Let’s take a look at the new cookbooks coming out this week, just in time for the holiday season.
(Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you)
New York Christmas Baking, by Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup (Murdoch Books, November 12, 2019.) The authors help you create a magical New York style Christmas, by offering New York inspired recipes for baking Christmas cookies, holiday cakes, and Christmas breakfasts. Recipes found here include classics like Challah buns and apple cider doughnuts, stained glass cookies and candy cane cookies; the breakfast section includes recipes for bread pudding, banana pecan waffles and cinnamon roll pancakes. The festive holiday cake recipes include grape pie, mini cranberry pies, Red Velvet Christmas cupcakes, and Eggnog Cheesecake. Both authors are based in Germany, so I’m a bit confused why they’re writing about New York Christmas recipes, but I probably can’t resist such a festive holiday baking book anyway.
The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern, by Claudia Fleming and Melissa Clark (Random House; November 12, 2019). Speaking of New York, here’s a dessert cookbook from its famed (and not inexpensive) Gramercy Tavern restaurant. This weighs in at a massive 360 pages. The first chapter is entirely devoted to berry dessert recipes, including panna cotta, shortbreads, cake, sorbets and pudding. The Stone Fruits chapter includes recipes for a crisp, a cobbler, another sorbet, and an intriguing Apricot-Muscat Soup. A chapter featuring Figs, Melons and Grapes has recipes for a tart, a clafouti, honeydew melon soup, and a parfait. The next chapter specializes in apples, pears and quinces, with recipes for crepes, sorbet, a compote, blini and a tartes tatin. Citrus fruits and tropical fruits each get their own chapter. Surprisingly, there’s a vegetables desserts chapter! Those recipes include Pumpkin Clafouti, Chilled Rhubarb Soup (I think I’ll ask for a no-thank-you helping on that one!) and Cornmeal Pound Cake. The cookbook continues with a chapter for Nuts, one for Herbs and Spices, one for Flowers, one for Spices, one for Sweet Essences (such as Earl Grey Ice Cream), a chapter on Cheese, Milk and Cream, a chapter of Chocolate recipes, and a chapter on complicated-sounding Signature Composed Desserts. Such a comprehensive baking book will definitely find its way to my kitchen soon, I’m pretty certain.
The Couple’s Cookbook, by Cole Stipovich and Keira Stipovich (Ten Speed Press, November 12, 2019) This cookbook is intended to be gifted to newlyweds. It begins with a primer on the pantry and kitchen essentials, and ends with recipes for cocktails for couples. Chapters are divided into: Breakfast & Brunch; Lunch; Starters & Sides; Mains; and Desserts. Peeking through, I see recipes for important classics like Green Beans Amandine, Dinner Rolls and grilled vegetables, but I wonder if young newlyweds are really up for making Celery Root and Parsnip Gratin, Crispy Duck Fat Potatoes with Horseradish Creme Fraiche, or “Fromage Fort Crostini.” A lot of the recipes here seem really advanced. Take a look inside this cookbook and see if it’s appropriate for the newlywed couple-to-be in your life.
Meal Prep for Two, by Casey Seiden (Rockridge Press; November 12, 2019) Here’s another cookbook for couples. My boyfriend and I are definitely trying to eat out at restaurants less (to save both money and our waistlines). Cooking at home has been challenging since he’s a formerly long-time bachelor and not yet very comfortable in the kitchen. From this book, we can learn to start the day together, be workweek-ready, make dinners that are better than takeout, enjoy a Mediterranean staycation, beat the heat, find cold comfort, eat like flexitarians, and be weekend warriors. It all sounds kind of exhausting, but I know it would be good for us.
Chocolate: Recipes and Techniques from the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts, by Ferrandi Paris (flammarion; November 12, 2019) This chocolate-making book is “a complete chocolate course for the home chef from the world-renowned professional culinary school Ferrandi Paris.” It teaches techniques for working with chocolate, making creams and sauces, working with doughs and pastries, making bonbons and confections, and creating decorations. The cookbook continues with recipes for making molded and dipped bonbons, chocolate bars, chocolate flavored drinks, cakes and desserts, gateaux and celebration cakes, plated desserts, and then frozen desserts. There’s a section on equipment, and a section of general advice as well. Pick up a copy for the budding home chocolatier in your life.
Chocolate for Beginners, by Kate Shaffer (Rockridge Press; November 12, 2019) is perhaps a better chocolate cookbook choice for me than the above. I’m not quite a beginner – I make handmade truffles and molded chocolates with tempered chocolate every Spring and every Christmastime. However, I still am not the best chocolate temperer in the world (perhaps I haven’t the temperament for it? Ha, ha). This book covers techniques and recipes for making chocolate candy, confections, cakes, brownies, pies, tarts and more. The book begins with Chocolate 101. The second part covers fundamental techniques such as melting, tempering, coating, molding and making chocolate decorations. The book then continues with teaching how to make ganache, prepare nuts for candymaking, making caramel, and making brittles and toffees. The final, fourth part of the book presents all the chocolate dessert recipes. It’s difficult to read through without drooling!
Tasty Every Day, by Tasty (Clarkson Potter; November 12, 2019) promises “all of the flavor, none of the fuss.” It’s the latest super helpful cookbook from the incredibly popular Tasty food video juggernaut. This cookbook is meant to help get dinner on the table faster, with recipes for slow cookers, one-pot dishes, 20 Minutes Tops, 5 Ingredients or Fewer, No Cook, Bowls, On the Go, and Noshes. There’s also a chapter called “Better Than Takeout” that hopefully could help wean me off my Uber Eats addiction.
Five Ingredient Vegan, by Katy Beskow (Quadrille Publishing, November 14, 2019). A new vegan cookbook comes out every week lately. This week it’s a cookbook specializing in recipes that take only five ingredients. I love that idea! As a vegetarian, I suspect I’d sneak a sixth ingredient into any recipes I attempted from here (sour cream, butter or an egg here and there perhaps?) I have so many friends “going vegan” lately, I’m sure I’ll pick this book up as a gift for one or two of them this holiday season. There are 100 “simple, fast, modern” recipes here, organized by Soups, Lunches, Suppers, Sweets, and Basics. There’s also a helpful section on The Minimal Kitchen, keeping it simple in the kitchen, and pantry essentials (which she charmingly calls “Store-cupboard essentials.”)
Rose Elliot’s Complete Vegan, by Rose Elliot (Nourish, November 12, 2019) Here’s another vegan cookbook out this week. I almost didn’t include it in this list because I really don’t care for the cover. But I started researching and found out that Rose Elliot is a very influential and beloved vegetarian cookbook author from Britain. So let’s take a peek inside. Recipes are divided into chapters for Breakfast and Brunch; Light Bites and Lunches; Midweek Mains; Weekend Feasts; Desserts; Baking; and a section on Basics. The food photography inside is beautiful, modern and makes up for the smeary green cover, lol!
Cakes for Kids, by Juliette Lalbaltry (Gibbs Smith; November 12, 2019) promises “40 Easy Recipes That Will Wow!” I have a giant weak spot for colorful, playful kid cake cookbooks. I don’t ever really end up baking cakes from scratch in my overly-busy life, but I sure like looking through the photos of darling cakes for kids in books like this. The adorable cakes in this baking book seem aimed at really little kids, toddlers and the under 7 crowd perhaps. There’s a goldfish cake, an owl cake, a blue-eyed sheep cake, a hedgehog and a polar bear. Some of the more inventive cakes pictured here include “Snails Having a Picnic,” “Flying Saucers in Space,” and “Lemon Island Turtles.” Fanciful fantasy cakes include a Chocolate Castle, Tarzan’s Jungle, and a Halloween graveyard. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the surprises for you – take a look yourself! This is one of the cutest kid-cakes books I’ve seen.
The Ultimate Kids Baking Book, by Tiffany Dahle (Page Street Publishing; November 12, 2019) Now here’s a baking book that’s FOR kids. The author writes the Peanut Blossom cooking blog. She begins this cookbook with a note to parents encouraging them to bake with their kids as well as let the kids experiment with these recipes on their own. The chapters begin with Becoming Bakers, then move on through Baking School, Sprinkle Party Time, Spring Parties, Summer Celebrations 101, Fall Fiesta, Winter Festivities, and How to Be a Party Pro. I really appreciate that these recipes are presented seasonally – love that! The festive, colorful food photographs inside have sold me and I’ll be gifting this book to a couple teens and pre-teens I know this Christmas!
Rachel Goenka’s Adventures with Mithai, by Rachel Goenka (Harper Collins India; November 10, 2019) I’ve never heard the word Mithai before and was disappointed it never once was defined in the introduction to this book, much less on the cover. Turns out it means “sweets.” Sweet and simple. Since this cookbook was published in India, I’m probably not its target audience and the author assumed her readers wouldn’t need a definition. But the book is available on Amazon in the US too! I have quite a few Indian friends here in Seattle and still was unfamiliar with the term. I’m intrigued by this baking cookbook with its approach to giving a modern makeover to traditional Indian desserts and treats. The chapter on Desserts includes puddings, Creme Brulee, tarts and crumbles, mousse and cinnamon rolls. There’s a chapter on Cheesecakes and Cakes; a chapter devoted to Truffles; a chapter for Macarons (I’m curious about the Coconut & Cardamom macarons!); and the final chapter on Ice Creams, Kulfis (I’ll have to look that one up too) and Sorbets. A helpful section at the back provides kitchen conversions, thoughtfully.
The Middle Eastern Kitchen, by Rukmini Ayer, Pene Parker, and Becca Spry (Lodi Publishing; November 15, 2019) I can’t seem to own too many Middle Eastern cookbooks, and I bet I can make room on my shelf for this 224 page one. I’m relieved to find that this cookbook has full-color photographs of every prepared dish (I really count on that to help me create the dish properly). The recipes are mostly for easy weeknight suppers, which I appreciate as well. I’ll have to skip quite a bit of this book as it looks meat-heavy, but I’ll use the recipes for mezze, alter the recipes for stews, check out recipes for rice and vegetables. And of course the salads and desserts will be quite useful for me! (Drop me a comment below if you’re also a vegetarian who likes Middle Eastern cookbooks!)
Low Carb Cooking with 4 Ingredients, by Pascale Naessens (Lannoo Publishers; November 8, 2019) Here’s another few-ingredients-needed cookbook, this one for people trying to avoid eating carbs. The text seems a bit pretentious at times, but you can skip over to the handy recipes. They’re sorted into dishes that can be made in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, or 25 minutes. There’s also a tour of the author’s studio near the end, a guide to the pantry, and an explanation of the differences between keto and low-carb lifestyles.
The Instant Pot Bible, by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough (Hodder & Stoughton; November 14, 2019) I need this cookbook! I bought an Instant Pot last year and was afraid to experiment with it. I’ve used it only once, after watching a very helpful YouTube video. This cookbook is authorized by the makers of Instant Pot, and contains over 350 recipes and strategies for getting the most out of your Instant Pot. The whopping 480 pages contain recipes for breakfasts, sides, stews, roasts, desserts and much more. I think I still need to watch more videos to become comfier with my machine, but Instant Pot Bible will surely give me a lot of guidance.
The 30-Minute Vegetarian Cookbook, by Lisa Turner (Rockridge Press; November 12, 2019) I’m totally up for cookbooks that help me get meals on the table more quickly, and I’m vegetarian! I cook meat for my boyfriend, though! Chapters include Quick and Easy Vegetarian Meals; Breakfast; Salads and Bowls; Pastas and Noodles; Stir-Fries and Curries; Soups, Stews and Chilis; Pizzas and Flatbreads; Handhelds; and Desserts. I haven’t been able to see very many previews of the food photography here, so I might not elect to buy this one online. The Amazon “Look Inside” preview mostly shows the (helpful) measurement conversion charts and quick chart for cooking vegetables.
Keto Air Fryer, by Maria Emmerich (Victory Belt Publishing; November 12, 2019) You can check out our Cookbook Lookthrough preview of this book on YouTube. The cookbook promises over 100 low-carb recipes “to heal your body & help you lose weight.” I had no idea how many types of foods you might want to air fry – there are recipes here for breakfast, appetizers, sides, meats, kid classics, sweets and a section for vegetarians too.
