What better way to celebrate Mom than to indulge her palate...and then give her a gift of a beautiful book?

Pull together the perfect Mother’s Day with the help of this beautiful, inspiring trio of books. Choose from 100 fantastic easy brunch dishes, fabulous guilt-free cupcakes and other treats, or a warm cup of custom-blended tea. What better way to celebrate Mom than to indulge her palate with these delicious, special recipes made just for her? Happy Mother's Day!

Great Gifts for Mom!

Martha Stewart's
Cooking School

Barefoot Contessa
Back to Basics

Giada's Kitchen

Rachael Ray's
Big Orange Book

Baked Eggs in Ham Cups
From Gale Gand's Brunch!

Serves 4

This dish is simple to make but very attractive—the pastry chef in me loves that. Lining muffin tins with ham serves two purposes: It creates an edible container for the eggs, and it adds flavor. You can replace the mozzarella with another kind of cheese if you want a stronger cheese flavor; using fresh mozzarella makes this an authentic Italian dish, but its flavor is quite mild. When you’re eating with guests, these are probably going to be knife-and-fork food—but when I was testing the recipe, I ate them with my hands, and that works too.

• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter for the tins
• Four 1/16-inch think round ham slices (the largest you can find at the deli)
• 1 teaspoon pesto, homemade or store-bought
• 8 large eggs
• Eight ¼-inch cubes fresh mozzarella
• 4 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Butter 4 compartments of a metal muffin tin. Fold each ham slice into quarters, insert the point end in a buttered muffin cup, and let it open—it will have a ruffled look. Place ¼ teaspoon pesto in the bottom of each ham cup, then carefully crack 2 eggs into each cup. (Sometimes I crack my eggs into a pitcher with a pour spout or into a small paper cup and pour them into the ham cup from there.) Tuck 2 mozzarella cubes and two cherry tomato halves into each cup on top of the eggs, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. (Remember that the ham and pesto both lend saltiness to the dish.)

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the egg white looks set but the yolk is still a bit runny. Remove the ham cups from the muffin tin and serve them in small bowls or lined up on a platter.

Orange Blossom-Vanilla Oolong Tea
From Tea for You

Makes enough for one hundred 6 to 8 ounce cups

Oolong tea combines the deep flavors of black tea with the grassy tang of green tea. It blends very well with flower petals and herbs and is strong enough to be used twice in brewing.
*Add slivers of dried orange peel, if desired, to this aromatic mix.

• 8 ounces oolong tea leaves
• 4 tablespoons dried orange blossoms
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, pod and seeds dried overnight

In a 16-ounce glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the tea leaves with the orange blossoms and dried vanilla seeds and pod. Shake well to combine, and store for 1 week in a dry, dark place. Use boiling water to brew the tea, and let steep for 2 to 3 minutes.

Blondies
From Babycakes

This recipe’s dynamic is hard to explain, and I really like that. This is the charm of the blondie. The vanilla and chocolate have a subtle repartee, with neither really dominating nor giving way to the other. Initially, the vanilla seems to cede center stage to the chocolate, but if you pay close attention, you’ll notice how the vanilla rounds out the chocolate with a seductive mellowness, ultimately creating balance. Making them bite-size gives a great crunchy texture, but you can also bake them in a cake pan and serve them as squares. Either way, blondies are best served warm.

• ½ cup garbanzo–fava bean flour
• ½ cup brown rice flour
• ½ cup potato starch
• ¼ cup arrowroot
• 1¼ cups evaporated cane juice
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup coconut oil, plus more for the tins
• 1/3 cup homemade applesauce or store-bought unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup hot water
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease three 12-cup mini-muffin tins with oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, potato starch, arrowroot, evaporated cane juice, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the ½ cup oil and the applesauce, vanilla, and hot water and stir until the batter is smooth. Using a plastic spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips just until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Using a melon baller, scoop the batter into each prepared mini-muffin cup. Bake the blondies on the center rack for 9 minutes, rotating the tins 180 degrees after 5 minutes. The finished blondies will be golden brown and firm to the touch.

Let the blondies stand in the tins for 10 minutes. To maintain freshness, leave the blondies in the muffin tins until ready to serve. Cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.