posted on 07 Dec 2023

My First Christmas Cook Book by David Atherton, illustrated by Katie Cottle

At this time of year it is always exciting to find a different kind of children’s book with a Christmas theme. The vivid red, white and green cover of this one is suitably eye-catching with plenty of examples of delicious looking seasonal treats. The talented Welsh illustrator, Kate Cottle uses lots of bright colours throughout the book to enhance the recipes.

The introduction by the author, David Atherton, the 2019 winner of ‘The Great British Bake Off’' popular TV series, emphasises the joy of making ‘beautiful bakes and magical memories to treasure for ever’. This is his fourth publication that aims to get children to become food lovers who enjoy making tasty and healthy food.

Part of the pleasure of looking at any successful cook book is lingering over the pages and making decisions about what might be tasty. A good thing about this one is that all the recipes are pretty simple and straightforward to follow. The ingredients are not too fancy, so that finding them in the local supermarket should be do-able. I browsed the different sections with my seven year old grandson who like many children has a restricted diet. We decided that most of the ingredients could be easily replaced with gluten and dairy free alternatives, so these were our carefully considered choices:

The first section ‘Sweets and edible gifts’ has ten tempting contenders but we really liked the look of Melting meringue snowpeople. As with all the recipes, the method is broken down clearly into illustrated steps with the finished result of jolly looking people wearing marshmallows and fruit leather to make colourful hats and scarves. Almost a shame to eat them!

‘Party food’ included Christmas jumper pizzas which looked impressive but very fiddly so we decided on filo pastry presents as a healthy but tasty option that would look very attractive ( if they turned out as perfectly as those in the final illustration).

We lingered for a long time in the ‘Christmas cakes and biscuits’ section trying to choose between the Cracker Carrot Cake and the Red Velvet Santa Hats but finally plumped for Stained-glass Biscuits because they promised to look pretty when held up to the light.

By the time we got to the ‘Festive showstoppers’ recipes, we were starting to feel quite hungry! We were both intrigued by the Christmas Igloo Cake because it involved using a balloon as the mould. Rather complicated for me to get excited about but he was pretty determined to give it a try with the help of his mom!

Time is rapidly running out so I strongly recommend that you use this book packed with imaginative recipes and ‘tie on your apron and have fun spending time together!’ Then stash it away with the Christmas decorations until next December and every one thereafter when you can rediscover the joys of festive cooking and get creative in the kitchen.

Published by Walker Books, it can be obtained from your local independent bookshop- who will be glad to order it for you if it’s not on their shelves.

 

Karen Argent

December 2023