Looking for the cherry on top for the foodie in your life? These three edible treats make perfect gifts this Christmas.
Giapo's Christmas bauble
Here for a good time, not a long time, are Giapo's outrageously decadent-looking chocolate Christmas baubles, made with 70 per cent cocoa chocolate, and filled withgingernut tiramisu soaked with De'Longhi's Prima Donna Soul espresso. Each bauble is handcrafted, and enough for three people. They'll need to be pre-ordered now for pickups until December 26, so get them while they're cold. $22 each, giapo.com
Tony's Chocolonely, the Belgian chocolate maker working to rid the chocolate industry of slavery, one gloriously colour-saturated packet at a time, has released two new flavours in time for Christmas - milk chocolate gingerbread and dark chocolate mint candy cane - only available this Christmas, so get them while they last.
Founded by three journalists in 2005, Tony's strives to make all chocolate slavery and child-labour free. It is now one of the Netherlands' largest chocolate companies, with all chocolate ethically produced to Fair Trade standards, with a living wage paid to all their cocoa farmers. $9.99, available from cookandnelson.com, Farro Fresh, and selected grocery and gift stores around NZ.
Tony's Chocolonely mint candy cane chocolate. Photo / Supplied
Bread & Butter's boozy mince pies
If you like a little boozy baking, grab some of Bread & Butter's mince pies while they're still available. The bakery keeps its Christmas offer traditional, with gingerbread houses (both constructed and in DIY kits) and a stollen recipe that owner Isabel Pasch brought to New Zealand from Germany. The stollen (a fruit bread, often with a seam of marzipan running through it) dates back to a 15th century tradition in which a giant stollen is paraded through the streets of Dresden to the town's Christmas market.
But the stars are the delicate, crisp-shelled mince pies, filled with fruit that has been macerated in port and brandy. It's the taste of Christmas, no matter what the weather. Available from breadandbutter.nz.
