Nigella christmas

No one is doubting the glory of mashed potatoes, and while they are not difficult to make, they can be quite a faff in large quantities at the last minute. This is the answer: a tangy, subtly cheesy mash, with a crunchy topping, that has revolutionized my cooking life. I made them for the first time last year for Thanksgiving, and they have happily appeared on my table several times since. They come heartily recommended with the Slow-Cooked Black Treacle Ham, and any time you want to spread…

This slow-baked ham is a revelation. Cooked like this, the meat is astonishingly tender and carves with ease

"I creep into the kitchen the next morning to check on the cookies, and I feel just like a kid at Christmas."

Nigella Lawson's Italian Christmas Cake is made with Tuaca liqueur, eggs, caster sugar, mascarpone cheese, double cream, Marsala wine, marrons glacés, chocolate chips, pistachios, and pomegranate seeds. This delicious Italian Christmas Cake recipe creates a delightful dessert that takes about 12 hours to chilling and 20 minutes to prepare and can serve up to 10 people.

A vital part of the Christmas Eve dinner in Norway, these pork ribs have the tenderest meat and the crunchiest crackling imaginable. You have to take a leap of faith when making them, as the idea of letting the rind get so wet in the course of cooking goes against every bit of advice you may have heard thus far about the importance of keeping it dry. This method is an absolute revelation. You need a big old slab of pork belly on the bone for this, which requires a visit to the butcher. And —…

I’ve got two recipes to tell you about to get you in the mood for celebrating the season.

I think it’s hard to improve on this cake: dark, damp, squidgy and luscious. You don’t taste the chocolate full-on – the cocoa just leaves a hint of smoky richness.

It’s not that I felt my usual Rocky Road Crunch Bars needed any improvement (though fiddling with recipes is one of life’s pleasures) but I thought they would benefit from some seasonal adjustment. So, out go the Rich Tea biscuits and in come amaretti and — in the seasonal spirit — I’ve crammed in some Brazil nuts and glacé cherries (as red as Rudolph’s nose), along with snowy mini marshmallows. The fresh snowfall of icing sugar on top might seem seasonal enough, but not for me. So I add…

Move over, Cronut. Nigella Lawson may have just created the hottest new hybrid food.

This is a sleight of hand, or a trick of equipment rather than an act of brilliance. True, the cake does look incredibly complicated and seasonally impressive as it comes to the table, but that is all down to the shape of the tin. It’s an expense to get a tin that can’t be used all year round, but it really is a beautifully Christmassy creation, and a doddle to make. For the “spruced up” of the cake refers to the Pine Forest bundt tin I bake it in; at other times of the year, I call this…