Our pick of cookbooks for this Christmas

Recently we reviewed Naomi Toilalo’s – runner-up in TVNZs 2017 Great Kiwi Bake Off  –  unique cookbook and shared her delicious recipe forPlum Melting Moments. 

This gorgeous, hard cover cookbook is believed to be one of the first bilingual cookbooks and is full of delightful baking from tried-and-tested classics to new twists on crowd-pleasers, so any of your relies who loves baking will love this. 

Naomi believes that baking should be a simple pleasure, and shares more than 70 of her tohutao reka – delicious recipes, all made without fancy equipment or hard-to-find ingredients. Bursting with bold flavours, this divinely indulgent cookbook shows you how to make amazing, sweet treats to create memories and celebrate life with the people you love.

It’s been twenty years since Angie Redfern flung open the doors of the first Ripe store in Grey Lynn and to celebrate, the Ripe team has curated a collection of their tried-and-true dishes including favourites such as Amy’s Crushed Falafel Salad with Sumac Coconut Yoghurt Whip (divine!) or Sam’s Buffalo Cauliflower Salad.

This cookbook goes beyond the pleasure of good food and looks at the importance of us doing better with the way we produce and consume food in general. Angie and selected guests share their sustainability journey stories throughout Thought for Food and hope that their efforts will encourage you on yours. 

With a focus on salads and sweets, the 100+ recipes are sure to inspire and delight.

Buffy Ellen has shared some amazing recipes with focus magazine over the past few years and every single one of them is delicious. 

Buffy, the founder of popular food blog Be Good Organics, converted her high-flying, meat-eating, investment banker life into one where she is now a nutritionist, naturopath and vegan. Buffy’s Instagram feed [https://www.instagram.com/begoodorganics/] is so interesting to follow and she often shares many of the recipes she creates. 

But let’s get back to her cookbook! Be Good features 100 simple, quick and delicious plant-based recipes alongside comprehensive facts about healthy eating and including her top ten list of nutrients and how to incorporate them into balanced meals. Every recipe includes easy swap-outs, helpful notes for dietary requirements, prepping your panty, filling your fridge and meal planning. 

In Simple (Mostly) Vegan Kitchen, Ellie invites you into her home and shares the food she has been cooking for her family for years. Her focus is on simplifying meals – without sacrificing on flavour and nutrition. Ellie lets you in on her favourite time-saving solutions and short cuts and she uses ingredients that are readily available from the supermarket. Importantly, to me anyway, most of the meals come together in 30 minutes or less!

You will love her recipe for Apple Crumble Breakfast Bake, the very filling Smoky Cauliflower Steaks with Salsa Verde and, for a delicious snack, try her Choc Drizzle Muesli Cups. For those of you lucky enough to have an air fryer – well, there’s a whole chapter of yummy creations especially for you.