Christmas Gift

None of these recipes is complicated or takes very long. One of the joys of the edible present approach is that it’s less stressful – you can buy ingredients in the normal course of your grocery shopping and a pretty jar, some cellophane bags, a handwritten label and maybe a rosette or a ribbon are all you need in the way of wrapping. Don’t forget, though, to write any storage instructions on the label, and a note of how long your present will keep for.

One last bossy note; jars and bottles should be sterilized before having foodstuff put in them. I regard a dishwasher-clean jar or bottle (providing it comes fresh from the machine, with not so much as a finger touching the inside) as a sterilized one. If you wish to be more meticulous, you can sterilize by washing your jars well in soapy water, then rinsing them and letting them dry in a cool (140C/gas mark 1) oven. If you’re putting warm chutneys or jellies into them, all jars must be used warm.

And remember, whatever you make is going to be a better present than almost any you might buy. And, really, wouldn’t you rather be in your kitchen instead of the shopping mall at Christmas?

Vanilla Shortbread

Even if you have never baked anything in your life, you will be able to make these with untroubled ease. And I hate to say this — as someone with a once-serious Bahlsen habit — but they are so much be…

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Baklava

This is so temple-achingly sweet that one small marked-out diamond, or maybe two, is enough. But even so, I love its perfumed sugariness — as much as I love the tender, rose-shot green of its equally…

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I felt like I was transported somewhere else when I first ate these...

Hosting a Christmas Party why not browse our easy Christmas Party recipes.