There is no world in which there’s such a thing as too many cookbooks – the foodie in your life will love getting some new cookbooks for Christmas!
Foodies must be the easiest people in the world to buy gifts for – nothing makes us happier than a new cookbook for Christmas. Like I said, it’s never too early to start your Christmas list. Here’s a few that have come across my desk lately, and I’ve no doubt there’s at least one here that you simply must have on your shelf. 🙂
Like old family recipes, fairytales and stories can be handed down from one generation to the next – and, like fairytales, familiar recipes can hold just as much magic and delight. Christin Geweke’s Fairytale Baking (Murdoch Books RRP $39.99) aims to provide recipes that evoke childhood memories and to help in creating new memories.
Geweke is German-based, so the recipes definitely have a more European bent, but even the fussiest of cake lovers won’t fail to be seduced by the exquisite photography of things like forest berry ice cream cake, peach rose cups and nectarine and marzipan tartlets.
Like a good story, delicious baking will fill imaginations and the senses. This is just the book to use create your own family baking story.
Buy it for – anyone who is keen to begin their baking journey.
While I’m talking about baking, New York Christmas Baking by Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wenstrup (Murdoch Books RRP $35.00) is the ideal way to get the feel of a New York Christmas, without the hefty costs of flights and hotels.
The authors already have a couple of New York-based Christmas books under their belts and this one is their ‘surrender to all of the sweet temptations’ of the city. With a selection of recipes for Christmas cakes, cookies and treats, this is another book that encourages the use of imagination – along with baked goods – to create your own New York Christmas story.
Photographing bakes like stained glass cookies, eggnog cheesecake and gingerbread people evoked strong memories in Lisa Nieschlag, taking her back to the Manhattan apartment of her New York grandmother where many of her family traditions were formed. This new cookbook for Christmas invites us all to indulge and enjoy some truly sweet dreams.
Buy if for – bakers with a hankering for the city that never sleeps.
The numbers are in and it’s pretty clear that we all need to include more plants in our diets. And, while I have some personal issues with a diet that excludes entire food groups, I think we can all agree that vegans are enjoying some of the most interesting food around at the moment.
Eat More Vegan by Luke Hines (Pan Macmillan RRP $39.99) is a celebration of the flavour, vibrancy and generosity of vegan food – without a packet ingredient to be seen. This book contains 100 amazingly flavourful plant-based dishes, including big hearty breakfasts of carrot fritters or hemp-crusted mushrooms, substantial roasts, bakes and barbecues like loaded hasselback sweet potatoes (my favourite), hemp burgers, spicy peanut stew and, of course, desserts. Who could resist the ultimate chocolate mousse, salted peanut and chocolate tart or blueberry bounty bars.
Buy this for – vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians, in fact anyone who eats. This is absolutely a great new cookbook for Christmas that we could all use.
First published in 2015, Australian restaurateur Somer Sivrioglu and food scholar David Dales’ book Anatolia (Murdoch Books RRP $49.99) has been redesigned and republished for 2019. Istanbul-born Sivrioglu runs Efendy and Anason in Sydney, where he draws on a multitude of cultural influences to recreate the incredibly rich food traditions of his homeland – where he is also a judge on Masterchef Turkey.
Dale is a food and travel writer who has previously written on how Italian cooking charmed the world. He’s now convinced that ‘Turkish will be the next international phenomenon, and Somer the next Ottolenghi’.
Frankly, I adore this book. Istanbul is hands-down my favourite city in the world. I was last there just a few months ago, and the vibrant photos in Anatolia instantly take me back to that crazy, chaotic city. In my opinion Turkish food, calling as it does on a 4,000 year old cooking culture and the rich history of the Ottoman empire, is the most vibrant, diverse and exciting cuisine in the world.
This is a culture that truly loves to eat, and the more than 100 recipes and stories of that culinary tradition in this book reveal fascinating tales, tricks and rituals, with many dishes suitable for vegetarians or vegans. The recipes range from the humble snacks available on every street corner, to the grand Ottoman banquet dishes that came out of the kitchens in Topkapi Palace, and take in much in between them – like the epic breakfast spreads and the outrageously fresh seafood mezes on the Aegean coastline.
Buy this for – anyone keen on learning the how, what, where and why of eating the Turkish way.
What a wonderful collection of cookbooks. Oh the temptation.
Your description of Fairytale Baking had me adding it to my list immediately. 🙂 Cannot wait!!
I’m with Krista… that Fairytale Baking book sounds perfect for me… but I’m also very interested in Somer’s book. Never got around to adding that one to my collection.
Hi Amanda! I think I would especially like the New York Christmas Baking Cookbook. I recently spent 6 weeks on the Upper West Side in NYC cooking (and visiting our kids). Mostly cooked savory dishes though, so this cookbook would be an eye-opener for me!