Christmas Gifts for Bakers: Vanilla, Cocoa and Salt

Most gift lists for bakers are tools: a stand mixer, a bench scraper, a set of cutters. A baker who bakes every week already owns those. What runs out is the vanilla, the cocoa and the chocolate, and those are the things a home baker tends to ration because a bottle of pure vanilla costs more than a bag of flour. That makes ingredients a practical Christmas gift for a baker, and one that goes straight into the December cookie tin.

This guide covers seven ingredient gifts for bakers, from vanilla to cocoa to finishing salt, each with how a baker uses it, and a table of listed prices at the end.

Vanilla: paste, beans and extract

Vanilla comes in three forms, and they do different jobs. In the U.S., vanilla extract has a legal definition: it must contain at least 35 percent ethyl alcohol by volume and at least one unit of vanilla constituent per gallon, where one unit is the flavor extracted from 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans at no more than 25 percent moisture (21 CFR 169.175 and 169.3). Extract is the everyday form, stirred into batters and doughs.

Vanilla paste is extract with the seeds left in. Heilala makes its Pure Vanilla Paste by blending a three-month cold-extracted vanilla bean extract with vanilla seeds, and the label lists vanilla bean extract, vanilla bean seeds, 5% sugar and a little xanthan gum, with 14% alcohol. Heilala says one teaspoon gives the flavor and seeds of a whole vanilla bean, which makes it easy to measure for shortbread, custard or ice cream where the black specks show (shop Heilala Pure Vanilla Paste).

Whole beans are for infusing: split one, scrape the seeds into a custard base or sugar, and drop the pod into the warm milk. Heilala's Madagascan Vanilla Beans are Vanilla planifolia, which the maker describes as creamy and smoky with a bourbon-like flavor (shop Heilala Madagascan Vanilla Beans). The paste and the beans together: $28.00. For the story of how vanilla came to be grown outside Mexico, see the history of vanilla and Edmond Albius.

Cocoa powder for brownies and dusting

Valrhona's cocoa powder is unsweetened, and Valrhona lists it at 93% cocoa and 21% fat, for pastries and for chocolate drinks. It has a deep red-brown color that shows in a dusting over truffles or a bûche de Noël (shop Valrhona Cocoa Powder). $25.00. Natural and Dutch-process cocoa behave differently with baking soda, and the cocoa powder guide explains which to use in which recipe.

Chocolate for chopping and melting

Valrhona Guanaja 70% comes as fèves, which are small flat discs of chocolate. Valrhona describes Guanaja as having a strong bitterness with warm and floral notes, and it suits ganache, brownies and chocolate chip cookies (shop Valrhona Guanaja 70% Fèves). $23.00.

Flaky salt for the top of the cookie

A pinch of flaky salt on a chocolate chip cookie or a caramel is a small thing a baker notices. Maldon Sea Salt has been made from the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England, since 1882, and its pyramid-shaped flakes are a common finish on a cookie (shop Maldon Sea Salt). Saltverk's Flaky Sea Salt comes from the Westfjords of Iceland, made from seawater with geothermal heat (shop Saltverk Flaky Sea Salt). The two together, for comparing side by side: $18.99.

Honey for baking

Honey keeps cakes moist and adds its own flavor, so the variety matters. Jacobsen Salt Co.'s Raw Buckwheat Honey is single origin and never heated or ultra-filtered, and the maker describes it as dark and earthy with deep molasses notes, for gingerbread or a spiced cake (shop Jacobsen Raw Buckwheat Honey). Bee Squared Apiaries, a Colorado beekeeper, makes an Orange Blossom Honey that the maker describes as medium-bodied and citrusy, and pairs with fruit and chocolate (shop Bee Squared Orange Blossom Honey). Together: $23.50.

Spice and sugar

Burlap & Barrel's Everything Nice baking spice blends cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, star anise and wild mesquite, a blend developed with the Bon Appétit test kitchen for cookies, cakes and pies (shop Everything Nice Baking Spice). Burlap & Barrel describes its Panela Cane Sugar, made by traditional methods in the mountains of Colombia, as warm and buttery with a fresh cane flavor, and suggests it in place of white or brown sugar (shop Panela Cane Sugar). Together: $20.95.

For a baker who decorates, Burlap & Barrel also makes Rose Petal Spiced Sprinkles with Molly Yeh, sprinkles infused with single-origin spices (shop Rose Petal Spiced Sprinkles). $11.99.

Christmas gifts for bakers, by price

Prices follow the listed price on each product page. Products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com.

A few things to check

• What they already use. Look in their cupboard if you can. A baker who goes through a bottle of extract a month will use paste, and a baker who makes custards will use the beans.
• Allergies and diet. Read each label before buying. The vanilla paste contains alcohol, and spice blends can be packed in facilities that handle nuts or other allergens.
• Timing. If the gift is meant for holiday baking, give it early in December so it can go into this year's cookies.

Short answers

What do you get a baker for Christmas? An ingredient they use up and tend to ration: vanilla paste or beans, an unsweetened cocoa powder, baking chocolate, flaky salt or a varietal honey.

What is the difference between vanilla paste and vanilla extract? Extract is a standardized liquid with at least 35 percent alcohol. Paste is extract thickened and mixed with vanilla seeds, and Heilala says one teaspoon of its paste equals the flavor and seeds of one whole bean.

What are good stocking stuffers for bakers? Flaky salt, a jar of baking spice, sprinkles or two vanilla beans, all under $15 at listed prices.

What is a good gift for a baker who has everything? Something to compare: two flaky salts or two honeys side by side, so they can taste the difference in the same recipe.

A baker remembers the gift that went into the cookies. If the vanilla jar is scraped clean by January, it was the right one.

See also: seasoning gift sets, including a baker set with two cinnamons and cardamom.

Sources & Further Reading

• 21 CFR 169.175: Vanilla extract (eCFR)
• 21 CFR 169.3: Definitions, unit weight of vanilla beans (eCFR)
• Heilala Vanilla: Vanilla Paste
• Valrhona: Cocoa Powder