Last Minute Gifts: DIY Fall Fig Basket

Oct 17

Oct 17 Last Minute Gifts: DIY Fall Fig Basket

The holidays are here, which is a time for gift baskets and camaraderie. Homemade gift baskets are so much better than store bought ones - primarily because you source your items., and you don't end up with garbage like candy corn.

Why a gift basket?

Perfect for any occasion: birthday, potluck, celebration
It's ALWAYS festive
Who doesn't like edible gifts?
Also, imagine how fly you'll look carrying this in...

If you weren't sure if you were going to make friends at this get together, BAM. Automatic friends. Anyways, let's get to it.

What you Need

A Basket - this is kind of a requirement

The Anchor Item: California Fig

It's important to pick one flavorful anchor item so you can build your basket around it. For this basket, the anchor item was California figs.

If you've never had figs, think of Fig Newtons, but way healthier (tons of fiber). For a sweet item like this, you have to pair it with contrasting items, like a smooth creamy cheese or a brighter wine to balance out the flavors.

The sweetness of the Concord grapes pair well with the Port Wine spread.

I love having lots of color in my baskets.

Wine
Choose a wine that is fruity to pair with the sweetness of the figs.
Red: Pinot Noir
White: Chardonnay

Recommendations:

Oyster Bay Chardonnay
Globetrotter Sangiovese
Puglia Rosso
Mark West Pinot Noir

Cheese

Since figs are sweet and seedy, you want to pick cheeses that are smooth, creamy, and a bit funky.

Recommendations
Funky Bleats - Bleating Heart
La Tur - Caseficio dell'Alta Langa
Goat Cheese Log
Capricho de Cabra

We have a lot of deep colors in this basket, adding sunflowers adds a pop of color.

These are the kind of photos I want to hang in my living room without being judged.

Baguette
You can get crackers or a baguette. But girl, tell me that baguette doesn't look good in that basket. My pick: Semifreddi's sourdough baguette. Cut the baguette in half, and keep half inside the wrapper, half out.

Fresh Fruit
These figs are dried, so you want to add some fresh, crisp flavor to the basket.

Pears - They add color and freshness, and crisp texture.
Grapes - Concord grapes are fantastic sweet grapes that pair well with soft cheeses, fruity wine, and dry figs.

Funky Bleats has a stinky cheese taste that pairs excellently with mission figs.

Meat
You have the sweet flavors down, but what about savory? Add a stick of salami to the basket. I used the Cerminelli Whiskey Salami.

Nuts
To have smooth, buttery flavors to compliment the acidity of the dried figs, I chose cashews and pistachios. If you don't have fancy bags, cut the tops of zip lock bags, insert nuts, & tie them tastefully.

Décor
This adds pops of color to your basket and livens it up.
Scarf - makes your basket look homey & festive
Flowers - try to match these to the items in your basket

Thank you so much Valley Fig Growers for sponsoring this post. Even though this post is sponsored, these opinions are honest. My favorite items I'd recommend buying are the mission figs & the balsamic pepper jam.