The Best Time of Year: When Everyone Wants to Bake

Gingerbread everything! No Images? Click here   Dear Serious Eaters, For me, the holidays truly are the most wonderful time of the year, a brief window when my normal nine-to-five becomes a seasonally sanctioned way of life. Everyone's in the kitchen making pumpkin pie and hot cocoa and gingerbread, and otherwise channeling their inner baker like never before. Dessert is often considered frivolous or unnecessary, but come December, it's easy to see how it occupies such a special place in our family traditions. I couldn't love it more. The Holiday Recipes That Speak to Me Classic, Quick Gingerbread Could there be a more festive Christmas cookie? It's loaded with holiday spices, decorated to the nines, and so thin you can get away eating half a dozen at a time. Gingerbread Sheet Cake I love how the tart ’n’ tangy cream cheese frosting plays off the ginger's heat in this rich and spicy cake. Plus, the sheet cake format is an easy way to feed a crowd, especially for more casual holiday gatherings. Gingerbread Ice Cream Sensing a theme? 'Tis the season for brown sugar and spice! After rolling (and re-rolling) and cutting out all those gingerbread men, don't toss out those scraggly dough scraps. Instead, bake them off to grind into crumbs, then churn up a batch of this supremely Christmasy ice cream.   My Must-Have Gift Pick A French Rolling Pin If you plan on tackling those gingerbread cookies, you'll need a rolling pin. Tapered French rolling pins are more maneuverable and more durable than other styles, and they're easier to clean as well.     Serious Eats 88 35th St Ste 602 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Click Preferences to control which emails you receive from Serious Eats. Clicking Unsubscribe will remove you from all Serious Eats emails…which would be sad. Preferences  |  Unsubscribe

Festive Gingerbread Ice Cream

Your Recipe of the Day No Images? Click here Gingerbread Ice Cream​ This recipe is a great way to polish off the scraps left over from making Stella's gingerbread, but feel free to use your own favorite recipe or store-bought cookies instead. A brown sugar base plays up the molasses notes of gingerbread, for an ice cream that packs all the hearty flavor you'd expect from its namesake cookie. It pairs brilliantly with the cranberry jam in our holiday trifle and makes for a fun twist on cherry pie à la mode. Read More → The Kitchen Essential An Ice Cream Machine With a properly frozen canister and a well-chilled base, this ice cream will turn fluffy and light as it churns. Some good news: It looks like you can still get our favorite canister ice cream maker just in time for Christmas. Grab it while you can for a sweet end to the year. Shop Now   Serious Eats 88 35th St Ste 602 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Click Preferences to control which emails you receive from Serious Eats. Clicking Unsubscribe will remove you from all Serious Eats emails…which would be sad. Preferences  |  Unsubscribe

Our Favorite Gifts for Coffee and Tea Fiends

Worth the Buzz No Images? Click here   Gifts for the Coffee and Tea Lovers in Your Life Shopping for someone who lives and breathes (or, you know, drinks a lot of) coffee and/or tea? We have obsession-worthy gift ideas that may just rival their caffeine addiction. A Precision Electric Kettle The Chefman's design makes it remarkably easy to use. The lid opens at the push of a button, and the mouth is wide enough to reach a hand into. The glass body means it's super easy to see how full the kettle is, and a removable filter on the spout, plus a stainless steel bottom, makes scale buildup easy to deal with. A nice bonus: This kettle comes with a tea infuser attachment, so your giftee can brew tea right in the kettle. A Milk Frother Many of the milk frothers out there do a poor job of emulating the thick, creamy foam produced by a good espresso machine's steaming wand. Nespresso's frother is different—it whisks the milk but manages to get much closer to the ideal cappuccino-foam consistency. Plus, it has a nonstick interior that's easy to clean, and a hot/cold setting for hot or iced drinks.   A Le Creuset Espresso Mug Pretty espresso cups in general make a nice hostess gift and stocking stuffer. But when they're made by Le Creuset, they're even better—mostly because everything from the French heritage brand is aesthetically pleasing and built to last.   A Coffee Grinder It's not exactly cheap, but this burr grinder does an admirable job of grinding coffee for espresso, pourover, and drip at a significantly lower price point than similarly performing competitors. It'll absolutely make your giftee's mornings even better.   SPONSORED  Cuisinart Coffee Center 12-Cup Coffeemaker​ The Coffee Center from Cuisinart comes with a 12-cup carafe, so it makes enough to serve a crowd, but it's also equipped with a single-serve brewer for when it’s just you.   See the Rest Right Here     Serious Eats 88 35th St Ste 602 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Click Preferences to control which emails you receive from Serious Eats. Clicking Unsubscribe will remove you from all Serious Eats emails…which would be sad. Preferences  |  Unsubscribe