Easy, tasty. savoury- who doesn’t love a cheese straw at Chrimbo?

When mulled wine-induced ennui sets in, nip over to the dark side and sup on one of these tasty tipples from Tia Maria.

Paul A Young: chocolatier extraordinaire and self-confessed ‘cake-a-holic’. Alright then Paul, give us your stickiest, most intense muffin recipe for festive munching. And, sure enough, with these muscovado-cocoa-nib creations, boy done good…

Nathan Outlaw’s partial to a nice cheesy tart this Christmas.

Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients; when you’ve assembled them, making the Christmas pud is easy – and immensely rewarding. Just don’t expect to eat it the same year you make it – it’s better if allowed to mature for a year or more in repeated doses of booze.  

So easy to make, far more delicious than ready-made and hugely satisfying – from the calm, therapeutic effect of making the pastry to wolfing them down while they are still warm. They keep well in an air tight tin – if you can wait that long. 

With winter nights setting in, serious comfort food is required. Time and time again I resort back to this slow cooked Hungarian favourite. Goulash with its warming paprika, meltingly tender beef and satisfying thick sauce is about as good as it gets as the nights grow longer.

Pork belly. Braised with garlic and preserved mustard greens overnight with a small bunch of dried chilli just for a little baby kick in the back of the throat. The fat and the meat took on all the flavours from the braising liquid and melted in the mouth from hours of braising.

Adding Tabasco Pepper Cheese to jambalaya gives it a kick of flavour, complementing the spicy chorizo and getting your taste buds tingling. 

A Bolognese is the family favourite recipe, the children’s favourite. Or as they say in Italy, the Ragu alla Bolognese. My recipe for Bolognese or Bolognaise as the British spell it, is rich in flavour and uses beef mince only , but you could use half beef and half pork mince, it’s your choice.