The best new cookbooks to give as Christmas gifts - from Nigella Lawson to Jamie Oliver

With Christmas fast approaching, many us of have started shopping for gifts for friends and family. As cooking and baking at home has been popular this year, the gift of a new cookbook is an ideal choice for budding chefs.

Here we take a look at a selection of new cookbooks, covering everything from baking to family meals.

7 Ways by Jamie Oliver

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The celebrity chef is back with another new book. In this one, Jamie has picked out 18 popular supermarket purchases, including chicken, salmon, potatoes, sausages and broccoli and shares seven affordable and simple recipes.

Short ingredients lists and a mix and match approach makes this book ideal for those short on time who want to make the most of fridge essentials and store cupboard ingredients.

Buy 7 Ways here.

Ottolenghi FLAVOUR by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage

One for the vegetarians, or those looking to cut down on their meat intake, this latest book from Yotam Ottolenghi sees him joined by colleague Ixta Belfrage.

Flavour-forward, vegetable-based recipes are at the heart of Ottolenghi’s food and this book is no exception.

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With over 100 recipes, dishes include: aubergine dumplings alla Parmigiana, hasselback beetroot with lime leaf butter, and Romano pepper schnitzels.

Buy Ottolenghi FLAVOUR here.

Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes and Stories by Nigella Lawson

Nigella's latest cookery books combines recipes with personal essays about her life and experiences with food over the years.

“The recipes I write come from my life, my home" Nigella has said about the book, which was released in late October.

Dishes include: beef cheeks with port and chestnuts, chicken with garlic cream sauce and wide noodles with lamb in aromatic broth.

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There's also a fab range of sweet treats and bakes to enjoy over the winter.

Buy Cook, Eat, Repeat here.

Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussain

The 2017 Bake Off winner is back with another book, this time focusing on what she's best known for - baking.

Covering everything from celebration cakes to simple traybakes - and a selection of savoury items - this book is ideal for bakers of all levels.

An accompanying BBC series is currently being shown, so you can see how the recipes are done by the woman herself.

Buy Nadiya Bakes here.

Simple Comforts by Mary Berry

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This latest book from ex Bake Off judge, Mary Berry, is an accompaniment to her current BBC2 programme and is packed full of comforting, homely recipes.

Ideal for now, dishes include warming stews, roast dinners and, as you'd imagine, lovely desserts.

Buy Simple Comforts here.

Falastin, Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley

This cookbook is described as a love letter to Palestine from the co-authors of Jerusalem and Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, and Ottolenghi SIMPLE.

Falastin journeys through the flavours of East Jerusalem, Nablus, Haifa, Akka, Nazareth, Galilee and the West Bank.

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With over 100 recipes, the dishes are a mix of traditional and contemporary. Photography and stories from locals make this more than just a cookbook.

Buy Falastin here.

Red Sands by Caroline Eden

Edinburgh-based journalist and writer, Eden, is the author of the award winning Black Sea and Samarkand.

This latest destination cookbook covers Caroline’s gastronomic journey from the Caspian Sea, in Kazakhstan, to orchards in Tajikistan, into the cafes and canteens of Uzbekistan.

Recipes include the Friday mosque halva, pink pickled onions and sour cherry borscht.

Buy Red Sands here.

The Seafood Shack by Kirsty Scobie and Fenella Renwick

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This is the first cookbook from the owners of the Seafood Shack, a sustainable seafood van located in the heart of the small Scottish West Coast village of Ullapool.

The shack is now one of the foodie highlights of the North Coast 500, serving up whatever fresh fish the local fisherman land that morning.

This book showcases some of their popular dishes from the shack, including a haddock and pesto wrap, spiney popcorn and lobster mac and cheese.

Buy The Seafood Shack here.

Home Cookery Year by Claire Thompson

Ideal for busy families, Claire's recipes are known for being quick, easy crowd-pleasers and this latest book is no exception.

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With twists on classic recipes, ideas for all occasions and dishes to tempt even the most jaded palettes - there' something for all in this book that Nigella describes as "a boon for those in a cooking rut."

Buy Home Cookery Year here.

Root, Steam, Leaf, Flower by Gill Meller

Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower is a celebration of seasonal vegetables and fruit, and is jam packed full of over 100 simple and quick vegetarian recipes.

Taking a tour of the seasons, from root vegetables to lighter flavours of rhubarb and asparagus, this book is one you'll return to again and again.

Buy Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower here.

Eat to Save the Planet by Annie Bell

Eat to Save the Planet is an eco-friendly recipe book and 28 day plan based on the Planetary Health Diet, the groundbreaking global scientific study that tackles both our personal health and the health of the planet.

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Eat to Save the Planet demystifies that science, helping the reader introduce the approach in simple, achievable steps. It features recipes for everyone, whatever their dietary preference or persuasion.

By award-winning food writer Annie Bell, the book is packed with 85 delicious and nutritious recipes based on the report’s recommendation of eating more fruits and vegetables, together with modest amounts of meat and dairy, plus whole grains, plant proteins and unsaturated plant oils.

The 28 day meal-plan and accessible food shopping and storage tips that address food waste, will help the whole family adopt a healthy and genuinely sustainable approach to eating.

Buy Eat to Save the Planet here.

How Not to Diet Cookbook by Michael Greger MD

The million-copy, New York Times bestselling author, Michael Greger MD, is releasing an innovative cookbook book this December 10th based on cutting-edge scientific research.

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The How Not to Diet Cookbook builds on years of nutritional research and Greger's best-selling How Not to Die and How Not to Diet.

Packed with recipes which use ingredients that are anti-inflammatory and use our natural fat-burning systems, Greger provides breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas that will promote a happier, healthier life whilst not skimping on flavour.

Perfect for anyone who is done with fad diets, this book will help readers achieve long-term weight loss success.

Buy How Not to Diet here.

A version of this article first appeared on The Scotsman.

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