Christmas gifts tend to not survive the first week of the new year – and are quickly relegated to the company of other seasonal skeletons in the closet. Some don’t even make it out of the glittery wrapping – and are quickly, and a tad unkindly, recycled to a relative you don’t really like.

Then there are those gifts which you wish you had never received – as they can’t be passed on, used or abused. Cue grandma’s knitted Christmas jumper, an 800-page tome on the entomology of the Amazon forest (you have an extreme fear of insects), and a handcrafted photo album that you suspect started life as a wedding album.

Admittedly, it’s difficult to get Christmas gifts right. The safest – and sweetest – option is to bake some festive goodies. They’re personal, edible and if you’re going around for Christmas dinner, crunchily thoughtful.

Christmas biscuits

You need

175g dark muscovado sugar

85g golden syrup

100g butter

3tsp ground ginger

1tsp ground cinnamon

350g plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 egg, lightly beaten

100g white chocolate

Edible silver balls

Method

Heat the sugar, golden syrup and butter until melted. Mix the spices and flour in a large bowl. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in a teaspoon of cold water. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the melted sugar mix, egg and bicarbonate of soda and mix well. Cover the surface of the biscuit mix with wrapping and leave to cool, then put in the fridge for at least one hour

Heat the oven to 190°C. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Roll out one half thinly and cut into shapes with cutters. Transfer to baking sheets, leaving a little room for them to spread. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool and harden up completely.

Break up the chocolate and melt. Drizzle the chocolate over the biscuits, or pipe on shapes or names, then stick a few silver balls into the chocolate.

Stollen with almonds and marzipan

You need

100g mixed dried fruit with peel

180ml apple juice

7g dried yeast

250g plain flour 

30g blanched whole almonds

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground aniseed or allspice

Pinch of ground cloves

75g cold marzipan, cut into small pieces

10g butter, melted

1tbsp icing sugar

Method

Soak the dried fruit in 100ml of hot water. Gently warm the apple juice in a pan, then add the yeast and leave to activate for 10 to 15 minutes.

Put the flour in a bowl. Stir in the yeast and apple juice mixture to form a smooth dough, then cover and leave to prove somewhere warm until roughly doubled in size.

Drain the fruit and add to the dough along with the nuts, spices and marzipan. Squish everything together, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the fruit stays in the dough. Shape the dough into a sausage shape and put it on a lined baking tray lined. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove somewhere warm for one hour.

Heat the oven to 180°C. Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then reduce oven to 150°C and bake for another 25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.

Remove the stollen from the oven and brush all over with the melted butter. Dust with the icing sugar and leave to cool completely before slicing.

Christmas fudge

You need

450g golden caster sugar

400g double cream

50g butter

1tbsp glucose syrup

1tbsp vanilla bean paste

½ tsp mixed spice

100g mixed dried fruit and peel

1 orange, zested

Method

Line a 20 x 20cm cake tin with baking parchment. Tip the sugar, cream, butter and glucose syrup into a large pan. Warm over a low heat to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter, stirring occasionally. When the sugar has dissolved, put a sugar thermometer in the mixture, making sure the end is completely covered by the syrup. Turn up the heat to medium-high and bring the syrup to the boil, stirring occasionally to stop it catching. When the thermometer reaches 116°C, remove the pan from the heat.

Leave the mixture to stand for five minutes, until the temperature drops to 110°C, then stir in the vanilla bean paste, mixed spice, mixed dried fruit and peel, the orange zest and a good pinch of salt.

Remove the thermometer, then vigorously beat the mixture with a wooden spoon, checking the temperature every minute or so until it drops again to about 60°C. By this time, the mixture will be really thick and have lost its glossy shine. Take the thermometer out and continue beating the mixture for a few more minutes.

Quickly pour the fudge mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface using a spatula. Leave to cool overnight at room temperature. Cut into 36 bite-sized pieces. 

Christmas rocky road

You need

100g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for the tin

250g Christmas biscuits 

75g shelled nuts 

100g mixed dried fruit 

75g Christmas sweets 

400g milk or plain chocolate, chopped

140g golden syrup 

2tbsp sprinkles to decorate

Method

Butter and line a 20cm square tin. Break the biscuits into pieces, halve the larger nuts, and mix together. Add the dried fruit and chopped sweets.

Melt 300g of the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a pan set over a low heat, stirring occasionally, then pour this over the biscuit and nut mixture and mix together so the chocolate covers everything.

Tip the mixture into the tin, then level the top. Melt the remaining chocolate then drizzle this over the top and sprinkle with the decorations. Chill overnight before cutting into squares.