I love cookbooks, they’re a delightful addition to any kitchen and many of mine have quite a story to tell.
When I got married back in the late 1990’s, I wasn’t a kitchen person at all! I grew up a tomboy and had way more fun playing with tools and racing cars. So when I suddenly became a homemaker as a new bride (hubby was an infantry soldier and wasn’t home enough to do any cooking), I had a crash course in cooking to keep people alive. We couldn’t afford to eat out, so I cut my kitchen teeth on every single box of Hamburger Helper that existed back then. When we got tired of those options, I moved over to Tuna Helper 😉 but we soon got bored with those, too.
The first cookbook I ever cracked open is this one, Easy Basics for Good Cooking. This cookbook was actually gifted to my husband when he was just 11 years old. He liked to dabble in the kitchen, so his parents bought him this cookbook and it was a life saver for me. Truly set up for a beginner, the recipes were easy to follow and they walked me through every recipe with easy to understand instructions.
Our family still loves the buttermilk pancakes and basic banana bread from this cookbook! My daughter has asked for them as she’s setting up her own house.
This cookbook always brings a smile to my face. This belonged to my grandmother and it has notes in it from my aunt, both have long since passed away. Opening this cookbook makes me feel close to them and seeing their handwriting makes me feel connected to them.
My grandmother was an amazing baker! She always had amazing baked goods to eat whenever we visited her. She came from the Mennonite heritage, so she made these amazing zwieback rolls and Pfeffernusse cookies. When she had extra pie crust leftovers, she would smash them together, roll them out, top them with butter and cinnamon sugar for a fantastic little treat while we waited to eat her delicious pies. I do this with my own kids now and they love it!
At the back of my grandmother’s version are place settings for various gatherings and diagrams of how to set up various gatherings. So I’ve been able to set the Christmas and Thanksgiving table to look quiet fancy! I’ve also set up a buffet to be jazzed up and classy. This version also offers meal planning and which recipes go well together to make a complete meal.
This is another goody that my husband brought into our marriage.
This is a nearly comprehensive cookbook for dishes from around the world! It’s a very thick book because at the beginning of each section, there is quite a bit of history and knowledge imparted for a beginner cook. Each recipe is written conversationally: meaning it’s not just a list of ingredients and then the instructions below. The instructions include the ingredients and the techniques needed for each step. It’s a different way of explaining things, but truly helpful for any beginner to tackle cooking or baking.
This is another old cookbook with several great options for cooking meals or baking yummy treats.
This book offers the region and city where the contributor hails from. So you have dishes from around the United States.
I’ve adapted several recipes from this cookbook like our open roast beef sandwiches and the basic white bread recipe is excellent!
For my sourdough adventures, I have two cookbooks that I adore!
I’ve been a follower of Maurizio’s website, The Perfect Loaf, for years! His recipes and blog posts have helped me navigate and learn the wonderful world of sourdough for several years now. I was so excited when he published his first cookbook and I pre-ordered that bad boy immediately 🙂
The Tartine cookbook is relatively new to me and their process for making a sourdough country cottage loaf made my sourdough bread come out amazing every time! I love the photos in this cookbook to help you walk through the process of making various sourdough items. They also have a fantastic section at the back of the book to help you make some cool dishes with your day old bread.
This little book was a recent acquisition.
It was gifted to me by my oldest son after I got into milling my own flour from whole wheat berries.
This book understand the challenges with fresh, home milled wheat. Their recipes all take into consideration those challenges and each loaf is moist and delicious. I highly recommend this book if you get into milling your own wheat.
This book is incredible and fun, and I haven’t made a whole lot of breads out of it yet.
It’s pretty cool to see the various breads from around the world. The recipes are easy to create, the only trick being that they are all made with fresh yeast cakes. I was never able to find store bought fresh yeast cakes…
So, I tackled making fresh yeast for several of them. It just got to be a chore making fresh yeast every week, so I adapted to using instant yeast instead.
This cookbook also came from my grandmother by way of my mother. All the recipes are excellent and produce fabulous breads or rolls!
My favorite part of this book is the inside cover. My uncle must have gifted it to my grandmother because glued to the inside cover is a sweet Mother’s Day poem. It makes me smile!
Side note: did you know that Pillsbury has trademarked the term “Bake Off”? That’s why the American version of the Great British Bake Off had to change the name to Great British Baking Show. I found that fascinating.
There are just a few of my cookbooks, but they are definitely go-to’s in my scratch cooking journey. What is your favorite cookbook and what is the story behind it? Share in the comment section below.