One thing I personally love is books, cookbooks especially. Here is my roundup of book titles that would be great for gift-giving this holiday season.
Bread Baking Basics: Recipes for Mastering Bread, Dough and Flour
When I have the time, I really enjoy making homemade bread, but it is a skill that sometimes takes some trial and error. Bread Baking Basics allows you to explore with confidence the science of food while trying new and flavorful recipes.
This title shows you how to make a sourdough starter with flour and also recipes featuring the sourdough. There are recipes for pizza dough to butte croissants. Gregory Berger started making bread as a personal hobby on a whim. Now, he’s an award-winning baker who has learned to make the perfect loaf—and has created recipes for some of Sacramento’s top restaurants while at it. Discover on Mango!
How to Cook That: Crazy Sweet Creations
Ann Reardon, food scientist and host of the award-winning YouTube series How to Cook That, is the author of Crazy Sweet Creations. An accomplished pastry chef, Reardon draws millions of baking fans together each week, eager to learn the secrets of her extravagant cakes, chocolates, and eye-popping desserts.
This book is for the more experience baker. You will learn to make treats that get the whole family cooking, create baked goods that tap into beloved pop culture trends, and impress guests with beautiful desserts. Discover on Mango!
Food Americana: The Remarkable People and Incredible Stories behind America’s Favorite Dishes
David Page changed the world of food television by creating, developing, and executive-producing the groundbreaking show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Now from the two-time Emmy winner David Page comes the book Food Americana, an entertaining mix of food culture, pop culture, nostalgia, and everything new on the American plate. The remarkable history of American food. What is American cuisine? What national menu do we share? What dishes have we chosen, how did they become “American,” and how are they likely to evolve from here? David Page answers all these questions and more.
Food Americana provides the inside story of how Americans have formed a national cuisine from a world of flavors. Sushi, pizza, tacos, bagels, barbecue, dim sum―even fried chicken, burgers, ice cream, and many more―were born elsewhere and transformed into uniquely American cuisine. Food Americana is a riveting ride into every aspect of what we eat and why. From a lobster boat off the coast of Maine to the Memphis in May barbecue competition. From the century-old Russ & Daughters lox and bagels shop in lower Manhattan to the Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival. From a thousand-dollar Chinese meal in San Francisco to birria tacos from a food truck in South Philly. This is a great title to learn of the history of how popular American foods became to be what they are today. Discover on Mango!
The Herbal Healing Handbook: How to Use Plants, Essential Oils and Aromatherapy as Natural Remedies
The Herbal Healing Handbook is a spiritual guidebook for using plants, essential oils, aromatherapy, and other natural elements to treat ailments and help prevent illness.
Plants growing in your backyard can help take good care of yourself and your loved ones is with the “kitchen cabinet cures” in this book. When our great grandmothers needed to attend to the cuts, bruises, colds, flu’s fevers, and other illnesses their family suffered, they didn’t have a corner drugstore. Instead, these wise women relied on simple wisdom, common sense, and pantries well stocked with herbal remedies. These preparations were made from plants that grew in the kitchen garden or wild weeds gathered outside. The Herbal Healing Handbook combines the wisdom of our elders with a modern kitchen herbalist’s sensibility. Discover on Mango!
Baker Bettie’s Better Baking Book
I have been following Baker Bettie for a while now by email. Her recipes and tips are awesome! Baking from scratch can be hard but with Kristin Hoffman, aka Baker Bettie, the science behind baking becomes second nature! Baker Bettie’s Better Baking Book lays a foundation of basic baking skills and master recipes that are sure to boost your baking confidence.
Consider Baker Bettie’s Better Baking Book your at-home culinary and baking school guide. This baking cookbook goes beyond the recipe by teaching the science behind baking. From measurements, techniques, step-by-step processes, to how to use base recipes to create endless baked goods that will make your mouth water. A beautiful color image is included with each recipe. This book ensures that you are able to tackle any baking recipe with panache! Discover on Mango!
My 10-year-old son loves creating and learning along with me using this book. He is all about learning how to draw better. Introducing The Art & Science of Drawing: Learn to Observe, Analyze, and Draw Any Subject [978-1681987750; $29.95; Rocky Nook, October 2021] by Brent Eviston, a new guidebook that will teach you the fundamentals of good drawing.
Based on his more than 20 years of teaching, The Art & Science of Drawing shares author and drawing instructor Brent Eviston’s secrets that provide the most accessible, streamlined, and effective methods for learning to draw.
“It begins with the most basic skills like how to hold the pencil and how to draw basic shapes before moving on to more complex subjects like three-dimensional drawing, contour drawing, measuring, and shading,” Eviston said. “By working through this book, you will learn the skills and processes necessary for good drawing.”
The Art & Science of Drawing is a project-based book, meaning each chapter contains a series of lessons and each lesson ends with a project. “I recommend completing no more than one lesson and project per day. You need time to process the information you’ve learned and to develop the muscle memory necessary for these skills to become second nature,” he said. “The lessons in this book focus on fundamentals. You cannot practice fundamentals too much.”
Designed for the absolute beginner as well as more experienced artists looking to improve their skills and master the fundamentals, The Art & Science of Drawing will serve as a foundation upon which you can build new skills to suit your creative ambitions.
