Pastry Chef Booboo Maramba Shares Her Top 20 M&S Christmas Food Gift Ideas
Two weeks before Christmas and if you need food gift shopping ideas then this article is perfect for you!
More than a decade ago, I met Pastry Chef Booboo Maramba when we chose her to make our beautiful wedding cake. She is one of the very few known and sought-after pastry chefs in Davao City. She remains kind, soft-spoken and the smiling known pastry chef we knew her as she welcomed us into her beautiful home way back then where clients would go to meet her.
Fast forward, it was nice to meet her once again recently and this time, Pastry Chef Booboo Maramba shares her top 20 M&S Christmas food gift ideas just in time as Marks & Spencer marks their 20th anniversary!
Leave it to mom to have the Christmas list completed long before the Yuletide mood kicks in, get the gifts and delivered even before the recipients can set up the Christmas trees.
Pastry Chef Booboo with mommy bloggers Tere, Verna, Vanessa with Ms. Sarah having a taste of M&S goodies.
My personal fave aside from the chocolates are the After Dinner Chocolate Mints, yummy Turkish Delight and the Six Month Matured Frosted Snowflakes Christmas Cake perfect for our Christmas hotel staycation with my boys.
“Food is the wisest gift to give with desserts and chocolates the most popular. It can be enjoyed by many plus the sweet treats can double the happy feelings this season,” says Booboo Maramba, Davao’s pastry queen and the first Wilton Method Instructor of the Philippines.
Chef Booboo is renowned for her beautiful, classy and meticulously decorated cakes specifically for milestone celebrations. She may have set the spatula aside waiting for her successor, her daughter, to take over, but if she does pick it up, the client must really be close to her heart, or extremely lucky.
On special occasions like Christmas she would concoct something special for her closest friends and family. But as much as she wants to customize each gift, the long list will make it a very challenging task. For this reason, she goes to shop food for gifting at her preferred food and fashion brand—Marks & Spencer.
“I am assured of the high quality of their food products.”
The pastry chef is on a 20/20 mission. On Marks & Spencer’s 20th year in the Philippines, the brand is filling the shelves with more than 80 assortments of delectable indulgences exclusive to the holiday season. From these selections, the pastry expert selects 20 of her best food gifts to give.
“Just like the cakes I bake for gifts, the food item choice will depend on the like and dislikes of the recipient, and must of course be age-appropriate.”
For the whole family to enjoy, Chef Booboo suggests the Operetta, Praline and Nut Selection Box, Belgian Collection, Six Month Matured Frosted Snowflakes Christmas Cake, Nine Month Matured Intensely Fruity Christmas Pudding and Biscuits for Cheese.
For tea lovers and their after dinner treats, the chef recommends the Festive Classic Tea, Cranberry & Clementine Jaffa Cakes, Short Bread and Assorted Biscuits in decorative, reusable tin cans.
Kids love chocolates and M&S made it doubly irresistible. The milk chocolates wrapped in shimmering tin foils are quite attractive as it is delicious, and the Paddington Bear bonus stick on will delight the young souls.
The adults tend to have mature taste buds and most favor the less sweet treats. Chef Booboo suggests the Swiss Dark Chocolate Truffles, Viennese Biscuit Selection, Turkish Delight, Brandy Snaps, Pudding Selection, Orange Golden Caramels and After Dinner Mints and for variety, the Milk, Dark and White Selection Box.
“I have always been a fan of the M&S food selection. I have my personal favorites like the shortbread cookies because it’s not too sweet and the unique packaging is a bonus, especially the Christmas tree tin can. I also love the Turkish Delights as it pair well with coffee or tea. The assorted chocolates, which are not too sweet as well, are divine and truly melt-in-your-mouth treats.” This pastry chef-mom knows best. Trust her.
Fashion: Marks & Spencer 2017 Holiday Collection available at M&S Abreeza and SM Lanang Premier.
Photography: Kethley Uy
Make-up & Styling: Otoy Mercado
Venues: T’nalak Home, Abreeza Mall; M&S Abreeza; M&S Gift Shop at SM City Davao: Marco Polo Davao.
