There’s something special about a really good cookbook. Leafing through the pages, taking in the beautiful images, making a mental note of which ones you want to cook first – we all have our own little rituals when it comes to opening them for the first time. But while many of us have shelves upon shelves of cookbooks, a large amount of them tend to go unused; flicked through upon point of purchase and then resigned to the bookshelf to gather dust.

To help prevent this from happening, we’ve put together a list of our favourite cookbooks from the past year, which we guarantee will get used again and again by home cooks. From hybrid memoir-recipe books that shed light on chefs at the top of their game to fantastic collections of recipes that showcase a country’s cuisine, every one of the following books will bring joy to anyone who loves food this Christmas. And even if you don’t know anyone who loves cooking as much as you do, they’ll make fantastic additions to your own collection.

Naturally, the first book on our list is our very own! Containing 120 recipes from sixty of the best chefs cooking in Britain today, this will quickly become your go-to tome whenever you’re looking to wow at a dinner party. Covering everything from canapés and starters to mains, desserts and petits fours, we’ve made sure every single recipe in the book is 100% accurate, easy to recreate at home and boasts plenty of wow factor. A guaranteed winner for anyone who loves cooking.

£25 from Amazon

Paul Foster is one of the most exciting chefs in the UK right now, and his debut book contains both recipes and the story of his career so far, including when he gambled everything to crowdfund his own restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon (which recently won its first Michelin star). The book tells a tale of a seriously determined chef, giving an insight into just how hard it is to rise to the top and how complex and technical such high-level cooking can be. A great gift for someone who loves knowing what happens behind the scenes of a top restaurant.

£40 from Amazon

When it comes to graft and determination, few chefs have such an undying commitment to their craft as Daniel Clifford. He’s been at the helm of two-starred Midsummer House for the past twenty years, and this book charts the highs and lows of his journey (along with over 140 recipes served at Midsummer over the years). Daniel bares all in the pages of his book, talking about the bad as well as the good, making this a fascinating read for anyone interested in cooking at a professional level.

£34.67 from Amazon

Simon Rogan is a chef who single-handedly changed the British food scene forever, taking the idea of local, seasonal cooking to another level with his legendary L’Enclume in Cumbria. This book contains a wide array of recipes that encapsulate his ethos when it comes to cuisine; accessible for the home cook yet not dumbed down. It’s also a bit of a love letter to the British seasons, highlighting particular ingredients that peak at certain times of the year.

£13.99 from Amazon

As reference books go, you can’t get much better than this. From the hallowed Noma restaurant in Copenhagen – famous for its love of fermenting – this guide to everything preserved is worth hits weight in gold to anyone who enjoys putting various things in jars and watching them change over time. From lacto-fermentation to building your own fermenting equipment, it’s clear a huge amount of work went into this book – and for the price, it’s a compete steal.

£15.69 from Amazon

Beyond a tagine, we don’t know all that much about Moroccan cooking here in the UK, but this book is set to change that. From a fantastic author who’s set to become one of the great food writers of our time, the dishes in this book paint a vivid, vibrant picture of Morocco, full of fresh flavours, heady spices and comforting, colourful dishes.

£11.58 from Amazon

Unlike standard recipe books, this bestseller takes a different approach, explaining the simple rules all cooks should follow when preparing dishes at home. By mastering the elements of salt, fat, acid and heat, anyone can create incredible recipes from scratch – and this guide is a must-read for anyone who’s ever been near an oven. The fact that the author Samin was given her own TV show on Netflix almost immediately after this book was published is testament to how informative and educational her writing is.

£15 from Amazon

What started out as a fundraising drive on social media and supperclub has now become an incredible cookbook – and all for a good cause. All the profits raised through selling the book goes to help the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and the recipes come from some of the best chefs and food writers in the UK today. All the bakes in the book are inspired by the cuisines and flavours of the Middle East, which means they’re far from your average drizzle cake. If you’re looking for something different to make at home and donate to a good cause at the same time, then this is the book to buy.

£15.11 from Amazon

Rowley Leigh has written for the Financial Times and has forty years of professional cooking under his belt – his latest book combines all his essays and recipes into a single tome. With over 120 dishes to recreate at home, perfectly paired wine recommendations and some truly fantastic writing, this is a book you’ll come back to again and again.

£15.29 from Amazon

Asma Khan has exploded onto the British food scene, making headlines for her comforting, authentic Indian food at her restaurant Darjeeling Express and is soon to be the first British chef to be featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table. This book shares her incredible recipes, following the route of the Darjeeling Express train from Bengal to Hyderabad and paying homage to Asma’s own Mughal ancestry.

£13.68 from Amazon