Love and Olive Oil

Gifts for the Home Cook: Holiday Gift Guide

The holidays are here and that means time for last minute online gift shopping! I have to say, this whole notion of free 2-day shipping really has us spoiled.

Now, hopefully you’re not a procrastinator like me and you’ve already gotten all your holiday shopping done. But if you haven’t, I’ve put together a few of my favorite kitchen tools, essentials, and cookbooks for your shopping pleasure.

(Note that there are affiliate links in this post. Click if you want, or don’t. Just know that I get a small percentage of each sale through these links and for that, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart, er, shopping cart.)

2016 Holiday Gift Guide - Gifts for Home Cooks
  1. Silpat Half-Sheet Nonstick Baking Mat – Better than parchment paper, these reusable nonstick baking pan mats are one of my favorite kitchen tools of all time. I have 4 of them and store them in my baking pans so they’re ready when I need them.
  2. KitchenAid Glass Tea Kettle – This gorgeous kettle is perfect for serious tea lovers.
  3. Fever Tree Soda Variety Pack – One of my favorite ginger beers, plus some other varieties perfect for cocktail mixing or solo sipping.
  4. 11-Piece Circle Cutter Set – Perfect for cookies, biscuits, donuts, you name it. So versatile.
  5. Cat Salt & Pepper Shaker – Because they’re freakin cute, that’s why.
  6. Thermapen Professional Cooking Thermometer – Simply the best thermometer money can buy. period.
  7. KitchenAid Mini Food Processor – The world’s most adorable food processor. Perfect for small batches or small spaces. Under $40!
  8. Marble Pastry Board – Pretty and practical, for pastry, bread, chocolate, and photography. Whenever you see a marble-background photo on this site, it’s using this board.
  9. Royal Doulton Set of 8 Tapas Plates – Because you can never have too many little plates. Or bowls.
  10. OXO Digital Food Scale – If you care at all about accuracy when you’re cooking or baking (you should), a kitchen scale is a necessity. I’ve basically stopped using measuring cups entirely for flour since a scale is so much more accurate.
  11. Wilton Candy Melting Pot – If you struggle with melting chocolate (it it burns or breaks or loses its temper)… you need this little pot. Also perfect for fondue.
2016 Holiday Gift Guide - Favorite Cookbooks for Home Cooks

Books, especially cookbooks, are always great gifts. I’ll admit to buying books for design as well as content, but these top picks have it all.

(And while I don’t actually own 3, 6, 9, or 11, they are at the top of my personal wishlist!)

  1. The Cookie Dough Lovers’ Cookbook – Shameless plug, but I really do think our cookbook makes a great holiday gift!
  2. Breakfast for Dinner – Ditto.
  3. Dalí: Les Dîners de Gala – Ok, so I never knew Dalí had a cookbook, but it’s being re-released in all its twisted glory. Seriously though, this thing is amazing.
  4. The Spice Companion – For flavor connoisseurs, this book walks you through every herb and spice imaginable, with history, facts and flavor pairings. Beautiful book.
  5. Spritz – The iconic Italian apertivo cocktail. Basically sparkling, boozy concoctions you can drink any time of day; just add bubbly.
  6. Skinnytaste: Fast and Slow – We are now the proud owners of our very first slow cooker (I know, right?) you can bet that I’ll be cooking my way through this one shortly. Gina’s first book is well-loved and I’m sure this one will be too!
  7. Mastering the Art of French Cooking – Ok, so you don’t have to go all Julie-and-Julia on me, but this book is a must-have for any cook’s kitchen. A true classic. I have my grandmother’s vintage copy, and I recently purchased a new one so I wouldn’t feel guilty about actually using it.
  8. Petit Macarons – I’ve tried a lot of macaron recipes, but this book is my personal favorite. I also love all the flavor and filling ideas.
  9. Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cooking – Julia is to French cooking what Lidia is to Italian. Get it. Cook from it. Love it.
  10. Momofuku Milk Bar – From crack pie to cereal milk ice cream, naked cakes to cornflake cookies. Granted some of the recipes are quite involved, but oh so worth it in the end.
  11. Classic German Baking – Traditional German recipes, collected for the contemporary American home baker. From Pfeffernüsse to Streuselkuchen, these recipes are a mouthful (in more ways than one!)

Tell me, what’s on your wishlist this holiday season?

There may be affiliate links in this post. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Leave a Reply to Taste of France Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

5 Comments

  1. Lindsay this is a great gift guide thank you. Question: Is the marble pastry board matte? 

  2. Gah! All this stuff looks amazing! Fever Tree tonic really is the best :)

    Rachael xx.

  3. I can attest to the Silpat sheets. I have one, and then picked up another, no-name version. The Silpat is far and away better–cleans up way better, things slide off more easily…

Did you make this recipe? Leave a Review »