Our best-ever Christmas recipes by Britain’s top chefs, from Jamie Oliver to Rick Stein. They share their favourite dishes and the kitchen gadgets that make great gifts – and that they couldn’t live without…

Prunes soaked in port, a pair of cockerels and packet stuffing… they’re just some of the surprises these top TV chefs served up when we asked for their favourite festive memories. And just wait until you read their Christmas disasters…

JAMIE OLIVER

Favourite festive food and drink?

It has to be the traditional turkey dinner, with all the trimmings. Roast potatoes are a real highlight for me, and every year I try to make them a little better – this time I’ll be par-boiling them in chicken stock before roasting, to give them even more flavour. They’re gonna be so good. And I always have a Kelly Bronze turkey for ultimate flavour. For drinks, I’ll probably have a couple of Old Fashioneds, finished with a squeeze of clementine zest. It’s just the perfect Christmas smell.

Best Christmas foodie memory?

It has to be with my Nan, aka Tiger! She was such a special person – and was always particularly on form at this time of year – I dedicated Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook to her. My Christmas pudding recipe is based on the one she used to make when we were kids, so I think of her every time I make it.

Christmas Day at Jamie’s?

I’m a traditional at heart. Start off the day with scrambled egg and smoked salmon, then the full Christmas dinner followed by my mum’s trifle – a Christmas staple for the Oliver clan! – and in the evening, a full-on cheese board!

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift

That’s a tricky one! There are lots of things that can make your life easier in the kitchen, but they’re not always exciting – like a speed peeler, which helps you create interesting texture, or my current obsession, an olive oil spritzer, great for keeping your roasties happy. What I like to do is gather a few of my favourite foodie bits together, both practical and some nice treats – think a lovely bottle of olive oil or some fancy crackers to have with cheese – and make a mini festive box or hamper up. You know a bit of chocolate is always gonna go down well too!

Jamie Cooks Christmas, Sunday 8 and 15 December, Channel 4

RICK STEIN

Favourite festive food and drink?

Married as I am to an Australian, Sas and I spend every other Christmas in Sydney and I’ve become very fond of sparkling shiraz. Every Christmas in Cornwall I open a bottle for everyone, including my sons, and it’s become a bit of a joke as nobody else likes it! I think chilled sparkling shiraz, made in the same way as Champagne, is a wonderful and original drink for Christmas, but every year one of my boys says, ‘Oh no, not the sparkling shiraz!’

For about 20 years since filming my series Food Heroes in the UK, where I visited a goose farm in Leicestershire, I favour goose at Christmas over turkey. I love the darker meat and we all particularly love the crispy skin.

Best Christmas foodie memory?

What I enjoyed most about my childhood Christmas lunches was my mother’s chestnut stuffing. In those days we had two stuffings – sausage meat went into the main cavity of the turkey, and chestnut went into the neck. These days it’s held to be a bit risky putting any stuffing in the main part of the bird unless you cook the turkey until it’s considerably well done. But the neck cavity is still used.

Christmas Day at Rick’s?

Not a lot happens at breakfast. I might leave some smoked salmon for anyone to help themselves, but it’s all about the lunch. We don’t start Christmas lunch until about 3pm because we go to The Cornish Arms in Padstow from 12 noon until 1pm and after that it’s opening presents, and then the last-minute cooking. The only and everlasting tip is try and get as much ready before you go to the pub, and try and get as much prepped before the 25th as you can.

Christmas kitchen disaster?

Not exactly a disaster, but some years ago I picked up a cherished bottle of Moss Wood cabernet sauvignon on a trip to Western Australia and I decided to serve it as the most memorable wine over lunch. I asked Jack, my son, to get it out of the garage in plenty of time for it to get to room temperature. He forgot, and in order

to make up for lost time he popped it into the oven, which he assumed had been turned off a long time earlier. It was still on. It wasn’t exactly boiling but…

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift?

You’re probably going to want to buy this for somebody special because it will cost you at least £50, but as someone who is a total convert to food thermometer probes a Thermapen is the best kitchen gadget. Not only do they last, but the temperature readout is instant.

Rick Stein’s Food Stories is published by BBC Books, £28.

MARCUS WAREING

Favourite festive food and drink?

I really love Christmas dinner and I always look forward to it. Though it’s just a simple roast it’s nice to have all the trimmings. In addition, I’m very fond of homemade sausage rolls and homemade mince pies. Every year I wonder why we only make them at Christmas. My favourite festive drink is Champagne – bubbles at Christmas always!

Best Christmas foodie memory?

A very well-known family favourite box stuffing mix – I still love it. Any other just isn’t the same! I admit I pimp it up a little now but I still love the underlying flavour.

Christmas Day at Marcus’s?

My wife Jane’s family will be joining us so we’ll have 11 round the table. Now that our children are older – our youngest, Jessie, is 17 – we don’t have to get up quite so early. It means we’ll have some sort of cooked breakfast that allows all the stragglers to get up! We’ll have canapés, smoked salmon blinis and a chicken liver parfait from my new book Marcus’s France (so easy and delicious!), served with Champagne or cocktails if the kids want to get creative.

We’ll sit down for our main meal just after the King’s Speech. We don’t have a starter as there’s so much food to eat already. This year I may cook a couple of cockerels rather than a turkey – they’re smaller which means they fit easily into the oven. After a cheese course we’ll have Christmas pudding with custard. I’ll have a Meursault and a good red Bordeaux at the ready. My tips: if you only have one oven and space is limited, try cooking the crown of the turkey with the legs removed. It’s a simple roast dinner, so don’t panic. And think about allocating some tasks to your guests.

Christmas kitchen disaster?

I went to collect my turkey from my head chef, who would always order mine alongside the restaurant’s… but it hadn’t been ordered! Quick dash to our local butcher solved the problem!

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift?

One of the most useful gadgets in the kitchen is a good smoothie blender. I use it to make soups, curry sauce, anything that needs to be smooth. It’s so quick and easy to use. But do not whizz anything that’s boiling – the lid creates a vacuum and can be dangerously hot.

MasterChef: The Professionals, Mon, Tue, Thu, BBC1.

TOM PARKER BOWLES

Favourite festive food and drink?

A really good ham from DukesHill and a big rib of beef from Glenarm. Plus all the trimmings, the decent claret from Corney & Barrow and some good Champagne too.

Best Christmas foodie memory?

Any memory of sitting down with my whole family, and eating and drinking together.

Christmas Day tips?

Preparation is everything. Peel the sprouts, take the meat (turkey, beef or goose) out of the fridge the night before. Peel the potatoes and prepare everything. Then it’s simply a matter of timings on the day. Oh, and have a glass of wine or Champagne nearby at all times.

Christmas kitchen disaster?

When I was young, the Aga at home used to go out on Christmas Day without fail. Which meant my mother and aunt trying to stuff a big turkey into a small electric Baby Belling oven. Somehow, though, lunch always appeared, albeit a little late.

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift?

I’ve just bought a Fissler Pressure Cooker. It’s incredible – stocks in 25 minutes, braises and stews in 30 minutes. A life-changer and totally safe too.

Cooking And The Crown: Royal Recipes From Queen Victoria To King Charles III by Tom Parker Bowles is published by Aster, £30.

JAMES MARTIN

Favourite festive food and drink?

Roast pork from Little Oak Farm in Somerset, and I treat myself to a bottle of white Burgundy, normally a Montrachet.

Best Christmas foodie memory?

We’d normally be 12-16 people sitting down to Christmas lunch on our farm. I remember my grandparents arguing over which channel to watch the Queen’s speech on.

Christmas Day tips?

Treat it like a large Sunday lunch and don’t panic. My tip is that the turkey needs to be out of the oven to rest for an hour and a half before serving.

Christmas kitchen disaster?

My grandmother on my father’s side used to cook the vegetables for so long, you could literally stick wallpaper up with them. If she was alive today, she would say the same!

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift?

A very large wooden chopping board from The Corbridge Farmhouse. Visit thecorbridgefarmhouse.co.uk.

James Martin’s Saturday Morning At Christmas, 14 December, ITV1.

THEO RANDALL

Favourite festive food and drink?

We usually start with some smoked salmon on toasted sourdough bread with lots of butter, capers and lemon with a glass of Champagne. Then lunch is always roast duck with lots of roasted root vegetables, duck fat roast potatoes, and braised savoy cabbage with smoked bacon and chestnuts and lots of rich gravy made with the duck juices and red wine. To drink, it has to be a bottle of Barolo. Dessert is always a classic steamed Christmas pudding with cold single cream.

Best Christmas foodie memory?

Once we had the whole family over so I was cooking for 15. I’d roasted four big ducks to a lovely golden brown and had a large bowl of raw cavolo nero leaves in a big bowl. My daughter Lola, who was three at the time, marched into the kitchen, looked at the ducks and cavolo nero leaves with a face like thunder, then grabbed my hand very tightly and said, ‘I am not eating roast dog and I don’t like crocodile skin.’

Christmas Day tips?

Keep it simple. It’s better to serve a few dishes really well rather than lots that are just OK. Give your fridge and kitchen a good clear-out the day before as you do not want clutter. Take out anything that’s not being used. This will make plating dinner so much less stressful. Don’t pack the fridge with drinks, just place them outside as this will keep everything reasonably cold. If you want something really cold use an ice bucket. Make sure your glasses are not dusty as a dirty glass can ruin the taste of wine.

Christmas kitchen disaster?

Pouring too much brandy on the Christmas pudding and setting it alight. I turned it into a mound of molten lava. It was almost charred on the outside. Less is more when it comes to lighting a pudding!

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift?

A Smeg hand blender. It’s all you need to chop, mix, puree and whisk anything in the kitchen.

Verdura: 10 Vegetables, 100 Italian Recipes by Theo Randall is published by Hardie Grant, £28.

PRUE LEITH

Favourite festive food and drink?

The fizz on arrival. I do love a party. But if it turns out to be awful (which is rare of course) the best moment is goodbye.

Best Christmas foodie memory?

Most of my memories of Christmas are funny – my Mama insisting we all watch the Queen’s speech, and then snoring gently right through it, a Nativity play when our pet donkey ate the straw in the manger, including the corn-dolly Jesus. But my favourite memory was of a trip to London for the annual panto treat. We worried that our four-year-olds might be too young for The Sound Of Music, but all was well until the quietest, most tear-jerking pause had the whole audience in suspense. Then my son’s clear-as-a-bell voice rang out, filling the auditorium with a long-drawn out whine, ‘Can we switch it off now, Mum?’

Christmas Day at Prue’s?

We eat prunes soaked in port on Christmas Eve, served with crème anglaise. One year we just soaked the prunes until soft in a bottle of port without cooking them and ate the lot between four of us. Which meant a quarter of a bottle of port each, which had us all more than tipsy. We also hang Quality Street sweets on a bare branch for a ‘sweetie tree’ which the grandchildren love.

Christmas kitchen disaster?

My earliest Christmas disaster was my first attempt at cake icing. I’d proudly come home from school with a Christmas cake covered with smooth royal icing on which I’d painted the three kings, but I’d omitted the teaspoon of glycerine which would have prevented it drying to concrete. My dad broke my mother’s ivory-handled knife on it. He was using it as a chisel and hitting it with a hammer. We turned the whole thing over and scooped out the cake and marzipan.

The brilliant kitchen gadget you’d recommend as a gift?

I love my Mouli, a metal sieve with a blade. It’s the only thing that makes perfect mashed potato. I also squish peas through it to make pea soup.

The Great Christmas and New Year Bake Offs, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, Channel 4.

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Have yourself a star-studded Christmas: Mary Berry’s roasties, Prue Leith’s crowd-pleasing pud, Rick Stein’s perfect profiteroles and more… TV’s top chefs and foodies share their favourite festive recipes

Tom Parker Bowles’s turkey

The key to this Fortnum & Mason recipe is a proper free-range clucker and separating the legs from the crown when cooking it. That way, both stay succulent. If the skin of the legs looks a little pale, colour them in a hot frying pan before serving.

SERVES 8-10

A 5-6kg turkey

A little vegetable oil

For the stuffing

1 small onion, chopped

Leaves from a few sprigs of thyme

20g butter

200g sausage meat

90g dried apricots, chopped

150g vacuum-packed chestnuts, chopped

The liver from the turkey, cleaned and chopped

90g fresh white breadcrumbs

Salt and black pepper

For the gravy

The bones and neck from the turkey, roughly chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

200ml dry white wine

A few sprigs of thyme

A sprig of rosemary

1 bay leaf

10 peppercorns

50g plain flour

1tsp tomato purée

1-1.5ltr chicken stock

First make the stuffing. Gently cook the onion and thyme in the butter until soft. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. Add the sausage meat, apricots, chestnuts, turkey liver and breadcrumbs. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Lay the turkey legs, skin side down, on a work surface and put a layer of stuffing down the centre of each one. Roll up each leg around the stuffing – not too tightly. Tie with string about four or five times to secure. Wrap each leg in greaseproof paper and then in foil, twisting the ends so it keeps its shape. Put any leftover stuffing in a small ovenproof dish and dot with butter to bake for 30 minutes along with the turkey.

When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7. Put the bones and neck and the chopped veg and garlic for the gravy into a heavy-based roasting tin, and place the turkey crown on top. Season and drizzle with vegetable oil.

Cook for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Add the turkey legs to the tin. Cook for 45 minutes-1 hour, stirring the veg and basting the turkey every so often. To test, insert a skewer into the thickest part of the breast, leave for 30 seconds, then pull it out and touch the tip; if it is hot the turkey is done. The turkey will probably take 1 hour 30 minutes in total but test after 1 hour 15 minutes. Unwrap the legs and transfer with the crown to a serving plate, cover lightly with foil and leave to rest in a warm place for half an hour before carving.

While the bird is resting, make the gravy. Drain off any fat from the roasting tin. Put the tin on the hob over a low heat, add the wine, herbs and peppercorns and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the wine has reduced by at least half.

Stir in the flour and tomato purée. Gradually pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the gravy has concentrated in flavour and thickened. Strain through a fine sieve and keep covered and warm.

To serve, remove the breasts from the bone; this will make carving much easier. Slice the legs and serve the breast and legs with the gravy and all the trimmings.

Extracted from Fortnum & Mason: Christmas & Other Winter Feasts by Tom Parker Bowles (Fourth Estate, £35).

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s leeks and greens

Leeks become deliciously sweet and tender when gently sweated for a while, making them the perfect foil for the punchy taste of cabbage. Caraway seeds add a lovely aromatic note here, and a nibblesome texture too.

SERVES 4

2 leeks, trimmed and well washed

25g butter or olive oil, plus extra to serve

1tsp caraway seeds

1-2tsp dried seaweed flakes (optional)

2-3 garlic cloves, finely grated

½ a medium cabbage, such as Savoy, Hispi or January King

Sea salt and black pepper

Thinly slice the leeks into 5mm thick slices, slightly on the diagonal; set aside.

Melt the butter or heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the caraway seeds and allow to sizzle for a minute or so.

Now add the leeks with a pinch of salt, and the seaweed flakes if using. Give it all a good stir and sweat for a few minutes, then turn down the heat to medium.

Put the lid on the pan and sweat for 10-12 minutes, uncovering to stir occasionally. If the leeks start to colour, add a splash of water then continue. Add the garlic, stir and sweat for another few minutes.

In the meantime, shred the cabbage and cook it briefly: either steam it for 5 minutes or simmer in lightly salted water to cover for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside until the leeks are done.

Add the cabbage to the leeks, season well with salt and pepper and cook together for just a couple of minutes. Toss with a knob of butter or a dash of olive oil, add a final twist of pepper, then serve.

Extracted from How To Eat 30 Plants A Week by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Bloomsbury, £25). 

Mary Berry’s roasties

A roast potato should be ultra-crispy and golden on the outside with a fluffy light middle. 

Par-boiling the potatoes ahead and roughing them up before roasting gives a lovely crispy outside, with the semolina adding extra crunch. 

If you don’t have any goose fat, use extra sunflower oil.

SERVES 6

1kg potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward, cut into medium-sized chunks

50g semolina

3tbsp goose fat

3tbsp sunflower oil

Salt

Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7. Put the potato chunks in a pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and boil for about 5 minutes until the potatoes are starting to soften around the edges. 

Drain in a colander until completely dry, tip back into the pan and shake to rough up the edges.

Sprinkle in the semolina and shake again until coated. Preheat a roasting tin in the oven until hot. 

Add the goose fat and oil and heat for 5 minutes until smoking. Add the potatoes and turn them in the fat until coated. 

Return to the oven and roast for about 45-55 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp, turning them over halfway through the cooking time. Serve piping hot.

Extracted from Simple Comforts by Mary Berry (BBC Books, £27). 

Prue Leith’s sprouts

Brussels sprouts have an undeserved bad reputation, and indeed I used to hate them years ago when they were big and bitter. But now they seem to be bred to be sweeter, and are harvested smaller and younger. In this recipe there’s no nonsense about peeling them and making crosses in their stalks to allow the heat to cook the centre. Small sprouts don’t need that.

SERVES 4-6

750g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

100g bacon lardons

25g butter

120g cooked and peeled chestnuts, chopped

75g dried cranberries

50g pecans, roughly chopped

Boil the Brussels sprouts for about 5 minutes in a large saucepan of salted water, then dunk them briefly in cold water to set their bright colour. Drain and set aside.

Heat a non-stick frying pan on a high heat, without oil. Fry the bacon lardons for 4-6 minutes, until brown all over.

Add the butter, chopped chestnuts, cranberries and chopped pecans to the pan and shake over the heat until everything is warmed through.

When you’re ready to serve, tip the cooked sprouts into the pan with the nuts, bacon and cranberries, put it on a medium heat and shake it to warm through.

Extracted from Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom by Prue Leith (Carnival, £25).

The Hairy Bikers’ fruit & nut chocolate salami

Dave’s family have always loved this sweet treat, which has its roots in a Romanian recipe. We’ve added some dried fruit, glacé cherries, nuts and a tot of alcohol to make it even more delicious. You could make smaller logs and wrap them up like Christmas crackers to give as presents.

MAKES 2 LOGS

100g raisins or chopped prunes

100ml rum or Marsala wine, plus an optional extra tbsp

75g dark chocolate

175g cold butter, diced

4 egg yolks

150g caster sugar

75g cocoa powder

200g hazelnuts or almonds, lightly toasted and broken up

100g dark glacé cherries, halved

200g biscuits (shortbread or similar), broken into 1cm pieces

3tbsp icing sugar

½tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

Put the raisins or prunes into a small pan and cover them with the 100ml of rum or Marsala. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to stand until the liquid has been absorbed by the fruit.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Let the chocolate melt, then remove the bowl from the heat. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then add the butter – the butter will melt and help cool down the chocolate at the same time. Whisk them together until smooth. Beat in the tbsp of rum or Marsala, if using.

Put the egg yolks into a large bowl with the sugar and beat to a smooth paste. Pour in the chocolate and butter, add the cocoa powder and mix together until you have a thick chocolate paste. Add the dried fruit, nuts, cherries and biscuits, then stir again. The mixture will be quite soft at this stage, but it will firm up quickly in the fridge.

Take two pieces of baking parchment and dust with the icing sugar and the cinnamon, if using. Divide the mixture in half and with wet hands, shape it into two log shapes, each about 20cm long and 5-6cm in diameter. Place each log on a piece of baking parchment and roll them up as tightly as you can, then wrap again in foil.

Leave to set and chill in the fridge for several hours, preferably overnight. Serve sliced into rounds.

Extracted from The Hairy Bikers: Our Family Favourites by Si King and Dave Myers (Seven Dials, £25).

Rick Stein’s profiteroles with chocolate sauce

I think the three most important aspects of perfect profiteroles are great chocolate, eating them when just cooled down out of the oven, and no sugar in the whipped cream – just a little vanilla. This seems to accentuate the complexity of a good chocolate sauce.

MAKES 16-20

75g plain flour

A pinch of salt

55g cold butter, cut into small cubes

2 eggs, beaten

For the chocolate sauce

30g butter

125g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up

For the filling

300ml double cream

1tsp vanilla extract

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Put the butter in a pan with 150ml of water and place over a medium heat – ideally you want the water to come to the boil just as the butter has melted. Turn off the heat as soon as the water comes to the boil, then dump all the flour into the pan in one go. Vigorously beat in the flour to make a thick, lump-free paste. It should form a ball that leaves the sides of the pan clean. Use an electric whisk to do this if you like.

Transfer the mixture to a plate and leave it to cool for 10-15 minutes, then put it back into the cool pan or a bowl. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, fully incorporating each addition before adding more. Continue until all the egg is used up and you have a smooth, glossy paste.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and sprinkle it with a few drops of water. Using a piping bag, squeeze blobs of the paste on to the baking sheet, allowing space around them as they will puff up during cooking. The mixture should yield about 16-20 profiteroles.

Bake the profiteroles for 10 minutes, then increase the heat to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7 and cook for a further 15 minutes or so until they are well risen and golden. Pierce the base of each and make a small hole the size of a piping nozzle. Put the profiteroles back in the oven for 2 minutes, holes uppermost, to allow the insides to dry out a little. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

For the sauce, place a heatproof bowl over a pan of just simmering water – the base of the bowl shouldn’t touch the water. Add the butter and chocolate, then stir together until melted and smooth and glossy. Add a splash of water if the sauce seems too thick.

Whisk the cream and add the vanilla. Spoon the cream into a piping bag, fitted with a 0.5-1cm plain nozzle, and carefully fill each profiterole.

Serve the profiteroles drizzled with the warm chocolate sauce.

Extracted from Rick Stein’s Food Stories by Rick Stein (BBC Books, £28). Photography: James Murphy.

Prue Leith’s Christmas cake ice cream

Few children like Christmas pudding, but I’ve never met one who didn’t like ice cream. About 40 years ago, I started using the leftover Christmas cake or lump of Christmas pudding in a Christmas dessert made mostly of vanilla ice cream. Now everyone expects this version of Christmas ‘pud’.

SERVES 8

1ltr shop-bought soft-scoop vanilla ice cream

About 350g leftover Christmas cake, pudding or mince pies, roughly crumbled

3tbsp brandy

In a large, chilled mixing bowl, combine the softened ice cream with the crumbled leftovers and the brandy. Take care not to over-mix – you want big pieces of Christmas pud, or whatever, throughout.

Line a large plastic pudding bowl or a large loaf tin with clingfilm, making sure to leave plenty of overhang so you can wrap the contents fully. Transfer the mixture into the container, then cover the top and freeze for at least 6 hours.

When it’s time to serve, unwrap the ice-cream pudding or loaf and either turn it out to serve in slices or scoop it from the tin.

Extracted from Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom by Prue Leith (Carnival, £25). Photography: Ant Duncan.

Mail+ bonus recipes

The Hairy Bikers’ stollen bites

There is just something about these little mouthfuls of sweetness and spice – they are an all-time favourite in winter. Traditionally, stollen is made with a yeast dough, but these bites are much quicker and easier to make and still really delicious.

MAKES ABOUT 30

100g raisins, sultanas or currants, roughly chopped if large

50ml hot tea

2tbsp rum

75g candied peel, finely diced

50g glacé cherries, rinsed of syrup and chopped

Zest of 1 orange

300g plain flour

100g ground almonds

½tsp baking powder

½tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp ground cinnamon

¼tsp each of allspice, cloves and cardamom

½tsp salt

50g light brown soft sugar

125g butter, chilled and diced

1 egg

175g ricotta

125g marzipan, cut into 30 pieces

TO FINISH

100g butter

75g icing sugar, plus more for dusting

Put the raisins, sultanas or currants into a small saucepan and add the tea and rum. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in the peel, cherries and orange zest. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment.

Put the flour, ground almonds, raising agents, spices and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles very fine breadcrumbs. Drain the fruit and add it, along with the egg and ricotta, and mix to make a fairly firm but sticky dough.

Divide the dough into 30 pieces, each weighing about 40g. Gently soften and flatten a piece of marzipan with your hands and push it into the centre of a piece of dough. Shape the dough to make sure that the marzipan is encased and as much of the fruit is covered by dough as possible. Repeat to make the rest of the stollen bites.

Arrange them on the baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until slightly raised and golden brown.

Meanwhile, melt the 100g of butter. As soon as you take the stollen bites out of the oven, brush them liberally with the butter, then dip them into icing sugar right away, so they are coated all over. Place them on a rack to cool. Dust with more icing sugar before serving.

Extracted from The Hairy Bikers: Our Family Favourites by Si King and Dave Myers (Seven Dials, £25). Photography: Andrew Hayes-Watkins.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Christmas pud

A steamed pudding is a classic comfort food and my festive variation makes a lighter version of a classic Christmas pud. There is absolutely no reason not to customise it with a variety of fruits and even some nuts and oats. More plants means more goodness.

SERVES 6-8

150g butter, softened, plus extra to grease the basin

50g raisins

50g dried prunes or apricots (unsulphured), roughly chopped

1tsp ground ginger or 1cm piece of fresh ginger, grated

50g dried cherries or cranberries

50g chopped dried apples or pears

100g fine plain wholemeal flour

30g ground almonds

2tsp ground mixed spice

40g porridge oats

20g poppy seeds

2 level tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

75g golden caster sugar or soft brown sugar

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons and juice of 1 lemon

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

3 medium eggs

For the boozy ginger topping

75ml rum, brandy or whisky

4tbsp soft dark brown sugar

3cm piece of fresh ginger, grated

Grated zest of 1 orange, plus a generous squeeze of the juice

To serve

Cream, yoghurt or crème fraîche

Grease an 850ml pudding basin with a little butter. Cut a double layer of foil or baking paper that will generously cover the top of the pudding basin (with plenty of overhang) and butter one layer of this too; set aside.

For the topping, in a small bowl, stir the rum, brandy or whisky with the brown sugar, grated ginger and orange zest and juice until well blended (don’t worry if the sugar doesn’t fully dissolve). Tip into the pudding basin.

For the filling, toss the dried fruit and ginger with 1tbsp of the flour and set aside (the flour coating helps to stop the fruit sinking as the pudding cooks).

Tip the rest of the flour into a bowl and add the almonds, mixed spice, oats, poppy seeds, baking powder and pinch of salt. Toss to mix and set aside.

Put the butter, sugar and lemon and orange zest into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Using an electric hand mixer or the stand mixer, beat together until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg, along with a spoonful of the flour mix, and beat in. Repeat to incorporate the other 2 eggs, each with a spoonful of the flour mix.

Tip the remaining flour mix into the bowl and use a large spoon to fold it in lightly but thoroughly. Add the lemon juice and fold through, then, finally, gently fold in the floured fruit.

Spoon the mixture carefully into the pudding basin (the boozy ginger topping in the bottom of the basin will rise up the sides; don’t worry about this).

Make a pleat in the centre of the doubled foil or paper and lay, buttered side down, over the basin. (The pleat will allow room for the pudding to expand during cooking.) Secure with kitchen string under the rim.

Place a small heatproof plate or trivet in the bottom of a large, deep saucepan and stand the pudding basin on it.

Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and bring the water to a simmer over a medium-low heat. Steam the pudding like this for 2 hours, topping up the boiling water a couple of times, as necessary.

Using oven gloves or a tea towel, lift the pudding basin out of the pan and remove the foil or paper. Run a knife around the side of the pudding to loosen it, then invert a serving plate over the basin. Now turn the plate and basin over to slide the pudding onto the plate.

Cut the pudding into slices and serve, with a spoonful of cream, yoghurt or crème fraîche.

Extracted from How To Eat 30 Plants A Week by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Bloomsbury, £25). Photography: Lizzie Mayson.