out right. Make only one recipe at a time.
Place the rice mixture in a sandwich-size resealable plastic bag. Place the plastic bag into a brown sandwich bag that you have sponge-painted with snowflakes or a Christmas tree or a holiday wreath. Fold over the top and make two holes with a hole puncher. Tie a holiday ribbon through the holes.
Make a tag that includes this recipe: Bring 2 1/2 cups water and 1 tablespoon butter to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the contents of this package. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Makes 3 cups, about 6 servings.
 
CHEESE STRAWS
Put a few of these into a small tin and put a smile on your friends’ faces. These are great for a mid-morning snack with a cup of coffee, or in the afternoon with tea. Just a great little gift.
 
2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese,
 grated, at room temperature
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, cayenne and salt and place in a medium-size bowl. Mix the butter and cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the mixture is blended and smooth, about three to five minutes.
Put small amounts of the batter into a cookie press with a star tip. Make 3- to 4-inch straws onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving about half an inch between each straw. 
Bake for 12-13 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Place about a dozen cheese straws in small holiday tins.
Makes about 70 straws. 
 
 
GREEK SALAD DRESSING
This is just delicious over Romaine lettuce, black olives, tomatoes and feta cheese. The reason I made it the first year is that I found adorable 11/2-cup salad-dressing bottles with stoppers. This recipe also comes from “Paula Deen Celebrates!”
 
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3
 lemons; use only fresh lemons; no
 substitute)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon sugar
 
Place all of the ingredients in a pint jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well. Place into your container. Make a tag that reads: Keep refrigerated. When ready to use, allow the dressing to come to room temperature and shake well.
Makes a little more than one cup, enough to dress about three family-sized salads. 
 
CREAM CHEESE AND PESTO TERRINE
You do have to keep this one refrigerated, but it is so pretty with the white, red and green colors. And it’s such a welcomed gift for those who are having guests in for the holidays.
 
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room
 temperature
2 tablespoons basil pesto (found
 in the fresh produce section of the
 supermarket)
2 tablespoons tomato pesto (found
 in the fresh produce section of the
 supermarket)
 
Take a pint-sized glass bowl and line it with plastic wrap, allowing lots of overhang. In a separate bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese, stirring with a spoon until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, place about half of the cream-cheese mixture into the bottom of the lined bowl. Smooth the top. 
Spread the basil pesto over the top of the cream cheese. Spread the tomato pesto over the top of the basil pesto. Spread the remaining half of the cream-cheese mixture evenly over the tomato pesto. Take another piece of plastic wrap and place over the top of the terrine. Refrigerate until it is firm.
To give as a gift: Purchase clear, plastic, salad-sized plates. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap from the terrine. Invert the terrine onto the plastic plate. Keep the top layer of plastic over the terrine for protection. Wrap the plate and terrine in lots of clear wrap, bunching up the top. Tie a wide ribbon around the bunched-up wrapping, tucking a tube of crackers into the bow.
 
No Time for Homemade? 
     Don’t cook at all? You can always buy a food gift. 
    
Here are some suggestions: 
• Paula Deen’s House Seasoning, $8.95, www.pauladeen.com/store
• Gullah Gourmet’s She Crab Soup, $8.95, www.gullahgourmet.com/store
• Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, $7.99 a pound, www.dunkindonuts.com/shoponline
• Byrd Cookie Key Lime Coolers, $8.95, www.byrdcookiecompany.com
• To Market To Market Popeye’s Passion dip mix, $4.45, also available at
 Byrd Cookie Company
• A good bottle of barbecue sauce, olive oil or wine. If you love it, chances
       are your friends will, too.