Edible DIY: Simple, Giftable Recipes to Savor and Share

by Lucy Baker

Edible DIY may not be the first book for crafty cooks and burgeoning urban homesteaders, but it is the easiest. Based on the popular Serious Eats column by the same name, Edible DIY includes 75 recipes divided into five Crunchy, Boozy, Sweet, Spicy, and Jars. With plenty of packaging tips throughout, Edible DIY is the perfect solution for making inexpensive edible gifts in your own kitchen with everything from Chocolate-Peppermint Marshmallows and Coconut Granola to Homemade Sriracha and Espresso Barbeque Sauce. Illustrated with inspirational full-color photography throughout.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Crafts, How To, Christmas

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2012

Reviews

[Krystelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyone would be proud to have made the recipes in this book, and anybody who happened to receive them would be chuffed. Gorgeous ideas that I plan on using sometime in the near future for various events.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things I Like

There's definitely an easy factor to most of the recipes, even if the techniques or ingredients aren't in your daily routine.

Most of the ingredients lists are fairly short.

There's a wide variety of gifts for every season and occasion.

There are some good eco-friendly suggestions for using scraps like orange peels.

There's nothing in this book that I wouldn't want to receive as a gift. It's all so adorable.

Things I Don't Like

I probably won't make any of this because I'm lazy and selfish.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The booze recipes are the best in this book. Every one I have tried has gotten rave reviews, and requests from friends for the recipe. I highly recommend the Irish Cream and the Sweet Tea Vodka.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few really good ideas, but very few that I hadn't seen before.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally picked this up looking for gifts to make for Christmas. I like the layout and organization. I like that it notes things that would be expensive to make or ship/a hassle to store on the way to being gifted. None of the recipes caught my interest to make as a gift though. Either what sounded good was too complicated or what was approachable didn't sound interesting or likely to not be appealing to the person receiving the gift.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has some fun and interesting ideas in it.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes are good, straightforward, and accessible...but everything has alcohol in it. Must everything be about alcohol to speak to the adult palate? Can't we just cook with herbs, spices, and skill sometimes?

I also worry that many of these recipes are so short and so straightforward that cooks will be left floundering in the unspoken parts of the recipe, wondering what exactly "until silky" means. Sometimes, a little more is actually just enough.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing terribly new and exciting or overly challenging here. Definitely seems like a decent set of suggestions for homemade gifts, but I'm not sure I would make them, either: I have a lot of friends with food allergies.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the food recipes sound delicious. Things I would make and eat. I wouldn't make or drink any of the recipes from the Boozy chapter.

[Velia · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG...the recipes are so me. I wouldn't gift these though. They're very different.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting gift ideas if you want to do homemade, edible gifts for people.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting recipes and good tips.

[Louise Duckworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilllant stuff

[Rachel]

Made a few of the recipes!

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t tried any of the recipes but many look easy enough to do and like they would make great gifts. I will come back to this for the holidays!!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can utilize our garden produce for some of the boozy and jam/jelly options.

Definitely want to make the crackers.

[Handcrafted Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reading an excellent book that I found at my local library entitled Edible DIY by Lucy Baker. It is really an excellent book for gift ideas but my favorite section is the 'Boozy' section that includes some pretty great recipes for alcoholic mixed drinks that you can make and bottle for family and friends.

I really had some fun reading all of this. My problem came when I didn't read all the details of the recipe list in detail. Note the IN DETAIL part of this!!!

So the Minty Irish Cream Liquor that was supposed to look a nice, lovely brown coffee drink actually looks like a weird dark green liquid.

Grrr!!!

Not to say that it doesn't still taste extremely wonderful. I just highly recommend not drinking it out of clear glassware if you have a problem drinking dark greenish-brown liquids!

[Ships · Rating 4 out of 5]

First impression...Recipes that can be made into gifts, I am thinking about Christmas already ( i know shame on me!). Colourful, easy to read and some pretty good packaging ideas...

The recipes are attached to the major holidays of the year, covering tasty snacks, gifts such as flavoured vodka, jams and chutneys, with some refreshing packaging ideas, all the recipes are explained well and innovative, my only gripe is that I would of liked more recipes and some of the more usual gift ideas and recipes too included..beautiful colourful photography throughout and presented nicely...

[Laurie Garrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like mixed liquor, then this books is a must try. You get everything from Lemony Sweet tea to minty Irish cream liqueur.

The book also offers cookies, candy, syrups, hot sauces, jams and so other recipes such as, Chocolate-covered pretzel toffee, honey-bear mustard, blueberry port jam, barbecue potato chips... And the list just keeps going and going.

This is a great book to have for not only for gift ideas, but to just to have around the house when you need it most. Oh yeah, White Chocolate Fudge with bourbon and pecans would make anyone's pick me up list;)

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so want to be that person who can whip up a fabulously awesome homemade gift for the holidays or hostess gifts....but I am not. I just dont think far enough ahead...but someday I will be this person and when I do, I will refer to this book and maybe some of y'all will get:

curried cashews
gingersnap balls
slow cooker caramel apple butter!!

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in the concept of this book but wasn't wowed by anything I found.

There are some fun gifting ideas, but most of them are pretty standard things you can find or make. It also feels a bit outdated given the pandemic. I could see this being a useful book for someone starting out with gifting homemade things.

Overall an ok find.

[Julia]

Meh. It was a good place to get ideas if you are starting from scratch and thinking about homemade gifts. I usually do canning, so I'm better off with a canning/jellies recipe book. Cute ideas though, and I did enjoy the chapter on boozy gifts!

[Sarah Brennan-Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some misses in this book, but mostly hits. Simple recipes to make as edible gifts. No time for me to try the liquor recipes, but will definitely check out from the library again. The Fig & Red Onion Marmalade was delicious.

[Kayris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm definitely going to borrow this book again approaching the holidays. Or maybe even buy it! Great photos, easy directions, and options for gift giving for just about every occasion and every person.

[frogfairie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are quite a few "spicy" recipes in the book & since my tastebuds can't handle such things I just skipped over those. I do plan on trying many of the homemade liquers and sweets though!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple recipes that require few ingredients yet seem delish and expensive.

[Martha]

Good ideas in here - wish I'd seen it before the holidays! I borrowed this from the library but would like to get a copy for home reference.

[Arlian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice selection of unique and easy recipes. Nothing complicated, just unique variations on basic ideas. Great reference book!

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of the recipes sounded intriguing or like something I or anyone else I would be gifting to would actually eat.

[Mulligatawney Thursdays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Homemade Southern Comfort, Crema di Limoncello, Chocolate-Covered Bacon Turtles, and Dark Chocolate Dipped Orangettes. Christmas may be coming early this year...