The girls have really jumped into the Black Friday spirit.
It’s like they’re on the automatic American clock. Friday morning, after a turkey induced and sugar troubled sleep, they were up at 6, art supplies everywhere, making presents.
I think so far they are all for my sister, Maia. She’s got quite a pile.
They’re in a bit of a panic–they’re list of giftees is long and they can only make so many pop up Christmas trees, backpack beaded chains, and other miraculous creations of their imagining.
So I thought, because I still don’t have any food that I can tell you about (I was going to tell you all about my gluten free egg free pumpkin pie except I like you too much to even subject you to such a horrible horrible pie, RIP in the compost sweet pumpkin pie), I thought we might chat a bit about gifts.
It is after all, that weekend, and perhaps you’ve already waited on line somewhere to get that thing, or you’ve run to a sale, participated in an event. It’s quite a weekend, and the the combined thrill and stress of the whole thing is, I’m sure, upping the whiskey sales from American liquor stores.
So how about a little handmade gifting? Sure it isn’t an iPad or a cashmere sweater, but you’ll have more money for rent and more fun between now and the holiday.
There are, of course endless edibles to give. Every few years I order a huge stack of Chinese take-out boxes and fill them with whatever I’ve gotten myself together to make. Here a few ideas, but as long as it lasts longer than a week and isn’t too hard to put together in large quantities, it’s fair game. Just to get you going, there are chocolate blocks, caramels, ruggala, and nibby buckwheat cookies. Apple bread, banana bread, and quince rosemary polenta bread can be wrapped in parchment and twine, and for the savories in your life there is of course pickled garlic, pickled beets and hot sauce. Vanilla extract in a lovely bottle is classy, as is of course the crowd pleasing granola. And then of course, there’s jam.
Occasionally I teach workshops, and I have one coming up this fall. Join me and stellar novelist 
I realize the whole point of this post is moving on from Thanksgiving, but I had great success this year with a dairy-free, egg-free pumpkin pie filling–after longing for one for lo these ten years–and I can't resist sharing.
I started with Heidi Swanson's Spice-Kissed Pumpkin Pie recipe, left out the hazelnuts because it was too cold to go to the store, used pre-ground spices because I don't have a grinder, upped the pumpkin to 2 cups because that's how much my little roasted pumpkins produced, and (here's the egg-free step) swapped out the eggs for 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed soaked in 9 tablespoons of water.
The result was really lovely–not too sweet, nice balance of spices, firm creamy texture. The recipe does call for cornstarch, but a GF alternative might work, or you might be able to leave it out entirely.
Sorry for all the detail, but I was so excited to eat pumpkin pie again.
And thank you for the handmade inspiration, complete with otter-band soundtrack. Here's to Craft Friday (and Saturday, and Sunday…)!