Thursday, January 31, 2013

Create Your Very Own Recipe Book!

Always dreamed of being the next Mary Berry or of having your very own recipe book published? Sadly this is only a dream for most of us but if you want to preserve your recipes and photos for posterity and for future reference then this could be the answer.
After just over a year in blogging I decided that I'd like to have all of my favourite recipes in one place as most blog recipes come from a variety of different sources, so I had a little look on the internet and came across photobox, a site where you can create photo books. They also have a special template should you wish to create a recipe book.
 
With this service you can choose how many pages you have in your book, it's not cheap as the basic book is £29.99 and the price increases with every double page spread you add. Other features include a choice of lay outs and backgrounds. I stuck with a fairly plain background and went with one recipe per double page spread as you can see below.


I chose fairly simple everyday recipes for my book, ones that I will probably make again in the future and that could be made on a fairly regular basis. However, I also wanted to include some of the more technical cakes and bakes that I've made on my blog in the past year. I therefore decided to add some photo pages at the back without recipes...it's lovely to see all your handy work in one place!

Once complete, I placed my order and the book arrived in about a week. I was really pleased with the result...the pages are lovely and glossy and the photos nice and sharp. I think I'll be using my recipe book long after I've given up blogging...and I'm sure when I leaf through it in years to come it will remind me of lots of great bakes.
Your recipe book could also make a great gift for anyone who likes baking. Another option is to make your book available to the public on the photobox website and then anyone who wants to can purchase a copy...perhaps you could become the next Mary Berry after all! :-)
***Please note that this is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to make my own recipe book and happened to use photobox but other companies do offer a similar service. Another site that offers a 'make your own cookbook' option is 'blurb'. If you decide to make a recipe book I'd love to hear your recommendations for great sites.

Happy baking!

18 comments:

  1. Hi Laura,

    Thank you so much for posting this worthy information. As a cookbook collector for many years, I sometimes think I would like to but some of my favorite "vintage" recipes in a book and also include their updated counter parts.

    Thanks again for sharing, Louise

    P.S. I'm pretty sure I found you via Pinterest:)

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  2. Laura I love this idea!! Thank you so much for sharing this, it's definitely something that I'll be doing in the future!
    Thanks :-)
    The Pantry Door

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  3. What a brilliant idea! My son's will (hopefully) go off to Uni in a couple of years time, and it'd be great to send them off with a cookbook of their favourite family meals. That way they could cook them themselves. (As if! ;) )

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  4. Your book has come out really well, looks like they offer a good service. Not entirely sure it's something I would do as I have most of my recipes written down in a notebook I keep in the kitchen. Having said that my handwriting is appalling and sometimes I struggle to read it! Maybe I'll think about it for the future, would make a nice gift to give to friends or relatives.

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  5. Laura this is such a great idea, I was actually considering making something similar for a gift but had no idea where to really start. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  6. What a great idea, Laura! This will make a wonderful gift to families & friends for the festive season! AWESOME ! You truly deserves to have your own cookbook cos you're a great baker! ;)

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  7. What a lovely idea Laura. Thanks for sharing it with us. Your recipe book looks wonderful, a real treasure xxx

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  8. Oh what a fabulous idea! I love it... You could order a few and set up a book signing for your friends and family like a real celebrity bakery ;)

    Hazel x

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  9. Ha ha...I'll consider a book signing at home for my friends and family!!!!!

    Susie...I love the idea of making a cookbook of family recipes for children going off to university! Someone also suggested a calendar earlier which would be a good idea...although I think it would make me want to eat cake every time I looked at it :-)

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  10. I love this idea and would love to hand one down to my children as a special keepsake. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. This is such a great idea! A tad pricey perhaps, but could be good as a gift.

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  12. Wow this is such a great idea, thanks for sharing! I am definitely going to check them out. I started making my own recipe binder, but this definitely looks a lot more clean cut. It would be really cool to do one every year like (Blog Name) 2013...Really neat, thanks for sharing!

    Sincerely,
    Happy Valley Chow

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  13. What a lovely idea - thanks for sharing it! Your book is beautiful and truly inspirational! I would love to do one of my favourite recipes as I'm forever searching through notebooks and scraps of paper. I think it would be lovely to hand down to my grandchildren who have started baking with me. Your photo's and bakes are stunning so I probably need to work a bit more on some things before I could produce something as lovely as your book though - well done!

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  14. What a great idea. It would be a great gift or to keep to yourself!

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  15. I think this is such a lovely way of documenting all the beautiful recipes you have created. As a mother I would love to think my kids would like me to make them one of these as a gift for them and I would think that of my kids ever made me one in the future it could be the best ever present I could receive, so definitely give one to your parents!

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  16. What a fantastic idea- it would make such a lovely gift, for example for a friend who was a bit of a chocoholic you could collate all your favourite chocolate recipes!

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  17. What a lovely idea! Thanks for the recommendation.
    http://coffeewithcroissants.blogspot.co.uk/

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Your comments are greatly appreciated!