Looking for some new appetizer ideas for the caroling party, a traditional dish to ring in the New Year or trying to find a gift for a culinary-minded friend?

'Tis the season for cookbooks. They're full of recipes and ideas, and they're easy to wrap. Here are some new arrivals for the holiday season:

The Lion in winter

On Santa's local list this year is "Lion House Christmas Cookbook" (Deseret Book, $22.95), a revision of the book published in 1989. After selling 80,000 copies, the book was out of print and needed updating, said Lion House banquet manager Julie Ulrich, who headed up the project. It follows on the heels of the updated "Lion House Classics," which came out in 2004.

Now 150 years old, the Lion House was the home of Brigham Young, territorial governor and second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and up to 12 of his wives who lived there with their children. (The name comes from the lion statue above the front entrance.)

Still owned by the LDS Church, the upper levels are used for wedding receptions, business meetings, group dinners and children's birthday parties. The ground level is now The Pantry, where hot meals are served cafeteria-style to the public. The Lion House has a reputation for hearty entrees, melt-in-your-mouth rolls and old-fashioned desserts.

"At the Lion House, I try to cook the kind of food that you'd experience if you came to my mother's or my grandmother's house — the food I enjoyed when I was a kid," said Lion House chef David Bench, who grew up in Moroni, Utah.

The restaurant's Chicken and Dumpling Soup came from his mother, Karla. "If someone wasn't feeling well or had a new baby, that's what she would bring them," Bench said. "I hate to say that we kind of looked forward to someone getting sick so we could have it."

For the new edition of the cookbook, some recipes were streamlined with ingredients more commonly found today. "We took out a few recipes like pickled watermelon rinds, because there didn't seem to be a lot of interest in them anymore," Bench said. "Also, you can find good chicken and beef stock in the grocery stores, so the recipes don't have you go to the bother of making your own."

The culinary staff, which comes from all over the world, contributed recipes from their own family Christmases. For instance, Pat's Gumbo came from Patrick Roe, now cooking at Utah State University.

Like "Lion House Classics," the book has step-by-step directions for making the signature Lion House rolls. (Those who want to take a shortcut can buy the new Lion House roll mix at Deseret Book stores.)

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