1. Warm walnut and candied peel tartlets

A fragile alternative to the mince pie, rich with candied peel and spice. I like to serve these warm, with a jug of cream. Makes 18.

For the pastry:
cold butter - 150g
plain flour - 300g

For the filling:
golden syrup - 200g
walnuts - 100g
candied orange and lemon peel - 50g
dried cranberries - 50g
mixed spice - a pinch
soft amaretti - 4, or 90g cake crumbs
an egg, lightly beaten

You will also need 24 jam tart or shallow bun tins measuring 7.5 cm in diameter and 1 cm deep

Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can add a tiny pinch of salt if you want to. Drizzle in a very small amount of water - I would start with just a teaspoon or two - bringing the mixture together to form a soft, but not sticky, rollable ball.

Pat the pastry into a fat sausage the same diameter as your tart tins, cover with clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes. This will give the pastry time to rest, making it less likely to shrink when it's in the oven.

Set the oven at 180°C/gas 4. Warm the syrup in a small pan set over a low heat. Add the walnuts, roughly chopped, the finely diced peel, the cranberries and the spice, then crumble in the amaretti or cake crumbs. Remove the pan from the heat, leave to cool for five minutes then quickly and lightly stir in the beaten egg.

Cut the roll of pastry into 18 thin slices, then use them to line the tart tins. Trim the edges with a small knife.

Divide the mixture between the tartlet cases (you don't want to overfill them) then bake until golden and bubbling, about 15-20 minutes.

As the pastry is particularly rich, the finished tarts are very fragile, allow them to cool a little before attempting to remove them from their tins. Serve with cream.

2. Mincemeat and apple tart

A simple tart yet one that is also thoroughly festive. I serve this as a Christmas dessert, with cream, but it works as a cake, too. In which case I would serve it strudel-style, with coffee and whipped cream on the side. Serves six.

cooking apples - 400g
caster sugar - 2 heaped tbs
puff pastry - 500g
mincemeat - 400g
beaten egg

Peel the apples, core them and cut them into smallish pieces. Put into a wet saucepan with 2 heaped spoonfuls of sugar and leave to simmer gently until the sugar has melted and the apples are tender but not quite collapsed. Set the oven at 200°C/gas 6.

Cut the pastry in half and roll out each half to measure 36 x 16 cm. Place one half on a non-stick baking sheet, or one lined with baking paper, then place the mincemeat in a wide line down the centre of the pastry, leaving a margin around the rim. Place the apples on top, (any juice should be left in the pan) then brush the edges of the pastry with some of the beaten egg.

Lay the second piece of pastry on top pressing the edges firmly to seal. Trim any ragged edges, crimp them with a fork if you wish, then decorate with any trimmings of pastry if the mood takes you.

Brush with more of the beaten egg, cut four or five small slits in the top of the pastry, then bake for about 25-35 minutes till golden and crisp. Serve warm, with cream.

3. Chocolate chip hazelnut cake with chocolate cinnamon butter cream

A favourite nutty sponge cake rich with chocolate nibs and a dark chocolate and cinnamon frosting. Serves eight.

butter – 250g
golden caster sugar – 250g
shelled hazelnuts – 75g
dark chocolate – 120g
large eggs – 4
self-raising fl our – 125g
½ tsp ground cinnamon
strong espresso – 4 tsp
For the spiced chocolate cream:
dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) – 250g
butter – 125g
cinnamon – a knife point

You will also need a 20-21 cm loose-bottomed cake tin Set the oven at 180˚C/Gas 4. Line the base of the cake tin with greaseproof paper. Cut the butter into small chunks and put it with the sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer, then beat until white and fluffy. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan over a moderate heat, then rub them in a tea towel until most of the skins have flaked off. There is really no need to be too pernickety about this, you just want most of the skins removed. Grind the nuts to a coarse powder, less finely than ground almonds, but finer than they would be if you chopped them by hand. Chop the chocolate into what looks like coarse gravel.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them gently. Slowly add them to the butter and sugar mixture, beating all the time – it may curdle slightly but it doesn't matter. Stop the machine. Tip in half the ground nuts and half the flour, beat briefly at a slow speed, stop the machine again, then add the rest together with the chopped chocolate and cinnamon and mix briefly.

Fold in the espresso gently, taking care not to knock the air from the mixture, then scoop into the lined cake tin. Smooth the top and bake for 35-45 minutes, covering the cake with tinfoil for the last 10 minutes if the top is colouring too quickly.

Remove the cake from the oven and test with a skewer – you want it to come out moist but clean, without any uncooked cake mixture clinging to it. Leave the cake to cool a little in its tin before turning out and peeling off the greaseproof paper from its bottom.

To make the chocolate butter cream, snap the chocolate into small pieces and let it melt in a small pot balanced over a small pan of simmering water (the water should not touch the bottom of the pot). Leave to melt, with little or no stirring then add the butter, cut into small pieces and spice. Stir until the butter has melted.

Leave to cool until the mixture is thick enough to spread (I sometimes impatiently put mine in the fridge for 15-20 minutes). Spread the chocolate cream over the top of the cake, decorate as the whim takes you and leave for an hour or so before cutting.

4. Ginger cake with clementine frosting

A favourite cake of mine, in which I have slightly increased the fruit level and added a soft, festive frosting. The cake will keep unfrosted for a day or two wrapped in foil, and 24 hours or so once iced. Serves eight.

self-raising flour - 250g
ground ginger - 2 level tsp
ground cinnamon - ½ tsp
bicarbonate of soda - 1 level tsp
a pinch of salt
golden syrup - 200g
syrup from the ginger jar - 2 tbs
butter - 125g
stem ginger in syrup - 3 large lumps (about 60g)
sultanas - 4 heaped tbs
dark muscovado sugar - 125g
milk - 225ml
large eggs - 2

For the frosting:
butter - 125g
cream cheese - 300ml
icing sugar - 300g
3 clementines or other tight-skinned small citrus fruits

You will need a square cake tin measuring approximately 20-22 cm in diameter, lined on the bottom with baking or greaseproof paper.

Set the oven at 180°C/gas 3. Sieve the flour with the ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Put the golden and ginger syrups and the butter into a small saucepan and warm over a low heat. Dice the ginger finely then add it to the pan with the sultanas and sugar. Let the mixture bubble gently for a minute, giving it the occasional stir to stop the fruit sticking on the bottom.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and beat gently to break up the egg and mix it into the milk. Remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat and pour into the flour, stirring smoothly and firmly with a large metal spoon. Mix in the milk and eggs. The mixture should be sloppy, with no trace of flour.

Scoop the mixture into the non-stick or lined cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. Leave the cake in its tin to cool then tip out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Wrap it up again in foil and leave to mature for a day or two before eating.

For the frosting, put the butter in the bowl of a food mixer and beat till soft. Mix in the cream cheese and then the sugar and the grated zest of two of the clementines.

Spread the mixture over the top of the cake, grating over the zest of the remaining clementine and decorate as you wish.

5. Chocolate florentines

Sweet, intensely buttery and crisp, these are perhaps the most luxurious biscuits in the world. They are traditionally made with glacé cherries, but I prefer to use dried cranberries and soft-dried pears from the wholefood shop. They tend to spread over the baking sheet while in the oven, so pull the biscuits back into shape with a cookie cutter, bringing the wayward mixture back into shape before letting it cool. Eat within a day or two, before they go soft. I keep an eye open for slices of proper crystallised peel sold in the piece, rather than the usual mean little tubs of candied peel. The lemon and orange flavours clearly shine through. Makes 12.

flaked almonds - 125g
butter - 140g
sugar - 110g
double cream - 3 tbs
dried cranberries - 30g
glacé cherries or other crystallised fruit - 40g
mixed peel - 85g
flour - 50g
dark chocolate - 120g

Set the oven at 180°C/gas 4. And lightly butter and flour two baking trays.

Very lightly crush the almonds, (if you leave them whole the biscuits will fail to hold together). Melt the butter in a small pan, add the sugar and bring to the boil. Add the cream, the fruits, the mixed peel and the flour and stir for half a minute then remove from the heat. Leave to cool for five minutes before continuing.

Drop generous heaped tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving a 10cm gap between each heap (I put 4 dollops on each sheet). Pat the mixture down a little with the back of the spoon then bake for about 8 minutes, by which time the biscuits will have spread. Each biscuit will have a central heap of nuts with a thinner layer of darker mixture around it.

Using a knife or cookie cutter, push the darker, outer layer that has spread over the tray back into the biscuits then leave for several minutes to cool a little.

Lift the biscuits from the tray with a fish slice or similar wide, flat implement, and slide them onto to a cooling rack lined with baking paper. They will be fragile so go carefully.

Leave to cool completely before covering one side of each biscuit in melted chocolate. I use a brush, spreading the melted chocolate over thickly.