Special Delivery: Favourite Recipes to Make and Take (2024)

One of the most beautiful recipe books I own - hard covered with frequent pictures. But the thing that really sets this book aside is the blurb you get on most recipes - a background that might include a story of a time Annabel made the recipe, or notes about the best type of event to take the made goods to. It feels much more like a friend lending you their prized recipe while telling you a funny story.

Also, I like that the recipes seems to have been selected because they're genuine favourites of Annabel's, rather than the usual collection of recipes that are selected in order to have the right number of this or that in the book.

I actually enjoyed just reading through the stories like a novel! The transport tips are so useful - many a time I've not been able to figure out how to make and take a recipe to a friend's place but this makes it simple!

I disagree with the previous reviewer who mentioned the lack of connection between the book and Kitchen Cabinet as a negative. Whilst that might be true, the book doesn't try to be marketed as a Kitchen Cabinet related item! Whilst the show is mentioned in passing in some stories because Annabel made the particular recipe for a show where something funny occurred, it's not set up as a Kitchen Cabinet recipe book.

As a fan of the podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 however I've definitely had some added enjoyment from owning the recipes that Annabel and Lee have often discussed.

Love it. It's different and I can't wait to get baking. Great present from mum.

Cookbooks come in so many forms. Some are highly technical, loaded with instructions and minutiae. Others are more like a flimsy collection of recipes - and I mean that in the nicest possible way. And then there are those which offer a perfect combination of recipe and introductory text. Special Delivery by Annabel Crabb and Wendy Sharpe falls into the latter category - my favourite.

For the benefit of readers who are not familiar with her work, Annabel Crabb is the ABC's chief online political writer. She writes a weekly opinion column for Fairfax, is the author of the bestselling book The Wife Drought and is a sought-after speaker and presenter. As host of the ABC's popular TV series, Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel has broken bread with Australia's most influential political leaders and shared her desserts in kitchens around the country.

In Special Delivery, Annabel has teamed up with her best friend from childhood, fellow food tragic and Kitchen Cabinet recipe consultant Wendy Sharpe, to bring you recipes for those knockout desserts as well as tons more ideas for soups, salads, pastries, breads and other treats ideally suited to make and take to those you love. Each recipe is offered up with transport instructions or an implicit promise to look the other way if you just want to eat it straight from the tin.

As well as being a good cookbook, Special Delivery is a delicious read. Succinct, cleverly written text leads into each recipe. And the recipes themselves are most inviting.

The chapters are divided between Drop-off breakfasts; lunch; dinner; cakes, tarts and biscuits; puddings and desserts; and drinks party. Recipes include Scandinavian cinnamon buns, chocolate pomegranate cloud cake, lemon verbena posset, goat's cheese and polenta muffins, spiced cherry Eton mess, and THE most amazing almond meringues (which I had the pleasure of tasting at an ANU literary dinner hosted by Annabel).

What more can I tell you? Add this one to your bookshelves, it's a goodie.

What a great cookbook!
Not only are the recipes yummy but the writing is fantastic. Annabel Crabs little introduction make it feel like she is sitting across the table with you having and swapping recipes over a cup of tea.
Fair warning though a good amount of these recipes are weekend recipes rather than everyday meals in a rush. Having said that, with the help of this book I've baked and created things that I don't think I would have the confidence to do with any other book.
For the Scandinavian Cinnamon Scrolls alone 5 stars.

I bought this as a birthday gift for a friend & today I received her review which reads as follows:
“So I made Annabel Crabb’s chard and cheese tart. I feel like she was a bit judgey about ladies who don’t necessarily want to make their own pastry, mostly because they don’t own a rolling pin and don’t like cleaning the food processor after they use it, especially given who the book is targeted at. Besides this, the tart was f@€$ing amazing!!!”
4 star deliciousness (1star deducted for judgeyness)

I mainly purchased this book due to Annabel-love and she signed it for me, so no doubt it's reciprocated, and I really aren't just some mad gushy Chat10 Look 3 harmless stalker.
But Annabel is a vegetarian, I'm lactose intolerant and the other half is coeliac so these recipes need a lot of adjustment to work for us.
But I'll never part from it, just gaze lovingly at it on the shelf :D

Read... and purchased! Borrowed a library copy following a recommendation from a friend about certain recipes and knew I had to have my own copy. We Australians are lucky to lay claim to the wondrous Annabel and Wendy, who share recipes, practical tips and anecdotes generously.

Another great chat with Annabel.

This time she's interspersed her delightful prose with recipes to-go. Already, my copy is dog-eared and covered in sticky fingerprints. Portable pizza. Yum! Goat's cheese and polenta muffins. What's not to love?

Annabel's Blueberry Cake is a staple go to for me, popular with friends and at work. My mouth waters thinking of it.

Well written and I imagine great recipes. I bit overly complex and too calorie dense for my liking. But as a book of foods to make out of love for your loved ones it severs it purpose well.

The rationale for this book is somewhat alien for British readers as it revolves around people taking food, either cooked or half way there, to another house for a meal where all who attend make a contribution. This appears to be much more common in Australia than in the UK so the reason to follow the recipes might be different but that doesn't mean the book has no worth here.

Food of a country is part of its culture and this is obvious when you start to look at the recipes, their origin and their ingredients. A country which started out (in the modern age) as a country of Irish and British convicts whose cuisine was limited to potatoes and more potatoes has become a nation where influences come as much from Southern Europe and South-East Asia as northern Europe. However, there's no aboriginal recipes, although some of their ingredients would be even more difficult to access.

The taste of many British people has changed in the last couple of decades and due to that many of the recipes won't seem as alien as they would have in the past. However there's a possible problem facing some people in Britain and that's where to find the ingredients. Although opportunities have increased exponentially to buy exotic foods for those living in major cities with a large ethnic population it's still difficult to find good quality ingredients. Outside those cities the problems are more acute.

But, perhaps, that's not an insurmountable obstacle – just a nuisance and a reminder that despite the claims of the supermarkets, we in Britain get some of the worst quality foods than virtually any other country in western Europe.

Like all cookery books nowadays this book is generously illustrated and the recipes themselves are laid out in a way that makes them easy to read and therefore making it quick to choose a dish for a particular occasion.

However, a cookery book is not just something to keep on the coffee table and pick up when you are bored. It's a work book and in order to write this review I decided on trying a couple of recipes, one savoury, one sweet. My choice was really made on ease of access of ingredients, not wanting to spend time and effort on sourcing some of the more esoteric items.

For the savoury I chose 'The iman's moussaka', on page 97. This is a vegetarian dish but that was just by chance, there are also meat based dishes. It worked reasonably well, although I would vary it if I were to cook this dish again. The recipe recommends that you only cut the aubergines in half but I would have cut them in slices. This might be a problem due to the raw materials available, smaller and fresher in Australia, but for me it also resulted in a big chunk of aubergine instead of what is to my taste, a small amount in each mouthful. Also, I find many vegetarian dishes slightly bland and give them a boost with more spices than is suggested here. But that all comes down to personal taste. Cooking is an art and any recipe can be adapted for those who are to sit down at the table.

The sweet dish was the 'Chocolate beetroot cake' on page 112. This is an interesting recipe as it's all mixed up in a food processor. Not impossible without but it really does make matters easier with. The result is a very liquid mix that you pour into your baking tin. Here I encountered a nuisance rather than a problem as the cake took much, much longer to cook than the time cited in the recipe (more than double the minimum, in fact). Although cooked (eventually) the result was slightly too moist for my taste. Friends I used as guinea pigs said that serving it on a plate, with a cream topping, would be preferable to eating it with your hands. It also had an earthy smell which wasn't unpleasant but different nonetheless.

Despite the reservations above I think this is a useful cookery book in general and won't be put off trying some of the more exotic recipes in the future.

(The review due to the first book being lost in the post and then waiting for a reprint to be sent out.)

I was strong, I borrowed this from the library, but now I have to return it as someone else has reserved it. I am giving it four stars, but that is only because I have not made anything from it yet. It is lovely. Great looking recipes and helpful hints about how to transport them so you can give them away. Some do look fiddly, but the date and walnut bread, date and banana pikelets (okay in the book they are called mini-pancakes), corn fritters and soft pretzels all look amazing as do too many more recipes to list. I would say this book is a keeper, but I have to return it to the library so others can enjoy.

As well as recipes there are some lovely descriptions to encourage trying the different recipes.

It is an enjoyable and entertaining read.

The idea behind this lovely and generous-hearted book is how to show love for your friends by bringing them food.

Special Delivery contains lots of delicious-looking cakes, breads, biscuits and more substantial savoury meals. Crabb is a pescatarian but the book is primarily vegetarian food. It all looked gorgeous but I know ever after one read I won't make any of it (a bit too fussy for me - I'm more of a three-steps-or-fewer cook). That said, it gets four stars because it is so good hearted and it really made me want Annabel Crabb for a friend (and to bring me some of her delicious baked goods...)

Being already a fan of Annabel Crabb and of her show Kitchen Cabinet, I was looking forward to Special Delivery with much anticipation. I love the retro styling and the premise of it being a book of foods that are transportable and great to offer as gifts. I also like the snippets of useful advice and the section on what to gift on particular occasions. However I am a bit disappointed by the relatively weak connection with Kitchen Cabinet show, and the relatively small proportion of recipes that pertain to sweet treats and baked goods. So while I still hope this will be achieve lots of sales in the gift-giving season, alas this is not the book for me.

I love baking so I was thrilled to win this book in a Goodreads First reads giveaway! These recipes look delicious especially the Bananas Foster vacherin and Cherry coconut brownies! I was also pleased to see a lot of vegetarian recipes that I can enjoy.

Lovely presentation. A lot of complex recipes with ingredients that aren't standard in my pantry. Still lovely to read and great friendship story with food