For the kitchen magicians

Everyone has that special person on their holiday gift list: the amateur chef, the passionate baker, the individual who has their winning MasterChef Canada speech already prepared.

Even if your friends don’t love to cook, who doesn’t enjoy something delicious to nibble on? Or sip, for that matter? Here are some great gift ideas for the foodies in your life. All-Clad pouring stockpot, $480 at gourmet retailers, all-clad.ca. pack of award-winning Bittered Sling bitters, $50, bitteredsling. com. don’t have to. Cuisinart’s 12- or 14cup food processors, starting at around $250, cuisinart.ca, and the colourful five-quart KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer, starting at around $450, kitchenaid.ca, are still widely considered the best countertop appliances for home cooks and bakers. Available at gourmet retailers across Canada.

Discover just how good farmdirect lentils, quinoa, chickpeas and wheat berries from the Canadian Prairies can taste, thanks to Vancouver-based Grain. Prices range from $8.95 for a box of wheat berries to $11.95 for golden quinoa. And, should you wish to mill your own grains, the KoMo stone mill is the gadget you need, $499. eatgrain.ca

Every cook needs a good knife, and Japan produces the very best. Find a huge range of them at Calgary-based Knifewear, ranging in price from $65 to $1,500, knifewear.com. Pack those beautiful blades in a distressed leather knife roll made to order by Vancouver’s Divina Denuevo, $438 and up, available through Etsy, etsy.com.

What could be sweeter than a pretty foodie charm? We love Tiffany & Co.’s cupcake charm, in 18-karat white and yellow gold sprinkled with colourful gemstones. It would be so sweet dangling from a bracelet or a necklace. Find it for $2,350 at tiffany.ca.

Make it easy for the tea lover in your life to brew and savour a proper cuppa with Indigo’s Perfect Tea Mugs, $22.50. These ceramic cups come with a strainer insert for loose tea leaves and are available in festive designs like cheerful holiday plaid. indigo.ca

If there’s one thing any serious cook really wants, it’s a new range. One of the hottest new trends is the French door oven, with practical doors that swing open to the sides for easy access. You can find the style in top brands such as American Range, La Cornue and the sleek GE Monogram wall oven, which retails for $6,549. geappliances.ca

Even the most crowded bookshelf can always squeeze one more volume in — and a good thing, too, because 2016 was a great year for cookbooks that are both practical and beautiful. Just a few to consider: Diana Henry’s Simple: Effortless Food, Big Flavors; Anthony Bourdain’s Appetites; Naomi Duguid’s Taste of Persia; and new books from perennial favourites Vikram Vij, Anna Olson, Michael Smith and the editors of Food 52.