If you have a Foodie or Cookbook hoarder in your life like me then this list will help you figure out an easy gift to get them for Christmas or just because you love them. Some of these are ones I have and love and some are ones that I want but they are all my favourite books or cookbook authors.
To make it even easier you can order them on Amazon and you don't even have to go to the mall. Great for the lazy but thoughtful shopper. I know you are out there.
1.
Ina Garten is the nice version of Martha Stewart. She makes beautiful food and is a master of entertaining. She is what I aspire to be and I want to be one of her friends so she can invite me to one of her dinner parties.
2.
If you are looking for something different and Oh so Healthy, then this is the book for you. Original and creative recipes. This book is super popular for people looking to eat better food.
3.
This book is the book that Chefs want and he has a huge reputation among insiders of the food world.
4.
Even though I am a Food Revolution Ambassador I am recommending this book as it's the one that will make you drool while looking at every page and you will want to lick the photos. Jamie makes it easy for you to make these recipes and home and I am sure it will be a go to cookbook year round.
5.
Some of the best cooks reside in Toronto. Get great recipes from them. Since I live in Toronto I am kind of partial to our great chefs but if you ask any Chef from around the world they will tell you that we have some of the best chefs here. Even master French Chef Alain Ducasse said that he probably will never open a restaurant here because there is too much competition.
6.
I picked this one because I learned how to bake using my old Five Roses book.
7.
I got to meet Tyler Florence at the Delicious Food Show recently and I was lucky to get an advanced copy of this book that he signed a week before it came out in the stores. Tyler is an amazing Chef that decided to find some great Hacks to make things better and faster. The one you will use this holiday season is his hack for making better Turkey in half the time. He created all the recipes in a test kitchen above his restaurant and shot all the photos on an Ipad. There are diagrams and amazing details in this book on how he got to these cooking hacks. It's also bound in a cool notebook style book. The male chefs in your life will love this one. Tyler Florence is a Chef that women love and men want to hang with. He is a super cool and smart guy and this book is one to keep in your library.
8.
This is a beautiful book to buy even if you never get around to making anything from it. It's from the creator of the Cronut craze. A French baker with a tiny New York bakery that has people lined up around the block waiting to get a maximum of 2 cronuts per visit. He trained in Paris and worked for notable chefs like Daniel Boloud. I got to meet him at the Delicious Food Show on his first trip to Toronto and probably one of his first book signings from his fresh off the press cookbook. He brought samples for his demo of one of his new creations and I can tell you it was delicious. He is a sweet and humble man and has a passion for keeping things high quality and always thinking of new ideas to keep things fresh and delicious. This book is a also a work of art. The photography in this book is so beautiful that it would make a beautiful coffee table book even.
9.
Are you planning on doing some baking for Holiday dinners or as food gifts for friends and family? Then this is the book for you. There's a recipe for marshmallows in this book that would make great christmas gifts to go along with Hot Chocolate drinks that everyone loves.
This book is by Rosie Daykin the owner of a little bake shop in Vancouver with a cult following. The cover of this book is very retro with a nod to recipes of the past but still very modern. It's a beautiful book and the recipes look so good that you want them to jump off the page and into your mouth.
10.
And the last one was the hardest to choose because there were so many more I wanted to include. I picked this one mostly because I just love Lynn Crawford. She is one of the nicest and funniest Toronto Chefs who owns a great restaurant called Ruby Watchco in downtown Toronto. If there is a charity she is there. She has the biggest heart of any chef I have ever met. She is also a regular on the Marilyn Denis show. She has worked in huge hotels and beyond being the most fun chef she has also competed on those US network cooking competition shows and is also a judge on Chopped Canada. She is everywhere and you want to be where ever she is and you want to eat her delicious food too. Now you can make some of her favourite recipes in your own home. This book was also nominated for a Taste Canada's book awards.
This list was compiled with people you might be familiar with and people you should know and books that are some of my favourites. Your list might be different but these are some books you should check out if you haven't already.
How many cookbooks do you own? I don't even know how many I have but all I know is that I don't have room on my bookshelves anymore.
And remember that buying a cookbook for someone is the gift that gives back to you when they share the fruits of their experimenting with these books with you. Their cooking skills can only be improved from buying any one of these books and even if they cook just one recipe than I am sure it's one you will want to eat.
Happy cookbook shopping...
