Best cookbooks to give your loved ones this Christmas...

With only 11 days to go until Christms (EEK), there's not much time left to tick off your Christmas shopping list. For the foodie on your list, we recommend two fabulous cookbooks - Creole Kitchen: Sunshine Flavours from the Caribbean by Vanessa Bolosier and The Ultimate Sandwich by Jonas Cramby.

Creole Kitchen: Sunshine Flavours from the Caribbean by Vanessa Bolosier

​This beautiful cookbook features an original collection of 100 exciting French Caribbean Creole recipes that will instantly transport you to the warm comforts of The Caribbean. Drawing inspiration from her childhood kitchen, Vanessa shares a variety of traditional Caribbean recipes and cocktail recipes.

So what is Creole culture, you ask? According  to Vanessa, Caribbean Creole people are the descendants of slaves and labourers from different parts of Africa and Asia, living on islands colonised by the French and English.  Creole people can be found all over the world, making it in incredibly fascinating cuisine given the variety of cooking styles that have resulted worldwide.

This cookbook has a wealth of beautiful images of Caribbean life and of course, the fabulous recipes featured within the book. 

Creole Kitchen: Sunshine Flavours from the Caribbean by Vanessa Bolosier is published by Pavilion Books and is available from Amazon.co.uk (£19.99 for a hardcover).

A.A. Miln

The Ultimate Sandwich by Jonas Cramby

If you ask me, the humble sandwich is seriously underrated.   A staple of our diets for as long as one can remember, sandwiches have remained popular thanks to their exceptional versatility.

This gorgeous cookbook features 100 classic sandwich recipes from Jonas Cramby, a freelance writer, restaurant critic and columnist, whose hatred of terrible sandwiches led him to create this cookbook. The cookbook features a variety of tips, including required baking equipment, suggested kitchen utensils and everything from the best cheeses to charcuterie.

When selecting the bread for one's sandwich,  Jonas recommends avoiding  the ever so popular sourdough bread (too many holes and far too chewy) to let other 'team player' breads serve as the star of the sandwich. Good advice, me thinks. 

The recipes are highly diverse, covering everything from traditional sandwiches to dessert sandwiches, meaning you'll have an endless supply of sandwich inspiration to shake up your lunchtime routine.

The Ultimate Sandwich by Jonas Cramby is published by Pavilion Books and is available from Amazon.co.uk (£13.48 for a hardcover).

A.A. Miln