About the Author

Dinah Corley is a cooking teacher and a designer and decorator. She has designed restaurants and residences. She wrote this book to show people how to "craft containers for my true talent - cooking." Corley lived on Martha's Vineyard for 20 years; she now lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

Reviews

"One of five must-have cookbooks for the modern chef." -- SheKnows.com From Library Journal: Noted food editor and cooking school instructor Corley displays her talents in this collection of fabulous recipes. First, she provides detailed hints on finding the right gift containers, whether repurposed from flea markets or picked up at hardware stores or gardening shops. Creative chapters like "Small Tokens" showcase casual yet useful luxuries--e.g., Avocado Butter frozen in the shell and Dark Chocolate Pâté. "Big Batches" helps the cook make gifts in quantity, such as Toffee Lady Apples with Pink Sea Salt, and "Pennywise" covers little gifts created for under $15, including genoise cakes baked in whole eggshells or chic French Milk Jam. The photos are gorgeous, and the packaging ideas are creative and classy. Highly recommended for experienced bakers and DIYers who want to impress. From The Kitchn: This little book has about 100 recipes and projects for gift-giving, and I was so relieved to see fresh, interesting ideas -- a welcome departure from the same old cookie-mix-in-a-jar routine.Her ideas range from amaretti cookies in clean paint containers with a paint chip tag to black bean salsa with chips in a container decorated with corn husks. There are gifts meant to be eaten right away, and others that can go in the pantry. There's a great mix of simple ideas and more elaborate ones, but all feel accessible.