For Kitchen Santas

Monster Cookie Cutters

Joni German makes giant copper cookie cutters at her Old River Road shop in Chico, Calif. These collectible eight-inch cutters make great-looking cookies, and they’re attractive enough in their own right to hang on the wall. German has designed many patterns, but we particularly like the starfish, Scottie dog and snowflake.

Copper cookie cutters, $20.95 each, plus $5 shipping and handling. Allow one to two weeks for shipping. Call or fax (530) 342-1517.

Foodie Soaps

Montage Handcrafted Soap Co. has a new line of aromatherapy soaps and bath accessories called “The Dish,” because they all have food themes. The individually made soaps are 100% vegetarian--not that you’re going to eat them, but with names like cucumber salad, blackberry smoothie, chocolate truffle swirl and lemon peel, you might be tempted. The bars are sold two to a package or by the slice. Fizzing bath bombs are also available, as well as bath salts, body scrubs and lip balms.

Bath soaps, $10 to $12 per (two-slice) package or $5 per five-ounce slice, from Montage Skin and Body Studio, Manhattan Beach; Montage Handcrafted Soap Co., El Segundo; and select Nordstrom stores. Orders may also be placed on the company’s Web site: https://www.thedish.net.

French Teas

These smartly packed French teas make wonderful gifts for friends and family. “Noel” is a wonderfully aromatic holiday tea blended with mild spices and orange zest. It comes in an attractive black canister sealed for freshness. Other teas are also available in canisters. Another welcome gift for the tea lover would be a box of 30 traditional French muslin Bourbon tea bags (they’re flavored with Bourbon vanilla--a variety of vanilla, nothing to do with Bourbon whiskey). They make a delicious, slightly sweet tea, great for serving either hot or iced. The tea bags are also available in several other flavors.

Mariage Freres “Noel” tea, 3 1/2 ounce canister $19, and box of muslin tea bags $18, from Algabar, West Hollywood.

French Tease

Mariage Freres also has several products for tea lovers besides tea. Delicately flavored tea shortbread comes boxed in four little sealed packages and several flavors. Fine French chocolates are sprinkled with Marco Polo tea to give an interesting crunch and perfume to the chocolates. There’s a tea gelee in several flavors, which makes a wonderful spread for the shortbreads.

Mariage Freres tea shortbreads, $10 for 5 1/4-ounce box; Chocolat des Mandarins, $15 for 4 1/4-ounce box; and tea gelee, $10 for 8.47-ounce jar, from Algabar, West Hollywood.

The Scottish Martini Glass?

Speaking of Martinis: Here’s an exquisitely gift-wrapped presentation box with two Christofle Martini glasses. The very bubbly-looking glass in the foreground of the photo is the Cluny glass; the elegant glass behind it is the Scottish.

Boxed Martini glasses, set of two Cluny glasses $75, set of two Scottish glasses $85, from Christofle, Beverly Hills.

Panettone alla Versace

These beautifully wrapped 2.2-pound panettone cakes make wonderful mail-order gifts. The Vialetto, wrapped in emerald and gold Versace banana fiber silk, is a light cake studded with raisins and candied fruit. It’s also available in ruby or sapphire and gold wrap. The Pane degli Angeli, wrapped in gold crepe, is a chocolate hazelnut panettone imported from Italy.

Panettone cakes, $39.95 each plus $8.50 shipping nationwide, from Simply Classic, Whittier; (800) 962-4895, fax (562) 907-2843. Allow one week for delivery; two-day or next-day Federal Express service available.

Moroccan Pot

These handsome French glazed clay tagines from Le Flambadou are great for both cooking and serving. They are traditional for the long-simmered Moroccan stews which are also called tagines. The conical lid allows steam to escape from the vessel during the slow cooking process. These tagines may be used on gas, electric and ceramic range tops and in ovens and microwaves. They have a lifetime warranty and are dishwasher safe. They come in light and dark blue, yellow, olive, cognac and dark green.

Tagine, $132, from Cookin’ Stuff in Torrance, Maison and Cafe on La Brea and Treasures of Ojai, Ojai.

Sweet Lumps of Coal

We all know what naughty little children get in their Christmas stockings--lumps of coal. Well, do you know somebody who deserves a bag of coal? Actually, the muslin bag contains pieces of shiny cinnamon candy shaped like lumps of coal.

Candy coal, $6 for 5-ounce bag, at Williams-Sonoma stores.

Try the Horn

London designer Farzy Kung sells a wide array of serving pieces in Danish horn that would be cherished for years to come. The color is light and (light TO dark? kg) dark honey amber, sometimes variegated with ivory tones, so no two pieces are alike. The ones made with sterling silver have a very rich look (and the silver handles can be engraved), but they are naturally more expensive than plain horn.

Farzy Kung horn serving pieces, $5 to $250, call (213) 237-4712; allow one week for delivery.

The Mighty Cookies

Pfaltzgraff Collegiate Collectibles sells packages of cookie mix with rah-rah cookie cutters attached. You can also get cookie jars with appropriate collegiate symbols. We’ve tried the USC (football helmet) and the UCLA (bruin) cookie cutters. Other shapes include a Stanford palo alto, a Berkeley grizzly and a whole menagerie of ducks, beavers, cougars and sun devils from 50 colleges and universities.

Collegiate Collectibles cookie molds, $7.95 each, and cookie jars $29.95, plus $3.95 shipping, from CJ’s Gourmet Emporium, (888) 225-7366 or https://www.cjsgourmet.com