Cookbooks are a staple in most kitchens. A must-have item as important as a spatula. But unique cookbooks that are helpful, amateur friendly, with healthy, inspired recipes and techniques? Well, that is a little harder to find. Soap Hub found FIVE. That’s right! Five bestselling cookbooks by fan-favorite chefs and bakers that can turn novices into masters. These are gifts that keep on giving. Here’s a look at the Top Five Recipe Books.
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The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook
Tired of leftovers that spoil? Trying to pare down recipes to make dinner for just two? The New York Times Bestselling book The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook: 650 Recipes for Everything You’ll Ever Want to Make is the best cookbook you never knew you needed. Say goodbye to cooking large scale recipes for two people! America’s Test Kitchen had the groundbreaking idea to take 650 of the most popular recipes and re-engineered them for two.
Stews, stir-fry, soups, meatloaf, cakes, and pies all perfectly recalculated for two. But there’s more. The Test Kitchen team offers advice and strategies for shopping to cut costs and reduce waste, storage ideas to extend freshness, and kitchen equipment purchases that are best when cooking for two. The book is a great gift for newlyweds, retired couples, recent grads, and small families. Better yet, you may need to get yourself a copy.
Magnolia Table
The New York Times #1 Bestselling cookbook Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering by Joanna Gaines is more than a recipe book. It is a lifestyle. The family-friendly dishes are more than just a meal. They evoke a feeling, a mood. Sprinkled with inspirational stories, personal photos, family classic recipes, and comfort dishes straight from the Waco, Texas restaurant, Magnolia Table, this cookbook creates the feeling of being invited to a Gaines family meal.
A gardening enthusiast, Jo offers plates designed around the seasonal peak of the fruits and vegetables. And with the same meticulous manner in which she has crafted cozy homes for more than two decades, Gaines has fashioned 125 delicate masterpieces for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, not to mention snacks and desserts made easy enough to tackle yourself. Some recipes to look out for include Peach Caprese, Overnight French Toast, White Cheddar Bisque, Fried Chicken with Sticky Poppy Seed Jam, and the Gaines Brothers Burgers. This must-have cookbook is a mainstay in any home. Family and friends will want to gather around your table to reap the rewards. Yum and done!
The Well Plated Cookbook
Erin Clarke exploded in the world of healthy eating with her smash hit blog, Well Plated. Millions gravitated to her site for clever, budget-friendly recipes with “stealthy healthy” ingredient swaps. She always includes things you can find in any store to make cooking healthy quick and easy. Clarke’s book, The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You’ll Want to Eat, puts her recipes in your hand and at your fingertips.
Erin’s essential cookbook includes 130 brand new recipes, a spin on how to lighten up some of her midwestern classic comfort foods, inventive ways to use a single ingredient in multiple ways, and keeps them affordable and practical. She offers up innovative ideas on how to make a completely different dish with leftovers. Clarke peppered useful tips throughout like Market Swaps so you can create great dishes based on the season, and storage for optimum quality and freshness. Some stellar recipe standouts include Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken, Sticky Asian Cauliflower Wings, Ultimate Creamy Mac & Cheese (4 ways), and Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (5 ways). Even the pickiest of eaters will find these delicious. Save money, live large, and get healthy!
Dessert Person
Claire Saffitz is the breakout star of YouTube and iTunes’ shows “Bon Appetit Gourmet Makes” and “Baking School” — a true baking hero for a new generation. Her #1 Bestselling cookbook Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence is also her first foray into publishing. Claire’s meticulous crafting, the art of her baking, her problem-solving strategies, and inspired recipes will make a baker out of anyone! With her comforting warmth, style, and delivery, Saffitz can take an average cook and turn them into a star baker.
The cookbook has more than 100 recipes. With each recipe, she outlines the dos and the don’ts, problems and solutions, foundational know-how, skillset level, prep and bake time, with detailed photos following her process. Learn how to make such sweet and savory delights as Babkallah, Caramelized Honey Pumpkin Pie, Pistachio Linzer Tart, Chocolate Buttermilk Cake, Crispy Mushroom Galette, and Malted Forever Brownies, just to name a few. Unleash your inner dessert person today.
The Skinnytaste Air Fryer Cookbook
Gina Homolka is known for transforming classic comfort food into tasty dishes that are healthy too. In The Skinnytaste Air Fryer Cookbook: The 75 Best Healthy Recipes for Your Air Fryer, Homolka’s 5th addition to her bestselling Skinnytaste library, she has taken her signature slogan of “light on calories, big on taste” and tackled the air fryer with mouth-watering success. High-powered, super-hot circulating air like a convection oven powers air fryers to crisp up “fried” food with little oil needed. Gina remodeled fried food staples into healthy, game-changing delights by using a variety of air fryers.
Throughout the cookbook, Homolka not only shares a revisioning of fried classics such as Chicken-Vegetable Spring Rolls, Buffalo Wings, Crispy Coconut Shrimp, Churros, and Pickle-Brined Chicken Tenders but shows you how easy using air fryers can be. Cook times are reduced and clean-up is a breeze. Newbies will be dazzled and amazed! The recipes are vegetarian, gluten-free, and keto-friendly, highlighted with special icons and nutritional information. It’s 160 pages of life-altering fun, and it’s good for you too.
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