Best kitchen gifts for Christmas, from useful gadgets to high end cookware

This is the time of years when cooks and bakers come into their own. And it is also, may I say, the time for friends and family to show their appreciation with some thoughtful gifts for the cook and baker.

First, a few obvious points. It always helps if you know the cook’s preferences – a tagine isn’t much use unless you do North African dishes – and you don’t want to give something that takes up space at the back of the cupboard.

Cooking kits embellished for the festive season in Santa colours will always go down a treat. A saucepan is much more fun in holly red rather than boring steel (see Kitchen Aid’s new scarlet casserole pan) and a blender set or hand mixer in berry (see the lovely Smeg version) rather than clinical white brings a certain flair; why should kitchen things be boring?

Food presents are fabulous for the home cook. We’re talking those really lovely staples you might not ordinarily afford like the very best saffron, lovely vinegar, really good honey or olive oil.

Then there are useful presents. These are thoughtful ones you can bring along to a dinner that will take the pressure off the cook; charcuterie for grazing, or a really good cheese course, which could be a selection, or just one cheese like a piece of fine Stilchelton (a beautiful raw milk version of Stilton).

Do not forget that cooks drink too – well, I do. Handily, vermouth is both a lovely aperitif and good for cooking. A fine sherry, like a Palo Cortado, is dandy for trifles, for deglazing a roasting pan and cheersing the chef.

One of the most sought-after present for cooks this season is the Ooni pizza oven. A pizza in 60 seconds? What’s not to like?

Here are some sensible suggestions for all tastes and resources, amateurs to nerds.

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KitchenAid handmixer in Empire Red

Why should functional things be boring when they could be fabulous? This hand mixer from Kitchen Aid has nine speeds, about half a dozen more than I need, and the attachments include dough hooks, but I say, look at the lovely colour…it would brighten up the kitchen, now wouldn’t it? From the ever-reliable Lakeland, it comes with a three year guarantee.

Buy now £108.00, Lakeland

The Always Pan

This is one for cooking obsessives. It’s a cult multi-purpose, ceramic pan from American brand, OurPlace complete with a removable steamer insert and available in a wonderful range of colours. It’s robust, uber non-stick, and a terrific piece of kit. Actually it would make a good wedding present too.

Buy now £125.00, Selfridges

Lakeland 46-piece Decorating Starter Set

This is one for GBBO obsessives. It’s described as a starter set, but really, it has all you need for most cake decorating. Crucially, it comes in its own space-saving, two layer caddy.

Buy now £39.99, Lakeland

Discovery Cheese Box

This is a delicious selection of four cheeses, including my new Alpine favourite, Schnebelhorn, and the fabulous Spanish Cremosa. Just cut a lid of the top and scoop out the middle. It comes with biscuits and a tea towel.

And if you want to make it an even better gift, throw in a very useful Paxton’s Cheesemonger’s Favourite Knife, £21.

Buy now £65.00, Paxton & Whitfield

Niwaki Carbon Santoku Knife

This is a really lovely Japanese kitchen knife. It’s beautiful to look at, with an octagonal wooden handle, light to the hand, and beautifully balanced. It also requires quite a bit of hands-on TLC; you really need to get the little crean mate cleaning block and the sharpening stone too, because it does need cleaning and sharpening. But you know, the whole maintenance thing can be oddly relaxing.

Buy now £97.90, Amazon

Fried Eggs and Rioja. What to Drink with Absolutely Everything by Victoria Moore, Granta

This is a terrifically useful little book. Victoria Moore is such a good, accessible wine writer. Here she demystifies the whole what to drink with what business. As an example of her thoroughness, she gives different pairing suggestions for fish pie with egg, and fish pie with spinach. There are some recipes too.

Buy now £12.99, Amazon

Fortnum & Mason platinum caviar, 30g

This is a blend of two kinds of caviar and good quality for the price. Caviar is the most spoiling present, especially with some blinis, and the perfect stocking filler.

Buy now £65.00, Fortnum & Mason

Magnetic Toast Tongs

You think I’m being funny? This little magnetic device, bamboo tongs for fishing bits out of the toaster, is incredibly useful. Buy two: one for the stocking and keep one for yourself.

Buy now £3.49, Lakeland

Truffle zest, 16g

This stuff contains just one per cent truffle but my goodness, the scent blows you away.

It’s a truffle infused powder that would be fabulous with a creamy pasta sauce. One little bottle has eight servings.

Buy now £5.95, Harvey Nichols

The Domino Apron

Charleston, home to Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell as well as a holiday retreat for the Bloomsbury group, sustains the tradition of art and craft the pair established at the house by selling pieces either designed by, or inspired by them. This rather lovely apron is part of a range from textile designer Cressida Bell and is inspired by the decorations they made for the house. Check out the matching tea towel.

Buy now £18.25, Charleston

Nutmeg grater with nutmegs

This would be an adorable stocking filler; a sweet little grater, handy for Christmas punch.

Buy now £4.00, Amazon

Sour cherry jam, Vitorchiano Trappists

This jam – and the entire lovely range – comes with bragging rights. It’s made by Trappist nuns in Viterbo without additives or preservatives. Obviously, it’s good with chocolate cake. Also check out all the monastery products on this site…there are delicious things.

Buy now £7.02, Holy Art

Olive wood Chopping board

What could be more Christmassy than an olivewood product from a carpenter family in Bethlehem? This is a small sturdy board. It’s lovely to look at, and big enough for cutting onions or serving a bit of cheese. (Ideally use one side for the food prep, the other, for presentation.) It’s from a charity that works with Middle Eastern communities.

Buy now £24.99, Embrace The Middle East

Almond and orange mincemeat

This is an unusual mincemeat - created without suet but including whole almonds. It’s got a fresh, lively character from the citrus, and would make excellent tarts for vegans.

Buy now £6.95, Rosebud Preserves

Organic Olive Oil

This is a nicely balanced oil from Apulian olives. It’s expensive because it comes in attractive ceramic bottles with a cork stopper, sealed with wax, and adorned with the store’s signature stripes.

Check out too the store’s L'Aperitivo box (£100) with everything you need, apart from the bread, for a pleasant evening of grazing. It includes cured meat, parmesan, olives, balsamic vinegar and a very moreish, rich vermouth.

Buy now £32.95, Lina Stores

Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Waitrose no.1

This is a delicious, rich balsamic vinegar that is modestly priced. It would be lovely with olive oil and fresh bread or drizzled over a beetroot salad with walnuts and goat’s cheese. Yum.

Check out too, the very good Chianti Classico olive oil (£12) from the same range.

Buy now £15.00, Waitrose

Polkra Tea Towels

Few things cheer up a kitchen so well as fun tea towels, and these two, artist-designed, Indian-inspired and made in Portugal, brighten up the chores.

Buy now £18.00, Polkra

Christmas Charcuterie Box

A thoughtful present for the hard-pressed cook, this box with 150-200g of Prosciutto, chorizo, bresaola and salami is twinned with three relishes from Rubies in the Rubble, which specialises in using wonky fruit and veg. The Ethical Butcher is all about regenerative agriculture…with outdoor pastured animals part of a virtuous cycle of soil regeneration. Check out its fresh meats, from producers who share a common ethos.

For delivery between December 21 and 23.

Buy now £58.90, The Ethical Butcher

Organic Saffron, Saffra del Montsec

Not all saffron is equal. These little dried crocus pistils are gathered at dawn by hand in October, dried in front of a holm oak fire, and produced by a husband and wife team in the foothills of the Pyrenees. It’s sublime. Expensive, but a little goes a long way.

Buy now £22.00, The Vinegar Shed

Food Wrap in Sail print, The Beeswax Wrap Company

Cling film is in the doghouse; food wraps are where we are now. So why not go for something functional fun and colourful too, like this perky print of boats and whales?

Buy now £19.00, Fy!

Alessi salt, pepper and spice grinder

All right, I hear you. A hundred quid for a grinder is too much. But this is Alessi, so a striking design object in its own right. It’s also oddly difficult to find a spice grinder…and while you can’t beat a granite pestle and mortar, it’s just a pain to get cumin seeds ground. So, this is for design buffs with disposable income, ok? It is an excellent grinder, the only tricky thing being that the feeder bit at the top is narrow, so you’d have to break cinnamon sticks into shards to get them in. That’s Christmas spices sorted.

Buy now £100.00, Selfridges