The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide 2019

Cold brew

$48

for 12

Hatch Roastery’s cute-as-a-button cans combine two of the trendiest potables du jour: creamy nitro cold brew and oat milk—the new thing in non-dairy alternatives—with a little cocoa added for that mocha hit.

905-474-3555, hatchcrafted.com.

Orange-cranberry bitters

$30

Bartender Jeff Carroll’s bitters are used at the city’s top spots, including all the Drakes and Piano Piano. This recipe—made with orange oil essence, cranberry and Christmassy spices—adds a little extra to classic cocktails like Manhattans and negronis.

The Organic Boutique, 970 Queen St. W., 647-352-2585, carrollandco.ca.

Pepperoncini

$9

and up

Mattachioni’s kicky house-made spread improves everything it touches (except maybe your eyes).

Mattachioni, 1617 Dupont St., 416-519-1010, mattachioni.com.

Brigadeiros

$23

for nine

Brigadeiros, Brazilian confections made using sweetened condensed milk, cocoa and butter, are like the love children of fudge and truffles. These gorgeous orbs come in flavours like crème brûlée and salted caramel.

Chocollata Gourmet, 986A Kingston Rd., 416-693-2448, chocollata.com.

Fresh pasta

$0.75

and up per piece

Pasta might seem like an unusual gift choice, but not when it’s the fresh ricotta-stuffed ravioli and mezzaluna from Famiglia Baldassarre, the 10-seat lunch counter.

Famiglia Baldassare, 122 Geary Ave., 647-293-5395, famigliabaldassarre.com.

Funky-flavoured chocolates

$24.75

for nine

These glossy, small-batch bonbons wouldn’t be out of place in a jewellery box. Not for the plain-chocolate lover on your list, they come in far-out flavours like soy sauce kalamansi, tom yum caramel, Ovaltine and durian—the fruit so odorous it’s banned from Singapore’s public transit system.

Onyx, 617 Gerrard St. E., 647-948-9107, onyxchocolates.com.

Unconventional sufganiyot

$2

and up

My Zaidy’s Bakery studs and stuffs their deep-fried dough rounds with all kinds of confections. We’re partial to the s’mores, Oreo and tiramisu varieties, though purists can still find classic rounds filled with jellies, creams and custards.

My Zaidy’s Bakery, 7241 Bathurst St., #4, Thornhill, 905-763-0373, facebook.com.

Scandi sugar cookies

$48

and up for a platter

These sugar cookies are pretty enough to decorate a tree, but even better paired with a mug of hot cocoa.

The Sweetest Thing, 282 Kerr St., Oakville, 905-582-0862, thesweetestthing.com.

Butter tarts

$18

for six

The scratch-made tarts come in 20 rotating flavours, including plain (for the purists), chocolate-chip, coconut, chai, Skor, peanut butter and—the signature offering—raspberry, which is only available on Saturdays.

Sweet Oven, 1911 Queen St. E., 416-519-9559, thesweetoven.com.

Pink gin

$39.95

Aged in red-wine casks from Niagara and finished with wildflower honey, this rosy hooch goes down smoothly, with flavours of juniper, candied lemon and honeysuckle.

Drinkwillibald.com.

Look choup

$35

for 32

These intricate and auspicious Thai delicacies are made of mung bean paste (it tastes better than it sounds) and coconut cream, then painted and dipped in agar for a glossy sheen.

Patchmon’s Thai Desserts, 258 Dupont St., 647-882-5250, thaidesserts.ca.

French cannelés

$25

for six

At Little Pebbles, the cannelés feature Japanese ingredients, in flavours including chocolate, earl grey and vanilla-rhum. The volcanic treats have custardy innards with crackly outer shells made shiny with Ontario beeswax.

Little Pebbles, 160 Baldwin St., #8, 416-792-0404, little-pebbles.com.

Shorty cans

$3

per can

Head brewer Brandon Judd makes approachable, balanced beers—not the super-boozy, hella-hazy hop bombs that have been dominating the craft beer scene for so long—and uses at least 20 per cent Ontario grain in every brew.

Avling Kitchen and Brewery, 1042 Queen St. E., 416-469-1010, avling.ca.

Sourdough subscription

$16

per delivery

Sourdough has a pretty cool superpower: it stays fresh for days—long enough for Dear Grain in Dundas to ship their breads to any address in the province. Pick two slow-fermented loaves and a delivery frequency, then break out the butter when the bread lands on your doorstep the day after it was baked.

Deargrain.com.

Coffee tasting kit

$30

The #MYJAVA tasting kit comes with a choice of four seasonally changing, fair-trade (and in some cases, organic) beans—like the Colombian Cosmic Goose—packaged in adorably arted 100-gram bags

Javaroasters.ca.

Brunch bundle

$24

This DIY care package from Toronto’s top sellers of smoked salmon includes 250 grams of lox, a container of fresh cream cheese from Monforte Dairy and four Gryfe’s bagels on which to pile it all. All that’s left to do is make some mimosas.

Kristapsons, 1095 Queen St. E., 416-466-5152, kristapsons.com.

Mead blanc

$25

This mead-wine mash-up from Rosewood Estates Winery—which is run by a third-generation beekeeper—blends honey with gewürztraminer grapes for an off-dry sip, full of lychee and wildflower flavour.

Rosewood Estates Winery, 4352 Mountainview Rd., Beamsville, 905-563-4383, rosewoodwine.com.

Baklava box

$34

and up

Brothers Rasoul and Ismail Alsalha make all kinds of sweet and savoury Middle Eastern goods at their bakery, but this baklava box is the best way to try a bit of everything. It comes packed with a choice of things like esh al ashfour (crunchy vermicelli bird’s nests filled with syrup-soaked pistachios) and swar (phyllo bracelets piped full of Nutella).

Crown Pastries, 2086 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough, 647-351-2015, crownpastriesbaklava.com.

Organic cider

$13.75

Southbrook’s wild-fermented golden elixir is bone dry and only mildly effervescent, so it drinks like a brut champagne, and it’s got a bit of barnyard funk to it (that’s a good thing!).

Southbrook, 581 Niagara Stone Rd., RR4, Niagara-on-the-Lake, 905-641-2548, southbrook.com.