I’m not sure how we’re here again, but somehow it’s time to talk about the best cookbooks of last year!
There were a lot of new cookbooks last year, quite a few in the baking category especially. Below are my top picks from everything that was released in 2024 (that I have in my collection anyway), these are the books I’d recommend adding to your collection if you haven’t already.
If you’d like to see reviews of these and other cookbooks from 2024, check out my newsletter archives here, more reviews here on my blog. Sign up to my newsletter to get content like this in your inbox regularly.
Let me know in the comments below what your top choices from the cookbooks released in 2024 are!
Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb (Ebury Press) - 2024 gave us a few new baking books, all good in their own right and all very different too, but I think Sift is the stand out. The level of research and generosity of information in here is astounding. It’s technical without being inaccessible or boring, plus the recipes vary in simplicity and complexity meaning it’s a book that could be used by many. This is the book to get if you want to learn more about baking.
Bethlehem by Fadi Kattan - I am not alone in my feelings about this book. I have seen others say they think it is one of the best of 2024, and I wholeheartedly agree. The generosity and care Fadi takes us through the food and recipes of Bethlehem, often through his own families stories and recipes, is something few other books can compare to. Cookbooks with a story always appeal to me, however Bethlehem is not just a cookbook with a story, it is a book with heart and soul. The photography is also excellent, and the cover design stunning. A book everyone needs on their shelf and in their kitchen.
Taboon: Sweet and Savoury Delights from the Lebanese Bakery by Hisham Assaad (Smith Street Books) - Maybe one of the few cookbooks from 2024 that can compare to Bethlehem by Fadi Kattan, is Taboon. A similar vein of generosity, sharing and welcoming can be felt from this book. Focusing on the baked goods of Lebanon, especially through the lens of the displaced Palestinian community there, Taboon captures the recipes and stories around these foods in a way that is inviting and personal. There are many interesting recipes to try, both sweet and savoury, plus the photography is beautiful and engaging, as is Hisham’s writing. I don’t have Hisham’s first book Beyrut, so I don’t know how it compares to that, however I am hoping to rectify that situation as soon as I can!
Some of My Best Friends are Cookies by Emelia Jackson (Murdoch Books)*- I was a little skeptical about Emelia’s second book, not being the biggest fan of her first (which I am aware is a minority opinion!), but Some of My Best Friends are Cookies is so fun, and the initial explanation about the use of the word ‘cookie’ (sometimes mildly controversial in Australia) set me at ease quickly. I really enjoyed the way the book is divided up into sections, and Emelia’s clear love for biscuits and cookies is evident on every page.
There is a great variety of recipes here too, something I think some baking books lacked in 2024. There are only so many cookbooks I can house, especially of the kind that are lovely and beautiful, but don’t contain many recipes I will actually make. Some of My Best Friends are Cookies is the antithesis to this (as is Sift above with regards to baking books), with baking cookies and biscuits in and of themselves being often smaller baking projects than their layered cake counterparts only adding to the usefulness of this small but mighty book.
*Many thanks to Murdoch Books for gifting a copy of Some of My Best Friends Are Cookies to me.