Top 10 last minute Christmas presents

Top 10 last minute Christmas gifts for food lovers 

Go on; admit it. It’s less than a week until Christmas and you still haven’t done all your Christmas present shopping. Tut-tut. There’s a fine line between last minute and insane, and you’re about to cross it. Thank baby Jesus and Santa’s little helpers, Poppet’s Window has a put together the top 10 last minute Christmas gifts for food lovers. Even if you still need to buy Christmas presents for someone who prefers packaged ham to pulled pork, or canned baked beans to fresh broad beans, they’re sure to get a kick out of the below suggestions. No really, you’re welcome. 

LuxBite | 38 Toorak Road South Yarra | 9867 5888 | luxbite.com.au

“Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.” That’s LuxBite’s motto. Everyone loves something sweet, and if they don’t, you probably need to remove ‘em from your friendship circle. LuxBite is famed for their wonderful macarons (available in boxes of four, eight or 16), but they’ve also introduced some affordable mini Christmas hampers with spreads such as salted caramel, kaya coconut and Heilala vanilla caramel (also available for individual sale), along with gingerbread men cookies, macaron pops, white chocolate snowmen and Valrhona chocolate Christmas trees.

MoVida Bakery | 3 Tivoli Road South Yarra | 9041 4345 | movida.com.au/bakery

MoVida Bakery is your one stop shop for baked goods, although keep in mind they are closed from Christmas Eve until early January. Stop in and pick up a tasty Christmas pudding, shortbread biscuits, homemade granola, or a Santa’s sack full of their insanely delicious salted caramel doughnuts.

Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio | 647 Chapel Street South Yarra | 9827 7060 | burchandpurchese.com

Aside from their creative cakes and shelves full of salted caramel, honeycomb and artisan chocolate, Burch & Purchese offer Sweet Studio Sessions. These make the perfect Christmas gift and involve owner and chef Darren Purchese transforming the shop into an elegant restaurant space for a four course dessert night with drinks. There will also be vouchers for pastry demonstrations on offer, which include a signed copy of Darren’s recipe book, a recipe file and an 18cm cake to take home. Alternatively, Burch & Purchese have a great Christmas range of sweet treats, including edible Santas, Rudolphs, Christmas puddings, chocolate Christmas baubles, gift bags and gift boxes. Last pick-ups on Christmas Eve until 4pm.

Gewurzhaus | 342 Lygon Street Carlton (9023 1028) or 543 Malvern Road Toorak (9023 7076) | gewurzhaus.com.au

What you see when you step into Gewurzhaus will overwhelm you. The smell of spices will flood your nostrils and the colours will swamp your eyes. A stunning range of salts, sugars, teas, herbs and spices is just waiting to be gifted. But if it’s all too much, you can always purchase a gift voucher, a spice gift pack (such as A BBQ, Sweet or Pantry Essentials gift pack) or a voucher to a cooking class in the New Year.

Cupcake Central | 672 Glenferrie Road Hawthorn or Level 2, Dining Hall, Melbourne Central, City | 9077 4542 | cupcakecentral.com.au

‘Tis the season to be jolly and not worry about calories. If you’re stuck for gift ideas, Cupcake Central’s artistic, tasty and good-lookin’ cupcakes are the way to go. There are cupcake gift boxes, gift vouchers and even baking and decorating masterclasses.

Il Migliore | 271 Auburn Road Hawthorn (9813 3440) or 830 High Street Armadale (9555 6666) | ilmigliore.com.au

Il Migliore is more than a gourmet biscuit shop. Everything in their stores is packaged beautifully, which means you don’t have to partake in that dreadful act of Christmas wrapping. Hampers start from $50, but there are also festive gifts in tins with bows from $17.50. They also stock beautiful preserves (the quince is perfect for Christmas), fruitcakes, muesli, chocolate-dipped dried fruit and more.

Tea Lovers 

It’s hard to go past Oriental Teahouse for authentic Chinese tea with a modern twist. They have a great deal on in the lead up to Christmas, where if you buy 2 items you get 10% off the total cost; 4 items, 15% off; 6 items, 20% off and so on. It doesn’t matter if you’re buying an $8 box of relaxing tea or an entire tea set. Plus gift wrapping is only $1 per item. If you want to introduce tea to the men in your life, T2 has managed to make their tea masculine with sleek, practical thermoses, teapots and cups in slate grays and black.

Coffee Lovers 

If you want to treat someone with the gift of specialty coffee this year, head to any of St Ali, Seven Seeds, Proud Mary, Auction Rooms, Patricia Coffee Brewers or Clement Coffee Roasters to treat them to a seriously high quality caffeine fix. If coffee and tea don’t hit the spot, Mörk’s all-natural specialty hot chocolate is a fantastic alternative and a great option for those who take their chocolate seriously.

Prosseco 

Prosecco is the drink of Summer 2012/2013 and makes a wonderful alternative to ‘just another bottle of wine’. Prosecco is a light and refreshing sparkling white wine, available from most bottle shops. Dan Murphy’s are pretty reliable if you want to buy Prosseco. Try the Brown Brothers prosecco from King Valley, Victoria.

Cookbooks 

You can’t go wrong with cookbooks… unless you buy one for your grandpa, father or male partner. That being said, they might get a kick out of Diner by Andrew Levins, which is written by a DJ/chef and is full of dude food, including BBQ greatness, hotdogs and milkshake-topping ice cream. From personal experience, I can’t recommend Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi and Feasting by Karen Martini more highly. Mr Wilkinson's Favourite Vegetables: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Seasons by Matt Wilkinson also comes highly recommended, as does Whole Larder Love by blogger and forager Rohan Anderson. Books for Cooks in Fitzroy has a great selection and will be able to make further suggestions.