Santa goes gourmet: Here is how you can too

Basil oil
What you will need
2 packets of basil leaves
1 cup extra virgin olive oil, salt as per taste
Method
Blanch basil leaves in boiling water for one minute.
Remove and place it in a bowl full of ice cubes.
Towel-dry and blend it with oil and salt into a smooth puree.
Transfer it into a glass jar and seal it before gifting.

Basil, parmesan and tomato butter
What you will need
100 gm butter, 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese (grated), 10 basil leaves (shredded), 1 tbsp sun dried tomato (finely chopped)
Method
Take 100 gms semi-salted butter and beat it with a spoon until light and frothy.
Add Parmesan cheese, basil leaves and sun dried tomatoes to it and mix well.
Roll the flavoured butter on a baking sheet or grease-proof parchment paper and shape it into a long sausage. Twist the ends and seal tight.
Refrigerate the butter for a few hours and remove from the fridge only before gifting.

Vanilla sugar
What you will need
1 whole vanilla bean, 1 cup sugar
Method
Split vanilla bean and scrap the seeds out. Keep the peel aside.
Add the bean extract to sugar and blitz it in a mixer.
Sieve the mixture through a sieve and transfer it into an air tight container.
To gift, remove a heap of sugar and pour it into test tubes. Seal with a cork and serve.

Candied orange peel
What you will need
3 oranges, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 3/4 cup water
Method
Rinse the oranges and peel the skin. Chop it into 1/2 inch slices and keep aside.
Boil water and add the peels to it. Drain and repeat the process thrice.
Whisk sugar with 3/4 cups of water and simmer it in a sauce pan. Add the orange peels and avoid stirring, swirl the saucepan when required. Maintain a constant simmer and allow it to cook for 45 minutes. This should take all the bitterness away from the pith.
Drain the syrup and set the peels aside to dry for six hours.
Pack it in plastic bags and tie it with ribbons before serving. You can also dip these peels in dark chocolate.