From: The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook

I feel like cooking...

Cookbooks for Christmas Celebrations

Christmas cooking can be a lot, so to ensure you enjoy yourself (it is your Christmas too) we've got an array of books to bring you guidance, recipes and inspiration. From New York to Downton Abbey, from the beautifully homemade, to tips and ideas from Australian Bake Off's Darren Purchese, whatever your style, Christmas has never looked more festive and delicious.

Chefs Host Christmas Too

Chefs Host Christmas Too

Darren Purchese

Acclaimed chef Darren Purchese puts his own spin on Christmas with over 75 fresh, fun, lighthearted and accessible recipes to keep the throng fed and entertained over the festive period. Chefs Host Christmas Too is cleverly put-together line up of Christmas greats, and new twists on how to prepare them.
Home Made Christmas

Home Made Christmas

Yvette van Boven

A gorgeous book that aims to keep the festive spirit high, but the stress levels low with cozy, comforting recipes that cover everything from drinks and nibbles (Sausage and Fennel Buns) to festive spectaculars such as Christmas Porchetta – and the book includes some great meat-free ideas too.. As well as being a very talented cook, Yvette van Boven is a seasoned hostess, and her advice for party-planning is rock-solid (‘accept help’, ‘be realistic’, and ‘make lists’, she says).
New York Christmas

New York Christmas

Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup

During the festive season, New York City city pulls out all the stops, puts on its lights and gets ready to feast & authors Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup brilliantly capture that sense of anticipation, and the photographs show off the city at its snowy, wintry best. Recipes cover the whole festive period, from Christmas baking (Christmas Macadamia Cookies, Gingerbread Cake with Frosting) to Christmas dinner and New Year’s Eve drinks (Eggnog, Cranberry Gin Fizz). Slickly packaged and beautifully shot, it’s a book that’s bound to rouse the festive spirit.
The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook

The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook

Regula Ysewijn

Christmas played an important role in ‘Downton Abbey,’ and this book by Regula Ysewijn is a sumptuous showcase for festive food and trimmings providing a thoroughly delicious edible history. Meticulously researched, it traces the holiday’s roots far back, beyond English Victorian traditions. Alongside ‘traditional’ roast turkey and gingerbread are long-forgotten dishes such as Whitby Cake and Hackin Pudding.

Recently added cookbooks

Recipe of the Day

Recipe of the Day

Banana blossom curry

Lands of the Curry Leaf

Peter Kuruvita

(1)

"Absolutely lovely flavours. I used tinned banana blossom (which is like a whole fruit sliced into quarters and stuffed in the tin) so I didn’t have to do the soaking, but just cut the blossoms into smaller strips. Worked well with a fish curry, rice and sambol." ckbk user, Fay

Author spotlight

Heidrun Metzler

Heidrun Metzler

Heidrun Metzler is a German-born food writer and educator based in the US. In her book German Heritage Baking she shares the recipes and knowledge needed to create the traditional bakes she grew up with, and that have been handed down to her through the generations.

Pierre Koffmann

Pierre Koffmann

French-born chef Pierre Koffmann began his influential career in 1970, after moving to the UK to work under the Roux brothers at Le Gavroche. His first restaurant, La Tante Claire, opened in 1977, and quickly rose to attain three Michelin stars. Koffmann's work has continued at the forefront of fine dining, and his books–such as Memories of Gascony–document his celebrated recipes and life in food.

Vina Patel

Vina Patel

Cookbook author Vina Patel was born in Gujarat, and now lives in California. In her books she combines her love of the flavors of her childhood with food from her travels and her adopted home. Her books include The Spice Collector's Cookbook and From Gujarat with Love.

Features & Stories

Consuming Passions: Fermentation

Consuming Passions: Fermentation

James Read is the founder of artisanal kimchi brand Kim Kong Kimchi (a Nigella favourite) and the author of On Cabbages and Kimchi, a bestselling book on fermented food. Here he digs into this obsession and highlights fermentation-related books and recipes from ckbk’s collection.

Behind the Cookbook: The Dooky Chase COOKBOOK

Behind the Cookbook: The Dooky Chase COOKBOOK

The Dooky Chase Cookbook, first published in 1990 and re-issued last year, is the latest classic title to be added to ckbk. Its author, Leah Chase (1923–2019), was known as the “Queen of Creole Cuisine”. While she stood less than 5 feet tall, she had an outsize influence on food culture in her hometown of New Orleans, and far beyond.

New feature: Upload a photo along with your recipe review

New feature: Upload a photo along with your recipe review

It’s great to see more and more recipe reviews appearing on ckbk each week! Reviews help to identify the standout dishes in ckbk’s large (and sometimes almost overwhelming) collection of cookbooks. Reviews are also a great way for users to share their practical tips, based on their experience cooking a recipe—and quite often the cookbook author may chime in with advice too. To make reviews even more useful, we’ve now added the ability to include a photo so you can show how the recipe worked out. Read on to find out how to use this feature, and how you could win a ckbk apron and free ckbk Premium Membership for a year.

Newsletter: 🥨 German Heritage Baking is our December cookbook of the month + you share your foodie gift ideas 🎁

Newsletter: 🥨 German Heritage Baking is our December cookbook of the month + you share your foodie gift ideas 🎁

Born near Frankfurt in Germany, Heidrun Metzler’s childhood was gloriously flavored by the delicious baking of her mother, aunt and grandmother. Traditional German baking, recipes handed down through generations, and with a careful balance of sweetness, of nuts and dried fruits and buttery goodness, were a constant and a joy. After she moved to the US in 1978, and began her journey to becoming a food writer and educator, recreating those bakes, and helping others to understand and achieve fine results with her recipes, became central to her work