Best of America’s Best : Holiday Gifts

This year, those same old gifts you’ve been sending to your relatives in Cleveland and Pittsburgh have become, well, just a bit boring. A box of $50 chocolates? No way. Processed cheese from Wisconsin? Absolutely not. Even a pound of flavor-of-the-month coffee seems a bit dated.

Maybe these favorite America’s Best items from the last few years might make you forget to give the “I hate the holidays; they’re soooo commercial” speech. While the wrapping on some of the items may not be fancy, these wonderful products would make just about anyone happy, and each distributor guarantees delivery by Christmas.

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In Northern California, people who care about breakfast line up at Alice Waters’ Cafe Fanny to eat chewy granola made from a delicious blend of oats, honey, canola oil, sunflower seeds, almonds, wheat germ, sesame seeds and raisins. This granola is so good, you forget it’s good for you. Five one-pound packages are $20, plus shipping.

Cafe Fanny, 1619 5th St., Berkeley, Calif. 94710; (800) 441-5413. MasterCard, Visa.

Fry up a few slices of bacon from the Corralitos Sausage Co. and the smoky scent of apple wood will fill up your kitchen. You’d almost swear you were sitting in front of a roaring fire in an alpine log cabin. And, at $3.49 a pound plus shipping, it’s cheaper than a trip to the mountains.

Corralitos Sausage Co., 569 Corralitos Road, Watsonville, Calif. 95076; (408) 722-2633 . MasterCard, Visa.

Neal Smith, a former Catholic priest, grows 40 varieties of antique apples on his five-acre orchard. He also uses the fruit to make a pure sweet and tart syrup, simply too good to use only on pancakes. It’s the perfect present for the person who thought he had everything. Two 12-ounce jugs cost $16.50, including shipping.

Greenwood Farm, 265 Millers Falls Road, Northfield, Mass. 01360; (413) 498-5995. MasterCard, Visa.

John and Sukey Jamison’s naturally raised, tiny, tender baby lamb can be specially cut to order. Or try their new lamb pasta sauce made from fresh tomatoes, ground lamb and spices--it’s all baaaaaa and no humbug. Four 17-ounce jars are $30, plus $6 shipping and handling.

Jamison Farm, 171 Jamison Lane, Latrobe, Pa. 15650-9419; (800) 237-5262. MasterCard, Visa.

Sir Maxwell’s canine cookies come in clever designs and decorations ranging from Christmas trees to dreidels and menorahs. Your pooch is bound to sit up and beg for more when she tastes these homemade, all-natural treats made from whole-wheat flour, eggs, Parmesan cheese, bouillon and Italian spices. If your dog doesn’t like them, your friends might. A 10-ounce box costs $6.50 plus shipping.

Maxwell Enterprises, 7979 La Mirada Drive, Boca Raton, Fla. 33433; (407) 394-8814. MasterCard, Visa, American Express.

No frills, no glitz, the S&S; old-fashioned cheesecake is a smooth, rich wheel of good cheesy flavor. Morey & Dorey’s, the authorized distributor for the Bronx company that has been famous for cheesecake for 35 years, sends the five-pound cake by second-day air, wedged into a round of Styrofoam. The cake, which generously serves 16 to 20, costs $26 (which includes postage).

Morey & Dorey’s, 3733 Riverdale Ave., Riverdale, N . Y . 10463; (800) 822-5369. Check or money order.

The pint-sized Peanut Shop has been doing business the same careful way for more than 23 years. Their jumbo meaty nuts are cooked daily in peanut oil without additives or preservatives and shipped directly to you in a classy can. Not too salty and not too greasy, these goobers have really got something going for them. A 2 1/2-pound tin (salted or unsalted) costs $13.95, plus $1 shipping on orders west of the Mississippi.

Peanut Shop of Williamsburg, P.O. Box GN, Williamsburg, Va. 23187; (800) 637-3268. MasterCard, Visa.

Potica (po-TEET-sah), a traditional Yugoslavian holiday sweet bread that takes all day to make, is filled with fresh ground walnuts, sweet butter and rich honey. The best is usually mom’s. The second best comes from the 78-year-old Sunrise Bakery in Hibbing, Minn., a tiny town that’s famous for being the place where Bob Dylan grew up. A one-pound loaf is $6.95, plus shipping.

Sunrise Gourmet Foods, 1813 3rd Avenue E., Hibbing, Minn. 55746; (800) 782-6736. MasterCard, Visa.

Here’s a stocking stuffer you’ve probably never thought of ordering: An eight-pound cheeseball. Made in California’s Sonoma Valley since 1931, Vella Sonoma Dry Jack is an aged, Parmesan-style cheese. The mellow-yellow cheese will keep indefinitely and only gets better as it gets harder and sharper. An eight-pound wheel is $45, including shipping.

Vella Cheese Co., P.O. Box 191, Sonoma, Calif. 95476-0191; (800) 848-0505. MasterCard, Visa.