60 Christmas recipes · $27 · 7-day money-back guarantee
Claire's Christmas Kitchen — Volume One cover
Digital books from the Claire's Recipe Tin channel

Claire's Christmas Kitchen

60 Christmas recipes for one or two, every measure written down
“If my mother could feed four on two burners, you can feed yourself on one.”— what my mother said every night she lit the stove, 1971

Inside are 60 Christmas recipes sized for one or two — the cookie tin, the Christmas Eve fish supper, the Christmas dinner itself, sides, party trays, breakfast, and what to do with everything left over. Every recipe carries exact amounts, exact times, and a written timing plan so nothing's cold and nothing's late on the day. There's a four-week countdown, one shopping list, and menus built the way a two-burner Utica kitchen actually cooks. It doesn't need a stand mixer, a big bird, or a kitchen built for eight.

52 YEARS AT THE STOVETAUGHT ON A TWO-BURNER STOVE60 RECIPES, NO MIXER
Get the cookbook60 illustrated recipes · PDF
$27
  • 7-day money-back guarantee. Write to us and you get your money back.
  • Bonus: The Holiday Kitchen Cheat Sheet — one page to print, every number that matters
  • Pay once · yours to keep · no subscription
  • Secure checkout · the PDF is sent to your email

By buying you agree to the Terms of Sale and Refund Policy.

0 people went to checkout in the last 24 hours

PDF · 226 pages · 60 illustrated recipes · read on phone, tablet or computer, or print it

60Numbered recipes
9Parts
52 yearsat the stove
187Problems in the index
7 daysMoney-back guarantee
The moment this is for

When It's Just You, Or Just The Two Of You, At The Table

You've watched the videos and typed the same question in the comments — how much garlic, really, how long, really. This is for the December when you want that whole Christmas, cookies to leftovers, on your own table, without doing fraction math on a recipe built to feed eight.

What you needExact ingredients and amounts for one or two, nothing eyeballed.
How to make itNumbered steps with exact times, temperatures, and the sign of doneness.
Why it worksThe reason behind each trick, explained before you're told the step.
How it goes wrongNamed mistakes, each paired with its sign and its exact fix.
Swaps and variationsWhat you can swap freely, and the one swap to skip.
What makes it different

Built for the day it goes wrong

Look up the failure

Every one of the 187 problems in the back-of-book index points straight to the lesson and the fix, so when something's going sideways in your kitchen you look up the symptom, not the recipe name.

Every mistake has a name

Inside the lessons themselves, 182 mistakes are named outright, each one paired with the sign that tells you it's happening and the exact fix, written right where you'll need it, mid-step.

One place for every number

All 196 temperatures, times, and weights in the book are also gathered into a single reference section, so you're not flipping through sixty lessons hunting for the oven setting you already saw once.

Nine parts, start to finish

The book runs in nine parts, from picking your menu and building your countdown through the cookie tin and the soup made from the bones — in the order a real December actually happens, not alphabetical order.

THE ARITHMETIC

What A Small Christmas Costs

The menus in this book run from about $15 to about $35, total, for one or two people — the Ham Dinner for Two lands near $20, the Italian Christmas Eve fish supper near $35. A restaurant Christmas dinner for two, in the years restaurants are even open on the day, typically runs $80 to $150 before tip.

These are typical figures from a home kitchen and a sit-down restaurant — your own grocery store, your own town, and the year will move the numbers around.

What you'll be able to do

After the book

  • Pick one Christmas menu and shop for it in a single trip
  • Bake six kinds of Christmas cookies without turning on a mixer
  • Put a Christmas Eve fish supper on the table in about 90 minutes
  • Cook a Christmas dinner sized for one or two with a timing plan that gets it all hot at once
  • Turn turkey bones and ham scraps into two more dinners, and pack a cookie tin that travels
VOLUME ONE · NINE PARTS

From Pick Your Christmas Menu to Dollar Store Baking Shortcuts

Sixty lessons carry you from the first shopping list and the four-week countdown through the cookie tin, the Christmas Eve fish, the dinner itself, and the soup made from the bones afterward.

Part OnePlan Your ChristmasStart here: pick a ready-made Christmas menu, follow the four-week countdown, shop from one list, and cook Christmas Day from a written timing plan.
Part TwoChristmas Cookies Without a MixerThe cookie tin, filled by hand: three- and four-ingredient cookies that keep their shape, with exact weights and the step everyone skips.
Part ThreeOld Italian Christmas SweetsNonna's holiday sweets with three ingredients each, no mixer and no measuring cups needed beyond a spoon.
Part FourChristmas Eve, the Italian WayA small Feast of the Fishes for one or two: a few fish dishes, one pan at a time, from the supermarket freezer and pantry.
Part FiveChristmas Dinner for One or TwoThe main dish without a big bird or a big bill, with a written timing plan so everything is hot at once.
Part SixSides and SaucesEverything around the main: the channel's Italian potatoes, three-ingredient cranberry sauce, stuffing on the stove and mash that is never gluey.
Part SevenParty Trays and Small GatheringsFor the neighbours, the church table or the family who drops by: the two trays everyone asks about, and five more.
Part EightChristmas Morning and Easy SuppersA slow, warm Christmas morning for one or two, and easy suppers for the quiet days between the holidays.
Part NineLeftovers, Gifts and the Cookie TinWhat comes after: turkey soup, ham and beans, gifts from the kitchen and cookies that travel.
From inside the book

Every lesson has a drawing

All 60 lessons come with their own drawing, showing exactly what the dough, the pan, or the doneness should look like at the moment it matters.

Recipe 6 drawing
Recipe 6 · page 21 · A Christmas for One That Feels Like Christmas
Recipe 16 drawing
Recipe 16 · page 53 · Small-Batch Struffoli
Recipe 26 drawing
Recipe 26 · page 82 · Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Recipe 36 drawing
Recipe 36 · page 113 · Stovetop Italian Stuffing
Recipe 46 drawing
Recipe 46 · page 141 · Stuffed Mushrooms
Recipe 56 drawing
Recipe 56 · page 170 · Ham and Bean Soup
A page from the bookA page from the bookA page from the book
WHY THIS GOT WRITTEN DOWN
"Honey, how much garlic, really?"

Every December the same comment showed up under every video: how much garlic, really, how long, really, what temperature exactly. My mother's recipe box never had a measurement in it either — just her handwriting, a dash of this, a knob of that, because fifty-two years at the stove meant her hands knew before her head did.

I didn't have fifty-two years to hand anyone through a screen, so I started writing the amounts down the way I actually use them, not the way a cookbook rounds them off for looks. Last December my brother came up two floors for the pot-cooked turkey and said it tasted exactly like 1971, and I realized the only reason it did was that I'd finally measured what my hands had been doing without thinking about it.

I pulled my mother's box out, read it front to back the way I do every holiday, and matched every one of her tricks to a real number — a temperature, a minute, a cup. Sixty lessons later, this is the Christmas I actually cook, written down the way I wish someone had written it down for me the first Christmas I cooked alone.

— Claire

WHO'S TALKING

Claire Teresa Donato

Claire Teresa Donato

Claire Teresa Donato is an AI-generated presenter — a character, not a real person, built to cook the way her mother and her nonna did, on the two-burner stove in their Utica railroad apartment. The methods in this book are real kitchen methods; the numbers have been checked.

She's 68 now, with thirty-one of those years spent running the kitchen at a parish elementary school, portioning lunches to the penny, and the rest spent at her family's grocery counter and her nephew's deli, until her knees said no to standing. Widowed at 61, she cooks now for herself and her younger brother, who still lives two floors down and shows up right when the pan comes off the heat.

She still keeps her mother's recipe box, the handwriting faded, and reads it before every holiday — this book is what came out of reading it one more time.

Made with AI — so you know what you're buyingClaire Teresa Donato is an AI-generated character, the host of the YouTube channel of the same name. The host, the videos and the book's illustrations are made with AI. The methods are real, and every number that bears on safety was checked against official guidance.

“If my mother could feed four on two burners, you can feed yourself on one.”

All 60

What's inside

    Plan Your Christmas

  1. 1Pick Your Christmas Menu
  2. 2Your Four-Week Christmas Countdown
  3. 3One Shopping List for Christmas
  4. 4Your Christmas Day Timing Plan
  5. 5A Little Feast of Fishes Plan
  6. 6A Christmas for One That Feels Like Christmas

    Christmas Cookies Without a Mixer

  1. 7Three-Ingredient Butter Star Cookies
  2. 8Snowball Cookies, Four Ingredients
  3. 9Peanut Butter Cookies, Three Ingredients
  4. 10Butter Shortbread in a Pan
  5. 11Jam Thumbprint Cookies
  6. 12Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Fingers
  7. 13Freezing and Baking Dough Later

    Old Italian Christmas Sweets

  1. 14Amaretti, Three Ingredients
  2. 15Chocolate Salami
  3. 16Small-Batch Struffoli
  4. 17Almond Brittle (Croccante)
  5. 18Ricotta Cream Cups
  6. 19Pears Baked in Red Wine
  7. 20Panna Cotta for Two

    Christmas Eve, the Italian Way

  1. 21Shrimp Scampi for Two
  2. 22Baked Cod with Lemon Crumbs
  3. 23Linguine with Canned Clams
  4. 24Tuna and White Bean Salad
  5. 25Pan-Fried Salmon Patties
  6. 26Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

    Christmas Dinner for One or Two

  1. 27Nonna's Pot-Cooked Turkey
  2. 28Roast Turkey Thighs, Pan Gravy
  3. 29Cornish Hen with Stuffing
  4. 30Glazed Ham Steak for Two
  5. 31Small Lasagna for Two
  6. 32Chicken Cacciatore, Old Italian Way
  7. 33Pork Chops the Italian Way

    Sides and Sauces

  1. 34Italian Pan-Roasted Potatoes
  2. 35Cranberry Sauce, Three Ingredients
  3. 36Stovetop Italian Stuffing
  4. 37Mashed Potatoes, Never Gluey
  5. 38Butter Tomato Sauce, Three Ingredients
  6. 39Green Beans with Garlic Crumbs
  7. 40Gravy Without Drippings

    Party Trays and Small Gatherings

  1. 41Christmas Meatballs, Three Ingredients
  2. 42Christmas Little Smokies, Three Ingredients
  3. 43Deviled Eggs for a Small Tray
  4. 44Cheese Ball Rolled in Pecans
  5. 45Sausage Cheese Balls
  6. 46Stuffed Mushrooms
  7. 47Two-Hour Rule for Party Food

    Christmas Morning and Easy Suppers

  1. 48Overnight French Toast for Two
  2. 49Muffin-Pan Egg Cups
  3. 50Eggs in Purgatory
  4. 51Hot Cocoa from Scratch
  5. 52Cooked Eggnog, Safe and Thick
  6. 53Waffle-Iron Stuffing Waffles

    Leftovers, Gifts and the Cookie Tin

  1. 54Turkey Soup from the Bones
  2. 55Turkey Pot Pie for Two
  3. 56Ham and Bean Soup
  4. 57Leftovers: How Long They Keep
  5. 58Cocoa Mix in a Jar
  6. 59Packing a Cookie Tin That Travels
  7. 60Dollar Store Baking Shortcuts
From the comments

What viewers say about the channel

Word for word from under the videos on YouTube. These are about the channel's advice — the book is new, and reviews of it will go here once readers send them.

“Thanks for all of the simple ways of making THANKGIVING SPECIAL FOR SOME ONE WHO LIVES ALONE..❤❤ MS PHILLY”
@emmajackson88 · YouTube comment
“I’m going to try this! Thank you for sharing them ♥️”
@L0vit1 · YouTube comment
Straight answer

Who this book is for

It's for you if

  • You cook for one or two and are tired of dividing a recipe built for eight
  • You've watched Claire's videos and asked in the comments exactly how much, exactly how long
  • You want a whole Christmas, cookies to leftovers, without a big bird or a big bill
  • You don't own a stand mixer and don't want to buy one for one season
  • You want a written timing plan so nothing's cold and nothing's late on Christmas Day
  • You're cooking for someone with a soft or easy-to-chew diet this year

It's not for you if

  • You're hosting a table of eight or more and need the recipes scaled way up
  • You want a big stuffed turkey as the centerpiece — this book skips it on purpose
  • You want recipes that assume a kitchen full of equipment, not a two-burner stove
Before you buy

Questions

What do I get?

One digital book, Christmas in a Small Kitchen — 60 recipes across nine parts, from the cookie tin and the Christmas Eve fish to the Christmas dinner for one or two and the leftovers after — delivered as a PDF.

How do I get it after I pay?

Gumroad shows your download right after checkout and emails you the link, and the PDF stays in your Gumroad library.

Can I print it?

Yes. It's a PDF built to be printed at home, or read on a tablet propped up by the stove.

Is Claire a real person?

No — Claire Teresa Donato is an AI-generated presenter. The methods, the measures, and the numbers are real and checked; the character telling them to you isn't.

Is the advice safe?

Every recipe that involves meat, eggs, or dairy gives you a real internal temperature to check for, not a guess by color or time alone — important for holiday cooking especially.

What if it isn't useful to me?

Ask for your money back within 7 days and you'll get it, no explanation needed.

How do I pay?

Card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, through Gumroad checkout.

One Christmas, Written Down

Sixty recipes, one shopping list, and a timing plan — everything you need to put a whole small Christmas on your own table, start to finish.

Get the cookbook60 illustrated recipes · PDF
$27

By buying you agree to the Terms of Sale and Refund Policy.

0 people went to checkout in the last 24 hours

$2760 recipes · PDF
Get the book