How to Make Your Own Personalised Recipe Book: The Ultimate Family Gift

A personalised recipe book often begins somewhere messy: on the back of shopping lists, tucked into kitchen drawers, or in a family WhatsApp chat. Some are never written down at all, existing only in the memory of the person who’s made them for years. That’s exactly where Senior Content Specialist Sarah Plail found herself.

“Cooking is a big part of my family and my heritage; it’s how you show love,” Sarah says. Her Nene taught her mum, her mum taught Sarah and her sisters, and somewhere along the way the recipes became scattered.

The finished personalised cookbook Sarah made as a Christmas gift brought together family recipes, photographs, and the stories behind them in one place. Here’s how you too can create a recipe book that’s practical enough to cook from, and personal enough to become part of your family’s story.

What is a personalised recipe book, and why make one?

A recipe photo book is part personalised cookbook, part family archive. It brings together recipes, photographs and the stories behind them in a book that’s designed to be cooked from, shared and passed down.

“I didn’t want the recipes to stay scattered between notebooks and messages,” Sarah says. “I wanted them all in one place, where my mum could actually use them.”

For every recipe Sarah included, there was something else worth keeping: a photograph of the dish, a family memory or simply the name of the person who’d passed it on. Bringing those pieces together turned her personalised recipe book into something no shop could ever sell.

How did Sarah make a custom cookbook from three generations of recipes?

Sarah organised her custom recipe book to suit her family: around the women who taught her family to cook.

1. She gathered them from different places

“Our recipes have always been everywhere,” Sarah says. “Some were in notebooks, some in old binders and some only existed in family messages or in someone’s memory. Bringing them together felt like bringing a little piece of our family back together too.”

2. She gave each generation a section in the cookbook

“I split my book by dishes from my Nene, a general Turkish section – which also includes old aunties recipes – and then a section from my sisters. Great dishes that span cultures and cuisines,” she explains.

It begins with her Nene’s Turkish Cypriot recipes, the dishes that have always anchored family meals. There’s magarına, a comforting pasta dish finished with halloumi, hellimli zeytinli, a savoury bread studded with halloumi and olives, alongside favourites like börek and pilav. From there, the book moves through her mum’s recipes before arriving at the dishes Sarah and her sisters now cook themselves.

3. She included different cuisines

Sarah filled her book with both Turkish and British cooking, just as they always have at home. The result isn’t just a collection of dishes, but a picture of how one family’s cooking has evolved over three generations.

What do you need before you create your own cookbook?

First, Sarah had to decide which recipes belonged in the book. She focused on the dishes that had shaped her family’s table, from her Nene’s Turkish Cypriot cooking to the recipes she and her sisters still make today.

“Some recipes were obvious because they’ve always been part of our family,” Sarah says. “Others came back to us through old photos, conversations and comparing notes with my sisters.”

Before creating your own homemade recipe book, take time to:

• Choose the recipes that mean the most, rather than trying to include everything.
• Write out ingredients and methods clearly, especially for recipes that have always been cooked from memory.
• Add a few photographs or short notes about the people behind the dishes.
• Ask family members to fill in the gaps. You might rediscover recipes you’d forgotten.

Only once Sarah had done that did she start designing her DIY recipe book.

How do you design a cook book so it is easy to cook from?

The easiest way to build your own cookbook is to start from a pre-designed template. When thinking about the layout of her personalised cookbook, Sarah chose the Home Cooking theme design because it reflected exactly what she wanted the book to feel like.

When you make your own cookbook, the goal isn’t just to make it look beautiful. It needs to be easy to use, too. A few simple principles make all the difference:

• Choose a layout that suits the personality of your book, whether that’s rustic and handwritten or clean and contemporary.
• Keep recipes and photographs clearly separated so ingredients and methods are easy to follow while cooking.
• Organise recipes in a way that feels natural, whether by cuisine, occasion or family tradition.

Sarah also chose a layflat photo book, so the pages stay flat while cooking, making it much easier to follow a recipe without constantly closing the book.

How do you customise a recipe book to suit different needs?

The best personalised cookbooks are customised to how, and who, it’ll be used by. Sarah knew her mum would be cooking from this book, so practicality mattered just as much as the design. That’s another reason she chose a layflat photo book, allowing the pages to stay open on the worktop without snapping shut mid-recipe.

As you build your own recipe book, think about what will make it most useful:

• Choose a size, paper and cover that suits its purpose, whether it’s a durable layflat photo book for everyday cooking or a smaller softcover photo book for taking from kitchen to kitchen.
• Include step-by-step photographs where they’ll genuinely help explain a recipe.
• Decide what (not) to include and choose whether you’re creating a one-off gift or start a series the whole family can keep adding to over time.

The best recipe books don’t stay perfect for long. They gather flour on the pages, handwritten notes in the margins and the occasional splash of olive oil, becoming part of family life in the process.

Why do custom cook books make such thoughtful gifts?

A personalised cookbook is a thoughtful gift because it’s created from the recipes, photographs and memories that matter most. It’s personal, practical and made to be used long after it’s been unwrapped.

For Sarah, that meant giving her mum something she could keep cooking from for years to come. “I wanted to give my mum something she’d genuinely use,” she says. “Now everything’s in one place, ready to be cooked and shared.”

While Sarah made hers for Christmas, a homemade recipe book is just as meaningful for birthdays, anniversaries, new homeowners or anyone leaving the family kitchen for the first time. It also makes a lovely project to create together before giving it as a gift.

The best presents don’t just remind us of the people we love. They become part of the moments we continue to share with them.

What’s the best way to finish, print and share your recipe book?

Before you print your own cookbook or make a recipe book online, take one final look through every page. A few extra minutes checking the details now can make all the difference once your book arrives. Here’s an easy final checklist before printing.

• Make sure all the information is correct: Check ingredients, measurements and cooking instructions one last time.
• Check the flow: Read through the pages to make sure recipes, photographs and layouts flow naturally.
• Give the recipes a go: If possible, test-cook a recipe or two to catch anything you’ve missed.
• Print more copies to share: Consider ordering more than one copy if family members would love one too. After all, books like this have a habit of finding their way into more than one kitchen

What started as a Christmas gift became something much bigger: a book Sarah’s family can keep cooking from for years to come.

Every time it’s opened, another favourite recipe will be shared, another family meal made and, perhaps, another story told around the table. That’s the real joy of a recipe book. It isn’t just about preserving the past, but creating new memories every time it’s used.

If you’ve been thinking about gathering your own family recipes, there’s no perfect time to start. Begin with the dishes that matter most, and let the story grow from there.

Explore the theme design category and create a personalised recipe book that’s made to be cooked from, shared and loved for generations.

Create my recipe book

How many recipes should go in a recipe book?

There’s no right or wrong number, but most recipe books work best as a carefully curated collection rather than an attempt to include every family favourite. Around 10 to 20 carefully chosen recipes is usually enough to create a meaningful personalised recipe book that’s enjoyable to cook from and easy to use.

Can I include old handwritten recipes or family photographs?

Absolutely. Handwritten recipe cards, old family photographs and even scanned notes or treasured messages all add personality to a recipe photo book. Combining old and new images helps preserve not just the recipes, but the people behind them. Just snap a photo of the handwritten recipe, and upload it to the template.

What size recipe book should I choose?

It depends how you plan to use it. A layflat photo book is ideal for everyday cooking because the pages lie completely flat on the worktop. If you’re creating several copies for family members or looking for a lighter gift, a softcover photo book is a practical alternative.