Mother's Day 2014: 10 Of The Best Foodie Gift Ideas

A ‘Teatorial’ and Coffee and Chocolate Tours
The St. Ermin’s Hotel at St James’s Park is hosting a special Newby tea tasting event, where a tea expert will be on hand to reveal all about the evolution, customs and etiquette of tea drinking. Mum can then be treated to a Spring Afternoon Bellini Tea created by Masterchef finalist Adam Handling.

Or maybe Mum would prefer a coffee? Then Chocolate Ecstasy Tours have a Coffee and Chocolate Tour that would be right up her street. The 3-hour tour involves learning about coffee and the different types and flavours, along with chocolate samples and VIP discounts. Check out the Chocolate Ecstasy Tours website for more information - tours are priced at £45 per person and gift vouchers are also available.Photo © Kavita Favelle 2014.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Bark
This white chocolate bark is really simple to make - a perfect home-made gift for Mum this Mother’s Day. We've added dried raspberry pieces for flavour - but you could experiment with some chopped crystallised ginger, which would work well here, too.

Ingredients
100g good quality white chocolate (we’ve used one with vanilla seeds in)
3 tsp dried raspberry pieces (find this in the baking aisle of the supermarket)

Method
Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl resting over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted, stir in 2 tsp of the raspberry pieces and quickly scrape the mixture into a small container (about 10cm x 16cm) that’s been lined with cling film. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tsp of raspberry pieces over the top and leave to set in the fridge. Once set, break into pieces and wrap up. Keep in a cool place.

Heart-Shaped Cheeses
What if Mum’s not that partial to chocolate or coffee but is a cheese lover at heart? Then these cheeses would be a perfect gift. They’re made by Godminster in Bruton, Somerset. The ‘Heart to Heart’ gift pack comprises of a heart-shaped Vintage Organic Cheddar and a Handmade Organic Brie and is priced at £17.45 on the Godminster website, although it’s also available in independent retailers, farm shops and delis.

Coffee and Caramel Mini Loaf Cakes
Buy a pack of mini loaf cases and bake up your favourite cake for Mum. These have a gentle coffee flavour and are topped with dulce de leche caramel. Makes 7.

Ingredients
125g softened butter
125g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla esssence
125g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp hot water, with 1 heaped tsp coffee granules mixed in
7 tsp dulce de leche caramel, for the topping

Method
Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth and then crack in the eggs. Stir in the vanilla, and fold in the flour and baking powder. Stir the coffee mixture in and divide between the mini loaf cases. Bake at gas mark 5/190ºC/375ºF for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in one of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

To finish, top each mini cake with a teaspoon of the dulce de leche caramel.

Treat Mum to a Special Afternoon Tea
If you’re looking for an Afternoon Tea with a stunning backdrop, then Sudeley Castle and Gardens in the Cotswolds might just be the place. It was the home of the sixth wife of Henry VIII, Katherine Parr. They’re offering  a ‘Katherine’s Afternoon Tea Parr…ty' (see what they did there?) with scones and cakes, sandwiches and a pot of tea, priced at £25 for two.

The InterContinental London Westminster is also serving up a special Afternoon Tea, in their Emmeline’s Lounge. They’ll be serving goodies such as rose macaroons, finger sandwiches and cherry Bakewell tartlets along with Laurent Perrier Brut champagne and a choice of 17 different Jing teas. They’ll also be a live harpist and a gift for Mum. The Afternoon Tea is priced at £40 per person.

Cherry and Vanilla Jam
Why not make up a batch of Mum’s favourite jam and give to her as a gift? Here’s a sweetly-scented and chunky black cherry and vanilla jam, perfect for a home-made afternoon tea…

Ingredients
480g bag frozen dark, sweet cherries (no pips)
450g jam sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Method
Tip the frozen cherries into a large saucepan along with the water and heat gently. As they start to soften, tip in the sugar and the vanilla paste. Turn up the heat and allow the jam to come to a rapid boil, stirring regularly. Be careful - the liquid will be very hot. Boil for 4 minutes - a cooking thermometer should show the mixture has reached 160ºC, or a small spoonful dropped onto a saucer placed in the freezer will set and wrinkle. Allow to cool slightly and pour carefully into sterilised jars.

A Spanish Food Hamper
The Foodies Larder is a hamper business that supplies customers in the UK with good quality Spanish ingredients. They have recipes on their website to help inspire you, along with scannable recipe ideas inside the hampers. They send out a different hamper every month - March’s hamper includes Valdeón cheese, Xamfaina chutney and Organic Hot Chocolate. You can arrange for a 3 or 6 month subscription or buy a one-off hamper as a gift. Check out The Foodies Larder website for more details.

Spiced Sugars
An incredibly simple but unusual gift, infuse some sugar in airtight jars with various spices and flavourings. We’ve used cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks, but you could also use dried citrus peel, vanilla pods and cloves. Mum can stir them into her coffee, sprinkle them over fruit crumbles or use in baking. Makes enough for two medium-sized jars.

Ingredients
400g granulated sugar
handful of cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks

Method
Tip the sugar into the jars. On a board, crush the cardamom pods with the flat of a knife so they break and the seeds just start to fall out. Tip the crushed pods (and any stray seeds) into one of the jars of sugar, pushing some of them down towards the bottom. For the other jar, push the cinnamon sticks into the sugar, breaking them in half if you need to. Replace the lid. Best left to infuse for a few days before giving them to Mum.

A Baking Course
If Mum enjoys a spot of baking, why not arrange for her to attend a baking course? Virtuous Bread offer courses where trainers will show her how to make treats such as stollen, fougasse and sourdough.

And what about honing those gluten-free baking skills? Gluten Free Baking and Living run day courses on baking without gluten, including a new course on gluten-free patisserie. A full-day course costs from £75, and the cost depends on which course you choose and the venue - courses are run in London, Harrogate and the Wirral. They also offer ‘At Home’ courses if you can’t get Mum to the course venues - you just print them out and complete at home.

A Cookbook
If Mum’s always looking for cooking inspiration, then why not treat her to a new cookbook? We love Angel Adoree’s series of books - her latest is The Vintage Sweets Book (published by Mitchell Beazley, £16.99), with recipes for retro treats such as Parma Violets, Sugared Mice and Fruit Jellies, along with cocktails, puddings and craft ideas. Diana Henry’s latest book, A Change of Appetite (also published by Mitchell Beazley, £25), features light and healthy recipes, including Blood Orange and Cardamom Sorbet and a Cambodian salad with prawns, grapefruit, toasted coconut and mint. Visit Octopus Books for more information on these and other titles.