In my 2026 Holiday Cookbook Gift Guide, I’ve chosen just 27 of the thousands of cookbooks released this calendar year that inspire me and, I hope, you. Each is a journey, a trip that tantalizes your taste buds and your intellect. Here’s to cooking!

Cookbooks written by Bay Area Authors

Tapas España By Catherine Cogliandro Alioto

Marin-based recipe developer and culinary instructor Catherine Cogliandro Aliotocreated a small plates cookbook with straight-forward recipes designed for gathering and sharing. Perfect, because tapas – little bites or snacks – are often designed to tame your appetite or act as flavorful partner to a pre-meal glass of wine or cider.I’d argue that this book goes beyond tapas to cover a more expansive Spanish food experience.

Recipes start with skewered watermelon and goat cheese, moves onto small bites like Tortilla Española (my ultimate sandwich from my student days in Spain), and onwards to more substantial fare such as Chickpea and Spinach Stew and Paella Valenciana. Of course there is a chapter dedicated to the accompanying salsas and Alioto also offers a few desserts – Churros, Torrijas, and Magdalenas (which were often my breakfast) – as well as a few recipes for sangría.

Are you in search of a hostess gift for someone who already has everything? This book will get them re-thinking their party strategy to include Spanish flavors.

BakeSum  By Joyce Tang and Soleil Ho

Joyce Tang of Oakland’s Bake Sum Bakery crafts sweets in the finest Californian tradition, bringing together the flavors of her Cantonese childhood with the best ingredients she can find. As Tang tells us, there is no single Asian-American palate. Her flavors express the breadth of the Bay Area Asian community. Her book starts with Beverages, an expansion of tea culture to include Hong Kong Milk Tea made with good ol’ Lipton, and a Yuzu Sparkler with fresh yuzu peel.

Some recipes are traditional (liberal use of air quotes here) – Mooncakes in three varieties, Fortune Cookies, and gluten-free Ube Mochi Bites. I was drawn more to the cross-over recipes like Black Sesame Snickerdoodles, Red Bean Conchas, and Five-spice Chocolate Cake.

Makers, this book suggests raiding the pantry of my 1970’s mom: don’t be afraid of Jell-o (an ingredient in Lychee Whipped Cream), instant coffee (whipped into Coffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream) or canned jackfruit (required for Halo-Halo Croissant Buns. Ok – my Mom did not use canned jackfruit. Ever. But she would most definitely help me find ube extract so I could get the color to be the perfect purple.

I love the playful approach to flavor Tang uses. And I envision shopping at my favorite local Asian market for some of the less-familiar ingredients. Because the exploring is half of the fun, right?

Ukraïne By Anna Voloshyna

Eating and food choices are always a political act, never more so than in a cookbook devoted to the country currently under bombardment by Russia. The power of cooking is now a testament to tenacity, to finding small moments of comfort amidst the brutal carnage of war. Voloshyna, who calls San Francisco home, does not shy away from the moment, instead using it to answer the question: What is Ukraïnian cuisine? She divides her book into its natural geographies – Mountains, Steppe, Black Sea – with sections dedicated to preservation (Root Cellar and Salt of the Earth).

There’s plentiful storytelling and recipes for Borsch (White and Christmas). A chapter devoted to the recipes of Kyiv includes recipes for Rye Bread and Duck Tartare. I’m planning to make the Chicken Liver Pâté with Prune Preserves as soon as possible as well as Buckwheat-stuffed Roasted Bell Peppers. The dishes here remind me so much of my grandmother’s cooking – earthy, full-flavored, true to self – a reminder of the Central European flavors she grew up, dishes she taught my Mom how to make. We may have called them Ottoman at one point – Ukraïne is indeed a crossroads – but this cookbook looks beyond sour cream, beets, and paprika to find something a little earnest and a lot resilient.

You could purchase this book as an act of defiance against an illegal occupation. Or, purchase it to satisfy your soul and nourish your people in times of plenty and of want.

Square Pie Guy: Detroit-style Pizza at Home By Marc Schechter

I am not from Detroit and neither is Schechter. He grew up in Great Neck, Long Island and now calls Oakland, California home. But the guy fell in love with pizza and now boasts six San Francisco Bay Area restaurants dedicated to his “not exactly Detroit-style pizza.” Detroiters, consider yourselves warned. For the rest of us, Schechter’s modern approach to flavor-building – layering Swiss cheese with white sauce and pastrami in Nice Jewish Pie, for example – is very ‘of the moment.’

His dough recipes, including a gluten-free dough made with Cup4Cup, require no fancy equipment, other than time. In a nod to Detroiters, Old-School Pies are slotted right after Get Sauced and before New Classics, including one that centers on bacon. (Take that, Bubbie!) A final chapter includes recipes for breads, Chicken Parm Sandwiches, and, like a good New Yorker, New York-style Pie.

Schechter’s not afraid of the occasional f-bomb so this book might not appeal to certain cookbook readers, but I like his open approach to building a new kind of Detroit pie in the heart of Oakland and around the Bay Area.

I envision this book in the hands of your favorite cousin whose pizza recipe you love but who seeks small change to effect big flavor.

Scandinavian Everyday By Nichole Accettola

Known in the San Francisco Bay Area for her Scandinavian restaurant, Kantine, chef Nichole Accettola brings her joy for the traditional flavors of Northern Europe to the page. Everyday food, full of flavor, not complicated to make, and embracing simplicity is a manifesto I can get behind. Set yourself up with a few basics, like 4-Seed Sprinkle and a basic vinaigrette, and you are well on your way to cooking and eating through this book.

I love Accettola’s Cold Sauce Matrix where she breaks down the 4 musts of any sauce, then gives you pages of spreads (smoked sardine, carrot hummus, etc.) that embody the principle. Porridge gets similar treatment – an explainer of bases and toppings, then recipes to get you where you are going, whether its Barley Porridge or Granola.

The book feels homey. While I’ll probably never make Smörgåstårta (Swedish Sandwich Cake) or Sven’s Meatball Soup, the recipes look, feel, and read like updated classics sourced from grandma’s kitchen. I envy the food photographer who got a bowl of Roasted Sunchokes to look delicious – the foods of Northern Europe never looked so good!

Thursday Night Tiki Lounge By Jennifer Newens

Oakland’s Jennifer Newens knows a thing or two about cookbooks and making drinks. Or maybe it’s the other way ‘round. Either way, her recipe book of tiki drinks considers the cocktail as a weekly indulgence – in this case, a weeknight. While it’s up to you on which night to imbibe in a Scorpion or Missionary’s Downfall, the recipes here are rum-centered in tiki tradition, and playful.

All the classics are here. Week One’s Navy Grog is quickly followed by a Classic Daiquiri, a Beachcomber and a Singapore Sling. Multiple types of rum and plentiful pineapple juice and orange curaçao are used. Newens wraps up her slim, 52-week recipe book with a Yellow Bird (with banana liqueur and Galliano) and a note on where to source the ingredients to make the drinks as flavorful and pretty as at your favorite bar.

Need a little tropical spice in your life? Or just want to remember a fun trip to Hawai’I or New Orleans? This book has your name on it!

Monday Night Mocktails By: Jennifer Newens

For Newens’ second book to make my list, the focus is non-alcoholic drinks. She calls them ‘mocktails,’ I term I find a little old-fashioned but effective to describe a grown-up drink made with zero-proof spirit and other mixers. Newens follows the same 52-week format as in “Thursday Night Tiki Lounge,” here broken into seasons. Spring’s Basil Julep and Elderflower Spritz give way to Summer’s Virgin Maria and Cucumber Gimlette. Fall – Nogroni and Frenchie 75 alongside Liquid Apple Pie and an Espresso-tini, and Winter’s Dandy Alexander and Party Punch.

Cookbooks written by California Authors

The Lao Kitchen By Saeng Douangdara

The YouTube creator of Saeng’s Kitchen leans into all things Lao, helping to bridge the gap between cultures and bring the flavors of the Lao diaspora to your table. I appreciated the explanation of jeows, or flavorful dips, 12 of which start off Douangdara’s book. But I was more excited about recipes for dishes I love from my favorite Southeast Asian restaurants. Top among these are recipes for Roasted Chicken (Ping Gai Ta Padaek), Crispy Rice Salad (Nam Khao Tod), and Roasted Chicken and Rice Soup (Sua Gai).

Douangdara doesn’t just cover familiar Lao fare. Recipes for beef jerky, Lao sausage, and steamed catfish may have you on the hunt for powdered MSG, salted hog casings, and fresh banana leaves. There’s also a chapter on Lao-American fusion which considers Mochi Pancakes colored with butterfly pea flour, Laab Tacos wrapped in crispy rice paper, and a Seafood Boil that any New Englander would appreciate, updated with plentiful sambal and bird’s eye chiles.

Obvs, this book is for friends and cooks willing to seek out Lao ingredients to bring the cuisine of this region to life.

Full Belly Farm & Kitchen By Amon and Jenna Muller

What do you get when you mix an intergenerational livestock-, flower- and 80-crop farm with a professional kitchen that hosts farm dinners, pizza nights, weddings and education days? A whole lot of joy of cooking—and eating its delicious harvest with your friends, family and farm community.

Full Belly Farm & Kitchen shares the recipes that the Muller family cooks throughout the year for weeknight family meals and weekend feasts, interspersed with the farm’s history and the freshness of California’s agricultural landscapes.

I know you know how hard it was for me to type ‘Muller’ so many times…Gah!

Read my full review on Edible Marin & Wine Country.

The New Cafe Beaujolais Cookbook By Julian Lopez

My husband and I have been to Mendocino many times and each time, we make a visit to Café Beaujolais. It’s charming, full of life, and every time we go, there’s something new and fun to eat, no matter which meal we show up for. (Reservations recommended.) The cookbook reminds me of the open-to-the-ocean sweep of Mendocino. Plentiful white space surrounds each recipe, a reminder to slow down, not cram too much into the day, and just enjoy what you have. Perhaps chef Lopez is telling us “take notes. I’ve left space on the page for you.”

Recipes span the owners’ other properties, The Waiting Room, The Brickery, and Nicholson House Inn. You likely won’t notice, unless you’ve recently visited all three. Recipes are full-on California Cuisine, with global flavors and a focus on locally-sourced ingredients. For breakfast/brunch, there’s Duck Confit & Waffles as well as Vegan Streusel Muffins and Vietnamese Fried Rice with shrimp and salmon. The house’s Original Café Beaujolais Black Bean Chili is here (I’ve enjoyed it more than once) and so is The Brickery’s recipe for pizza dough. Four risotto recipes span the seasons. Stefan’s favorite, Pork Tenderloin with Marsala Sauce, is here, too.

The restaurant has a 55-year legacy. It’s recipes, at once familiar and fresh, endure because they work for the many, many visitors who eat here. It’s a homey cookbook that feels a little dressed up. There’s no rocket science here. Just well-made food from a crew of happy cooks.

The Fog Eater Cafe Cookbook By Erica Schneider & Haley Samas-Berry

Farm-fresh vegan food that tilts Southern and wildly creative cocktails with more than a pinch of North Coast humility is the defining sensibility behind a cookbook from two friends who met while working at New York’s Babycakes. Schneider’s Nashville roots inform dishes like Muffuletta Panzanella, Tennessee Onion Dip, and Hominy Cabbage Griddle Cakes. Samas-Berry’s background in bartending informs drinks to pair with the homestyle eats – a Fino Sherry Martini or Celery Tonic with your Biscuits and Gravy?

And so, there’s a chapter dedicated to Happy Hour, another for Fixins, where Buttered Grits and Braised Greens are right at home alongside BBQ Lima Beans and Maque Choux. Entrees are filtered through the same vegan-Southern lens – Delta Hot Tamales, Blackened Tofu Creole and the like. I found myself inspired by Sweet Stuff where recipes for Moon Pies, Grapefruit Meringue Pie, and Sweet Potato Cheesecake are listed alongside dessert drinks like a Candy Cap Old Fashioned and, leaning into my love for sherry, a Sherry Vieux Carre.

Friendly and approachable, this book would be great for expanding your palate of Southern flavors in food and drink without having to track down one-off ingredients.

Morning Baker By Roxana Jullapat

Head baker and co-owner of Friends & Family bakery and restaurant in Los Angeles, Jullapat is, perhaps, best-known for her passion for whole grains. A testament to this is her first cookbook, “Mother Grains.” That passion continues in her second cookbook. Apricot Butterscotch Muffins are made with spelt flour. Rhuberry Roly Poly calls out varietals of wheat flour (Sonora, Frederick), and Dark Rye Rolls call for dark rye flour as well as hard white or red flour, such as Starr or Red Fife.

Jullapat dedicates a chapter to Whole-grain Croissant preparations and helps readers parse challenges which may arise when adding spelt flour in her Hybrid Croissant Dough before utilizing it in recipes for Raspberry Fairies, Bacon and Onion Blossoms, and many other laminated dough recipes.

Jullapat has chapters for Pancakes, as well as Doughnuts and Fritters. An extensive chapter on whole-grain breads makes room for flat and yeasted breads (tortillas, ciabatta and brioche) as well as plentiful variations on sourdough. Pages are dedicated to her favorite flours, valuable intel for dedicated home bakers.

If you are tired of bland pastry, this cookbook is for you. I plan to gift this to my friend whose fridge is filled with bags of all kinds of flours.

Cultured By Darra Goldstein, Cortney Burns, Richard Martin

Chef Cortney Burns, perhaps best-known for her now-closed San Francisco restaurant Bar Tartine (with Chef Nick Balla), has more recently focused her passion for cultural anthropology and handcrafting foods on this global guide to fermenting and preserving. Paired with Gastronomica’s founding editor Goldstein and food editor Martin, Burns’ tome divvies up into Brisk (up to one day), Gradual (up to two weeks), and Slow (up to two months) methods, with a final chapter that features ways to use ingredients before they expire.

Koji, eggshell, vinegar, lime juice, cabbage leaf – there is nothing this crew won’t use to get a ferment going or to add flavor, texture, or boost health benefits. There is no preamble or list of tools or anything resembling a guide here. Just flat-out makers making.

If, long ago, you wore out your Ball Blue Book of Preserving, or you are a #tradwife wannabe, this is the leap forward in craft you’ve been looking for.

Cookbooks written by Authors Around the American West

Alpine Cocktails By Allyson Reedy

I included Allyson Reedy’s “30 Breads to Bake Before You Die” in my 2024 Holiday Cookbooks Guide and she’s back with her third book, this time dedicated to après-ski drinks. Chapters include Cozy Cocktails, Winter Warmers, Summit Spritzes, as well as mocktails and Lodge Nibbles.

Most of the recipes, like Norwegian Toddy from Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah or Blueberry Julep from Katie Thompson at Spruce Peak in Stowe, Vermont, are sourced from lodges and restaurants in ski country. Lodge Nibbles – Roasted Curry Cauliflower, Cheese Fondue, Hot Cocoa Mug Cake – are Reedy’s own. Hailing from Denver, she knows a thing or two about ski country.

I have no plans to rent a Tahoe or Zermatt ski house, but if I did, I wish this book to be on the shelf in the kitchen, waiting for me to explore it upon my arrival.

Farmhouse Christmas By Melissa Bahen

Much like Bahen’s Farmhouse Weeknights, her latest cookbook takes a family-first, American comfort food approach to cooking and baking around the holidays. There’s Chicken Apple Sausage Bites and Sugared Gingerbread Muffins for breakfast or brunch, Cheesy Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole, No-Fail Braised Barbecue Brisket, and Herby Au Gratin Potatoes in the Holiday Dinner chapter.

As a gift giver, I was more drawn to Nana’s Chocolatey Peanut Clusters in the Handmade Sweets chapter. Chocolate Bar Truffles call for little more than Hershey’s chocolate bars, Cool Whip, and Nilla Wafers. A recipe for Cheese Ball Trio asks for cream cheese, crushed pineapple, pecans, and spices you can find at any supermarket I find this approach delightfully retro and easy to access. No fancy ingredients are called for, which makes gifting – and dining – on a budget possible.

Of course, this book would be great fun for anyone who enjoys American holiday classics like M&M Cookies or Boston-style Clam Chowder, but it would be equally enjoyable for fans of the winter holidays and its traditions.

Soomaaliya By Ifrah Ahmed

Somalia, an East African country across the Gulf of Aden, is not a country I have any familiarity with. Seattle’s Ifrah Ahmed, who left Somalia during that country’s civil war, built a new life in Seattle. This book is an homage to the oral culinary traditions of the author’s culture, a tool to understand the region’s cuisine, a living document for a culture under assault.

So then, a beginning larded with the region’s long history, notes on where to find Somali restaurants in the US, and a guide to the Somali pantry before the author kicks off the book with a recipe for Xawaash (Somali Spice Mix) and other Somali condiments. From there, this colorful book dives into recipes for Morning, including Cardamom Crepe and Shakshuuko, Light Bites where Fuul (fava bean stew) and Soor (corn grits) reside, before moving on to recipes for Afternoon Tea, Mains, Desserts and Drinks. Many dishes are familiar – Scotch Eggs, Black-eyed Pea Fritters, Lasagna – reflecting the myriad influences on both American and Somali cuisine. Less so others (Camel Cooked With Onion, Spiced Goat Soup).

After reading this cookbook, my knowledge of Somali food expanded by a factor of a thousand. May it do the same for you.

Cookbooks written by Authors from Elsewhere

Party Tricks By Anna Hezel

I am a sucker for a book where attention has been paid to the experience of turning its pages. Perhaps the subtitle – easy, elegant recipes for snacking and hosting – gives it away: This cookbook is equal parts sass and class. The book begins with colored illustrations – a diamond bejeweled hand reaching for a cocktail, a draped table laden with platters, candles and drinks. Behind a “you’re invited” card? A fold-out table of contents. Ms. Hezel is here to party!

The book is so packed with charm, I almost don’t care about the recipes. But, if you’re here for the recipes, know that there are pages of make -ahead recipes, a chapter dedicated to “chip tricks,” an appreciation of snacks for dinner, and plentiful veggie recipes mixed in amongst the Pickled Mussel Gildas and Shrimp Butter & Saltines.

I love that a party can be French Onion Pie or Endives with Whitefish & Trout Roe. Or a Pickled Pepper Tartine. Elegant can be graceful, even if it is easy.

Spain My Way By José Andrés

Chef José Andrés needs no introduction – the guy was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with World Central Kitchen, for chrissakes! Chef’s latest cookbook encourages all of us to “eat, drink, and cook like a Spaniard.” (Can you hear Chef’s accent radiating through the page?)

Chef’s cookbook is an expansive tome. His range of the Spanish culinary cannon knows no boundary. Up front, Allioli Tradicional and Gazpacho. Dig in a bit and make Pimientos del Piquillo Confitados or Galician-style Octopus. Many recipes span a few pages, room for Chef to describe the dish’s history and impart his unique touches to technique that make it special. Classic tapas, expansive notes on Spain’s favorite beverages (including how the Spanish like their coffee and vermouth), even a chapter on cooking at the bleeding edge of technique a la Adriá – it’s all here.

Andrés is Spain’s best cultural ambassador. If you love armchair travel, this book is for you. If you’re on the fence about whether or not you should plan a trip to Spain, this book may tip you over into the “I’m on my way!” column.

Better At Home By Colu Henry

Henry, a cookbook author, has a clear perspective – that meals cooked by you and those you love are often more inspired and taste better than those prepared in restaurants. There’s a nugget of truth in this, especially when it is snowing outside or you are just feeling lazy or tired. Married to a chef, Henry surely knows a few tricks for amplifying flavor: zesting lemon rind into a nutty crumb topping for fluke, adding a touch of dried mint and mascarpone to a summery pasta dish, made even better if you have chives with the blossoms still attached.

Cooking like this is soulful without being fussy. I can see myself making Soupy, Sesame Pork Noodles with Broccolini and Pea Shoots or Asparagus with Chili Crisp Mayo, Lime and Many Herbs. I like, too, how Henry organizes her recipes into menus. There’s Festive Holiday Dinners and Sunday Suppers. “A Late Lunch After a Brisk Winter Walk” is melted leeks, lentil stew and shortbread for dessert, recipe for a cozy Sunday spent cooking, reading and watching football.

I don’t know which chefs inspire Henry but I envision this cookbook as part and parcel of a casual, indoor-outdoor East Coast lifestyle. Know someone who liked the cooking of Alice Waters or Martha Stewart? This book contains some of that same sensibility towards ingredients with a bit more of a flavor-driven edge.

 

Chili Umami By Jonas Cramby

Swedish journalist and cookbook author (I counted 10) came forth with a book dedicated to “super-charged shortcuts to transform your home cooking.” What does that mean, exactly? Well, for starters, toss cultural authenticity out the window. This guy is looking to build flavor, fast. To do it, he leans into chiles of all kinds (crispy, dried, fresh) and from all over the globe (Sichuan chile oil, Louisiana hot sauce) plus a soupçon of an umami-containing ingredient. That’s the formula.

At first glance, the book is disorienting – why is a recipe for a Jalapeño Popper Burger in the same chapter as Welsh Rarebit and Tostada de Atún? Because each recipe uses hot sauce, of course. It’s as good an organizing principle as any, once you wrap your head around the idea of chile in your food. None of the recipes are complicated, but Cramby does ask you to have a cabinet stocked with umami builders (Kewpie mayo, Worcestershire, Ajinomoto, etc.) as well as chile products of all kinds (‘nduja, gochujang, harissa, etc.).

No need to buy 100 cookbooks to explore the heat in global cuisines. Cramby packs the fire of the world’s cuisines into a compact compendium of chile. Buy this for your boyfriend who loves heat in his food but needs a bunch of new recipes to expand his repertoire.

Foolproof Festive By Katie Marshall

The UK-based author of Foolproof Traybakes is back with a book dedicated to winter’s high holiday season. Marshall’s not fooling around – she jumps straight into Party Food and Nibbles and, knowing everyone’s priorities, moves right into Festive Baking before tackling The Main Event, Side Dishes, Desserts and Drinks, and Leftovers.

The vibes here balance favorites on both side of the Atlantic with fresh touches. Mincemeat is called for in Mincemeat Oatmeal Cookies and in Streusel Mince Pies. Lacking the duck fat of my mom’s recipe, Braised Cabbage is otherwise similarly spiced and vegetarian. There’s recipes for Cranberry Relish and Sweet Potato Pecan Crumble which refashions the familiar side dish more as a dessert (well, at least in my eyes!). I suppose you can use a cupcake tin to make Yorkshire Puddings and I’d love to try and make her Chestnut and Irish Cream No-churn Ice Cream.

This would make a great gift for your friends who just moved in together and are hosting the holidays. Or anyone whose holidays need a familiar pinch of flavor.

Japanese Baking By Katsute100

Katsute100, a UK-based Japanese tea company from Sumi Kwak and Yuka Cowlam, creates intentional spaces, cafes where you can enjoy a quiet moment with a cuppa and a sweet treat. As you might imagine, tea leaves make their way into many of the recipes and a tea to drink with your sweet is suggested as part of each recipe’s headnotes. A few of the recipes:

• Iced Genmaicha Sea Salt Einspanner
• Oolong Tea and Chestnut Madeleines
• Matcha Brownies
• Hojicha Crème Brûlée
• Strawberry Shortcake

Can you tell which one has no tea leaves in it? Some recipes – Cranberry & Sesame Cookies, Pumpkin Pudding Tart Cake – read as American-Japanese style. Others – Mont Blanc Tart, Chocolate Noël Cake – read European-Japanese. Matcha Crepe Cake, Sakura Mochi, and Strawberry Sando read as Japanese, and as global Instagram sensations.

There is not a photo to accompany each dish but if you follow the precision of each recipe’s instructions to the letter, who needs a photo? What you create will be something beautiful, to savor as its own unique story in the global Japanese diaspora.

Mexican Soul By Santiago Lastra

Can you source the ingredients you need at your local supermarket to cook excellent Mexican food? Depends on who you ask. But Chef Santiago Lastra was determined to try. Sourcing only foods he could find at British supermarkets, not specialty or gourmet shops or online anything, he found a path to cook Mexican food – and cook it well – no matter where you are in the world.

Resourceful chefs, rejoice! Finally, a cookbook that understands your need to cook well at an AirBnB, your mother-in-law’s house, or your own kitchen. Fans of a more streamlined approach to Mexican cooking and those with a pantry NOT filled with Mexican-specific ingredients yet searching for big flavor will find much to like about Mexican Soul. And those who want to nerd out on making mole – by roasting chiles and saving the ash – can do that, too.

Mexican Soul was my Q3 book review. Read my review.

Honey By Amy Newsome

As Newsome puts it in her intro, “this book is a love letter from a beekeeper, gardener and home cook to good food, good honey, and the bees that make it. She starts her book with a chronicle of a beekeeper’s year, a true expression of honey’s seasonality, and when to harvest honey to keep bees and humans safe and well-fed. Most chapters – Honey Terroir, Restocking Nature’s Larder and chapters dedicated to pantry items, baking, drinks, and food, begin with stories about the workers who make the product – about pollination and floral maps, honey flavors, and stories of Newsome’s inspirations and mentors.

A smallish book at 8 ½ x 6 ½ inches, the book utilizes varietal honey in each recipe – tupelo, orange blossom – and provides recipes for making your own hot honey and smoked honey. You don’t need to be a honey nerd to enjoy this book but you will get more out of it if you are.

The Curry Guy Easiest Ever By Dan Toombs

Did you know that there is a Glaswegian curry? So we are told that Chicken Chasni hails from that Scottish city, that it is bright red, and the recipe includes mint sauce. There are fascinating curry nuggets sprinkled throughout the latest cookbook from the YouTuber who finds them. British-Indian chefs came up with Chicken Pathia, made with mango chutney and tomato to compete with sweet and sour chicken at Chinese restaurants. Neat!

Toombs doesn’t care where a dish originates – or even if it contains curry – he’s just after big flavor. Thai-style Hainanese Chicken? Check. Malaysian, Korean and Indian Fried Chicken? Check. Check. Check. There’s chapters dedicated to barbecue, noodles and stir-fries, and authentic karahis, a style of curry common in Pakistan and northern India made in an eponymously-named pan. I had never heard of this curry before but you better believe I’m nerding out on it now!

Buy this book for your friend who thinks they know everything about food or the husband who wants to up their fried chicken or barbecue game. I bet there’s a shocker or two in here for them as there were for me.

Gluten-free On a Shoestring Bake Everything By Nicole Hunn

Hunn is up-front, telling her readers that, “if you are satisfied with gluten-free recipes that make baked goods taste “good, for gluten-free,” then this cookbook is not for you. Spoken like a true New Yorker, am I right?!? She wants you to spend your time making gluten-free taste delicious, not just “good enough.” She digs in on ingredients, temperatures, and ingredient substitutions and offers a page of trouble-shooting tips in each chapter. Prep time and difficulty level is a part of each recipe’s headnotes.

Hunn offers two recipes for chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies as well as Biscuits (Drop and Grands-style). American classics, like Red Velvet Cake, Old-Fashioned Cornbread, Pumpkin Pie, and Pancakes are given ample space. I am most keen to try Hot Cross Buns, Hawaiian Rolls and Flour Tortillas (what the what?).

I sense this book pushing readers into new GF territory and I like it. If you liked “The Art of Gluten-free Bread” by Aran Goyoaga on my 2025 list, this one’s for you.

 

Not enough choices for you in my 2026 holiday cookbook gift guide? May I suggest my choices for 2025 and for 2024?