I could also have entitled this blog “What do you give someone who has everything for Christmas?”. Well if they enjoy cooking I have a great idea for you. Why not buy them some great ingredients and put them in a little gift box or hamper and give it to them as a lovely thoughtful gift this Christmas?
As a brilliant example of what I think will make a brilliant Christmas present for the buddying chef in your life, Cooks & Co have kindly given us 5 bottles of their speciality oils to give away.
These are lovely products that no kitchen should be without. I’ve been using their virgin sesame oil all summer in salad dressings and their olive oil with chillies is a great way to add some warmth and depth when frying a steak or even cooking an omelette. You can find these in all good supermarkets these days or online at Amazon.co.uk.
The five oils included in the competition prize are Hazelnut Oil, Olive Oil with Chillies, Roasted Peanut Oil, Virgin Sesame Oil and Walnut Oil as pictured above. If you would like to win this set of five speciality oils so you then just enter our competition.
All you need to do is leave a comment below and tell us what you think would make the perfect Christmas present for someone who loves cooking. We are looking for a good range of ideas for all budgets so anything from ingredients to gadgets to particular cookery books. Don’t forget to give your reason for picking the item you are suggesting.
Please note: This competition is now closed and the winner will be announced shortly
How to enter & rules:
- Read through the comments below to see what ideas other people have already entered.
- Use the comment box to leave your entry OR e-mail it to linda@christmascountdown.co.uk.
- By entering you grant us the right to publish your entry in print and online, making minor corrections and edits as required.
- The closing date for entries is midnight on December 17th 2012
- The editors decision is final and we will not enter into further correspondence.
- The winner will be notified by e-mail on December 19th 2012 – don’t forget to leave your correct e-mail address or we won’t be able to contact you to arrange delivery. If the prize is not claimed within 14 days we will offer it again to a runner up.
- We agree to receive our newsletter e-mail to notify your of new competitions, winners of previous competitions and related offers. You can unsubscribe at anytime. Typically sent just 4 times a year.
- We promise not to share your e-mail address with anyone else.
- Sorry but we can only deliver the prize to locations within the UK via Royal Mail.
I would give them a pasta machine. I had never considered making my own pasta until someone gave me one as a gift and now I’d never eat store-bought again! ^_^
Can only go on what I would like which would be a Kitchen Aid Artisan Mixer – very expensive so just can’t justify it but if Santa was to bring me one……
for the cook who has everything…………….appreciative dinner guests – who have never appeared on Come Dine With Me
For Someone Who Loves Cooking, The Perfect Present Would Be A Range Of Spices And Herbs. This Could Be Used In All Cuisines !
recipe books for certain
A cookery course for a style of cooking they’ve not tried before.
Dinner at Le Manoir!
A simple hand blender.
a massive hamper with speciality cooking ingredients and some flowers
A kitchen herb garden so they can have fresh herbs daily
My friend loves baking, so this year I bought her a proper set of piping bags and nozzles! I think she’ll love them!
I would give them a gift experience, where they have cookery lessons in a local restaurant.
A masterclass with their chef idol.
I would give them a cook book as it would be something they could use. I’d try and choose a chef I knew they liked.
Knowing that someone who loves to cook would have all the cookware and utensils they would need I would get them some wonderful exotic unique store cupboard ingredients that they wouldn’t usually buy for themselves so that they could cook up something special.
A set of very expensive kitchen knives can’t be beaten
A smoothie maker. Healthier than a coffee to end the evening!
A South Devon Chilli Farm Smokey Gift Pack:
1 bottle of Smokey Chipotle Chilli Sauce, 1 Smokey Chipotle Salsa and 1 Chipotle Cook Book.
A great introduction to the wonderfully smokey chipotle chilli.
A bundle of recipe books!
A lovely selection of Oils and spices
A range of speciality oils and herbs and spices, the options then are endless, a good year of cooking to look forward to.
My address so they can come and cook for me!
I would give them a cooks timer.
A hamper with special ingredients, for example lots of Indian spices if they like cooking Indian.
a hamper of exotic spices, sauces, herbs and chutneys.
A cookery course so they can have fun and up their skill set at the same time. When they get home their cooking will have gone to an even higher level so they will be happier than ever!
Kitchen Aid Artisan Mixer would be great but only if santa brings me one as they are so expensive
A recipe book holder – so they don’t have to stain pages
A set of Cooks & Co.’s oils of course to add great flavours to their dishes
A wall-mounted magnetic knife holder – more space on the worktop and your knives are stored safe and sound.
A lovely hamper of speciality oils
Some time to cook in peace. Give them a pretty card that says ‘I promise to look after your children for 3 hours so you can cook in peace – to be redeemed at your convenience’. This is a gift anyone can give & you can simply look after the children or take them for an afternoon out. Another advantage of this is that you will probably be invited to sample the results!
A coffee machine so she can keep awake
Most cooks have very firm ideas about the types of implements or equipment they like so I would go for a really nice binder to keep loose recipes in – perhaps with a photograph of a favourite dish they have made, or a favourite place they have been on the front (assuming I could get them without their knowledge!).
a COMEDY APRON – You know it’ll get used
A Cooks and Co. hamper. just like the one on the website filled with lots of lovely goodies for foodies!
My 11-year old daughter is MAD about baking. As it’s a great skill to have, I’d like to encourage her by buying her some proper tins and baking equipment, as well as a course to encourage her to move away solely from cakes and buns, but expand into homemade bread (yum)
A hamper of quality ingredients
I would put together a hamper of locally produced goods, such as cheeses, sausages, fruit & veg to make it personal to them & good for their local area!
A subscription to a meat supplier, for a different monthly supply of in season meat
I would buy them a cooking lesson in the area they wanted to improve in, plus any gadgets they might need to practice at home.
A cooking course for beginners
Lakeland sells wonderful plastic individual pudding basins 1/4 of a pint – 6 for £4.99. These are great. They have clip on lids so don’t need all the faff with greaseproof paper and string and they have little feet so you can just put them straight into a pan of boiling water without anything under them.
They can even go straight into the freezer if you make too many! They are microwave safe too (although microwaved puddings just aren’t as good…)
Being so small a sponge is ready in 30 minutes rather than well over an hour for a full sized one too!
Me to cook for
A really comprehensive rotating spice rack as this would last for ages and help with all aspects of their cooking.
Well the best X -mas present would be a cooking course with one of my friends favourite cook
I saw the cutest spice set the other day, where each spice has its own drawer. That would be the perfect present (especially for my mum!!)
A cookery course to hone their skills
A state of the art kitchen knife.
For someone who already loves cooking (if I had enough money!) I would give some quality kitchen knives and a knife sharpener. I get given a different Global knife every Christmas and they make food preparation so much easier!
A really good set of pans and a hamper full of the very best ingredients including a selection of the finest oils!
I’ve just bought a box of curry spices for a friend it contains about 20 different packs for different types of curries.
a challenge to make something interesting from a random set of 7 ingredients
A dishwasher!
I’ve bought my brother a pasta making machine as he’s always wanted to try making it at home. I hope it gets good use and doesn’t gather dust at the back of the cupboard!!
A monthly subscription to an organic vegetable box delivery.
Subscription to cooking magazine
A hamper of exotic luxury ingredients
A blender to get them going on easy soups and smoothies
A beautifully bound plain notebook, a pencil and an eraser, so that they could record and amend their own recipes for dishes as they’re concocting them!
Well I would love the Joseph Joseph herb chopper, stylish and practical, so that’s what I would give
A good knife set
I would give them a forager’s course so they could find and use some unusual natural ingredients. Also it would help keep costs down in difficult times.
Bit of a stocking filler, but I’d suggest disposable cake tin liners or the washable ones. I love baking but lining tins is a real pain.
An indoor Herb Garden, so they can have access to them all year round, plus the smell would be heavenly
A high quality (French) whisk. We have one, which has made a massive difference in our kitchen, plus, if you buy it from France it brings a touch of French cuisine to your cooking!
my boyfriend loves cooking and would love a le creuset (i have probable spelt that wrong) casserole dish
A gift voucher to visit a cookery school of their choice.
One of those flavr boxes would be a perfect gift where they send you different and unusual foodie items every month!
Speciality Oils from Cooks and Co. of course.
coffee machine—refreshment on tap.
I would give them a set of the most expensive pans that I could afford. Makes it so much easier and better to have them when you are cooking.
Oils, herbs and spices so they can experiment with lots of new recipes
You can buy edible wreaths which look stunning and are made of things such as bay leaves, rosemary, chillies and kumquats… so you can adorn the house and cook with it at the same time!
A Kitchenaid Food mixer for all those hard jobs
For anyone that likes cooking Indian food, a Tiffin set and a Spice Dabba with an Indian Recipe book
To meet James Martin and appear on The Saturday Kitchen
a bread making machine and a selection of herbs for the most mouthwatering bread
A kitchenaid, I know I’d love to receive one
A food hamper
I love making up hampers of different foods that are really hard to get hold of or things they particularly love. I go to specialist shops and get small amounts of different things and give them in a taylor made hamper.
A food processor
A hamper of utensils and pans and cookery bits and bobs like spices!
i think the perfect gift would be Jamie Oliver – meals in 15 minutes. I know my friends who cook would love that.
A good food processor, you can’t do anything without the right tools!
A good set of cutlery
A wooden recipe box with blank cards in it so they can scribble down all their favourite recipes over the year
LeCreuset cookware such as a casserole dish would make an ideal gift.
LeCreuset cookware such as a casserole dish would make an ideal gift because they’ll last you a lifetime (or should, they have a lifetime guarantee after all).
(oops, forgot the reason in the first comment)
I would personally like to receive these speciality oils – I have an amazing carrot cake recipe that is just crying out for the Hazelnut Oil, and a Chocolate Cake recipe that would benefit from the Iol with Cillies! Not to mention all of the stir fries and other savouries that would just love a dash of the others!
A book on traditional indian currys, spices and serving dishes.
Good quality knives they are soooo essential
I would love to give them a brand new, state of the art kitchen, in which to prepare all their delicious menus! Hopefully they would invite me to dinner!
I cooking lesson experience
A Potato Peeler – it’s the worst job EVER in the kitchen 🙂
I think making them a Cooking Hamper so buying them a recipe book, choosing one of the recipes and buying all the ingredients and putting this in the Hamper
My friend loves baking so a kitchenaid mixer would be a fab present for her! I love soup so i would love to try one of those soup makers
A Food Mixer to help me make lots of yummy cakes
I think the perfect Christmas present for some one who love cooking would be a food blender of which l wish Santa would bring me as mine just packed up rrrrrrrrr
Assortment of chillies! But failing that I think a little tagine makes a fab present.
I think the perfect gift for someone who loves cooking is herbs and spices. Someone who knows what they are doing can use them to make magic.
A set of new spices and sauces so they can experiment cooking with different flavours
a holiday to the destination of their fave cuisine with a cookery course when they get there – my brother went to a great one in Italy and he loved it
Well I love cooking and would like someone to buy me a really top quality Japanese cooks knife. It would make cooking even more enjoyable and would last a lifetime with proper care.
A subscription to the spicery monthly spice packs
a good set of knives
I would give them a Magimix food processor. We love cooking in our household and this gadget is invaluable!
A well known department store that does sentimental christmas adverts has a spice box set this year where the profits go to help the very poorest in India. I think its a lovely gift for someone who enjoys cooking as it has a recipe book too and there is the extra benefit of helping another community.
i love cooking and you can never have enough good pans, but a selection of oils is something different and would make a great gift to myself 😉
My sister loves cake baking so the perfect present would be a selection of icing, toppings and pretty cases everything pink and girly!