Another Christmas — another pile of delicious books for the cook in your life, and friends who like to cook, but need encouragement and inspiration before they pick up a wooden spoon.

Tiffany Goodall’s First Flat Cookbook (Quadrille, £9.99) is a good book to begin with, as it’s the perfect gift for the young person moving away from home for the first time. The recipes are easy to make, with essential skills explained along the way. There is even a chapter on using leftovers.

The Horlicks Cookbook, by Paul Hartley (Absolute Press, £7.99) is an imaginative little book which features more than 60 different ways this soothing night time drink can actually perk up a host of sweet and savoury dishes. If given as a Christmas dish, along with a tin of Horlicks, it would certainly make an unusual gift.

Five Fat Hens by Tim Halket (Grub Street Press, £18.99) is an insightful book on chicken keeping that is bound to convince readers that if they don’t keep their own hens, they ought to. Tim is not a chef, or a smallholder — just a fresh egg enthusiast who loves cooking. His enthusiasm for fresh food and chickens is infectious.

The French chef Paul Bocuse writes the forward for French Cooking — Classic Recipes and Techniques ( Flammarion, £29.99) complied by Vincent Boue and Hurbert Delorme. He describes it as a new culinary Bible, which exposes the secrets of French cookery. This is no lightweight cookery book, and far too large to place at the top of the Christmas tree as it actually weights more than 5lb, contains more than 400 recipes and classic cookery techniques and 700 photographs. It also contains a 90-minute DVD of the key techniques it features. This is a book that should be given to that special person in your life who will be inspired by its contents.

If you have ever fancied cheese-making, Paul Peacock provides the method in Making Your Own Cheese (Spring Hill, £9.99). His guide book contains instructions on acquiring the milk, equipment needed and some fascinating recipes that can help you make simple cheeses and some of the world’s speciality cheeses, including Brie and Roquefort.

Cooking should be a pleasure not a chore, but that can be difficult to achieve when you are short of time. Good Food, Fast (Dairy Cookbook published by Eaglemoss Consumer Publications Ltd, £9.99) and available from your milkman, helps you get organised as you begin cooking, ensuring you really can create a meal in 30 mintues.

The photos in Paris Patisseries (Flammarion, £24.95) are simply scrumptious, and the tempting recipes that range from a simple croissant to the light layers of mille-feuilles are mouth watering.

Where else but Paris can you be tempted by the confection displayed in a Parisian patisserie, filled with the latest culinary trends and time-honoured classics that combine fruit, cream, icings, frostings, chocolate and pastry? This delightful book introduces readers to the traditions of patisseries, recipes and a list of 40 of Paris’s best pastry shops and tea rooms.

Vegetarian with a Vengeance by Christine Bille Nielsen and Tina Scheftelowitz (Grub Street Press, £14.99) is a colourful and creative collection of recipes for both the vegetarian and the person who is cutting down on meat, but still wants something tasty to eat. The recipes include the traditional and the exotic and nutritionally sound. They are tasty too. For those looking for vegetarian recipes that call on the Mediterranean for inspiration there’s Verdura — Vegetables Italian Style, (Grub Street Press, £12.99) which is a new publication of Viana La Place’s 1991 classic. With a vegetable and herb guide and an ingredient glossary, Verdura provides comprehensive information while exciting the palate.

Aga Roast by Louise Walker (Absolute Press, £20) is a book that insists you first find a good butcher when contemplating an Aga roast, even if that means travelling for half an hour to find one. Louise says the combination of a good cut of well-hung meat and an Aga cooker is irresistible. She goes as far as to suggest that a good roast joint will always “sell” an Aga to a wavering “would-be Aga owner”. This beautifully illustrated book is a must for any Aga owner as traditional favourites sit alongside more exotic dishes, including paprika roast pork and Japanese-style roast salmon.

Recipe for Murder by Esterelle Payany (Flammarion, £14.95) is a fun cookery book and perfect Boxing Day reading, as its recipes are all inspired by scoundrels from popular literature. Certain sections begin with an excerpt from an original story and are accompanied by poster-art-inspired illustrations featuring the criminal and his recipe.

Last but not least there’s Marguerite Patten’s Best British Dishes (Grub Street Press, £14.99). As Marguerite is considered the doyenne of British cookery, there is no one who understands the historical diversity of cooking in Britain better than she does, and her books reflect this fact.