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Cookbooks for a Delicious Festive Season

Whether you are looking for a failsafe recipe for a festive classic, a new take on the old, or something you've never tried before, we've got the recipe for that. Browse these four books for inspiration, plan a menu you really want to eat, and don't forget to delegate. Have a tasty Christmas all!

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 and German-born authors Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup brilliantly capture that sense of anticipation, with photographs showing 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.

Cooking for Christmas

Josceline Dimbleby

Originally published as part of a cookbook series from UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's way back in 1978, this cookbook retains a devoted following to this day and has a host of ideas for a seasonal feast. The legendary mince pies, their crust enhanced with a subtle note of orange zest and the filling enriched with cream cheese, are raved about by legions of fans.

Christmas

Le Cordon Bleu

Le Cordon Bleu Christmas collection has all the recipes you need to create a beautiful, traditional family celebration. From delicious canapés for Christmas Eve drinks to a traditional honey ham, sophisticated alternatives to turkey or a classic Christmas pudding or Italian panforte, this book will give you all the inspiration you need to make this Christmas truly memorable.

The Feast of Christmas

Paul Levy

Why is such importance placed on what foods are eaten and how they are prepared and served at the Christmas meal (which Levy calls “our annual midwinter binge”)? Levy, who knows his history, digs deep to find the roots of modern traditions, dissecting the meal, course by course, and chapter by chapter. The result is a curiosity-satisfying, hunger-inducing, revelatory read.

Festive Cocktails

Christmas is all about tradition, and that holds true for festive drinks too. Hot Buttered Rum, Wassail, Mexico's Ponche Navideño, Egg Nog, and Mulled Wine all top the traditional list. This collection also rounds up some contemporary classics-in-the-making, such as the Celebratini and Cranberry Gin Fizz. Traditional or modern – these cocktails are sure to get the party going.

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Be Inspired

Curated collections from ckbk's editors

Recently added cookbooks

Food for the Gods Molasses, Date, and Walnut Squares

"Wrapped in foil and all colors of cellophane, Food for the Gods was Lola’s Christmas gift to us grandkids, as if we were little immortals deserving of such grace. (Since her death, my mom has carried on the tradition, and hopes one day to pass it on to us.) These bars, like Lola’s, come out golden and dense, loaded with butter, molasses, dates gone almost gooey in the oven and so lovely to chew, and walnuts with their luscious oils and reliable crunch. It’s fruitcake reincarnated as fudge, and more tender. For extra nuttiness, I sometimes mix buckwheat flour with all-purpose (¼ cup [30 g] buckwheat to ½ cup [65 g] AP)." Angela Dimayuga and Ligaya Mishan

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Author spotlight

Jesse Valenciana

Food journalist Jesse Valenciana is a reporter and columist for The Takeout, and appears on local and national television in the US. He is a champion of Mexican food, and other Hispanic foods of the Americas. His book Birrias: 65 Recipes from Traditional to Modern focuses on Mexican home cooking, and the classic birrias stews at the heart of it.

Judi Rose

Judi Rose is a food writer, author, and culinary educator based in London and New York, and daughter of legendary chronicler of Jewish food Evelyn Rose. Her books include two written with her mother, with whom she cooked for decades, and her 2020 book To Life!: Healthy Jewish Food, written with her cousin Jackie Rose.

Tony Custer

Tony Custer is a Peruvian businessman and philanthropist with a passion for the gastronomy of his home country. His books, The Art of Peruvian Cuisine 1 & 2, bring together the culinary talents of many of Peru's most celebrated chefs, and show the excellence and range of Peru's food scene.

Sean Sherman

Chef Sean Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, has spent the last 30 years cooking across the US and globally, researching and promoting understanding of Native American food, culture, and history. Through his business The Sioux Chef, he works as a caterer and educator, with a mission to widen understanding of and access to indigenous ingredients. His debut book The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, is the 2018 James Beard Award Winner: Best American Cookbook.

12 Ways With Clementines

Celeriac Roast with Citrus Sauce

Clementines in Brandy

Seared Fennel & Clementine Salad

Clementine and pistachio compote with cardamom

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Features & Stories

Newsletter: All the Christmas recipes and food lover gifts you could possibly need 🎁🎄

Christmas pudding is that once a year treat, rich in sweet fruits, seasoned with spice and more than its fair share of brandy, and everyone looks forward to it. Unless, of course, you don’t. It you are one of the naysayers, never fear, we’ve got a recipe for that. Your Christmas table will nonetheless be graced with a pudding to thrill them all, fitting of the annual feast.

Newsletter: 🕎 A Happy Hanukkah, with help from Evelyn and Judi Rose + alternatives to turkey for Christmas 🦃

Jewish food is as rich and varied as the many communities worldwide who have developed their own traditions, and evolve them today. As we publish Judi Rose’s feature on Hanukkah, we are delighted also to highlight the addition of her latest book to ckbk. In To Life!: Healthy Jewish Food, written together with her cousin Dr Jackie Rose, Judi combines aspects of a nutritious Mediterranean diet with Jewish culinary traditions, taking inspiration from her mother's recipes.

Recipes to celebrate Hanukkah

To mark the recent arrival on ckbk of To Life! by Judi Rose, daughter of legendary Jewish food writer Evelyn Rose MBE, we asked Judi to share some of her favourite family memories, recipes and traditions for this month’s Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the Feast of Lights. Don’t miss her family potato latke recipe!

Newsletter: 🎄Prepare for Christmas with the expert guidance of Elizabeth David + Scotland country cooking 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The countdown to holiday season has begun! And we have a glorious early Christmas present for you—Essential Elizabeth David (Christmas). Heralding the launch of our new book series of classic Elizabeth David recipes, published by us at ckbk, we bring you a festive feast selected by the culinary legend’s nephew, kitchen designer Johnny Grey.

Get ready for Christmas with these essential Elizabeth David recipes

Elizabeth David is regarded as the most influential British food writer of recent times. She transformed the culinary landscape of post-war Britain with an approach to cooking that drew inspiration from her Mediterranean travels—her many books have inspired generations of chefs and food writers. We mark the festive season with this new collection of Elizabeth David’s Christmas recipes, selected exclusively for ckbk by her nephew, kitchen designer Johnny Grey.

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