I thought I’d share round-up of my favourite festive recipes this Pieday Friday. The idea was to get you in the mood for all the Christmas baking to come but, in fact, I’ve actually started craving most of these recipes now, so I’m sure I’ll be whipping up some tasty this weekend! Below you’ll find links to my top twelve “12 days of Christmas” recipe blog posts, starting with these snowy dark chocolate cookies and cream-filled snowball meringues – enjoy!
It wouldn’t be Christmas without gingerbread. Last year I made a gingerbread sleigh but the recipe can be used to make traditional gingerbread men or decorations to hang on your tree. You can find the classic gingerbread recipe in this blog post plus there’s a festive spiced banana muffin recipe in the gingerbread blog post too, bonus!
Even though I first made this chocolate gingerbread recipe for halloween, it’s definitely going to be baked again in December. The chocolate makes a nice change to the traditional gingerbread biscuit recipe, and you could make a batch of both types for Christmas, mmm.
My favourite thing about Christmas snacking is the savoury pastry. I don’t eat it during the rest of the year, but in December I go crazy for easy cheesy star tarts, sausage rolls and party pizza twists. 
The added bonus of Christmas dinner are the ways in which you can use up leftovers – I love a leftover cornish pasty or a cheese and ham roll, just make sure you have a batch of perfect pastry at the ready!
In terms of meals, I love a warming bowl of soup when the temperature drops. Oxtail soup is great for this time of year – the beefiness of the broth is just right for enjoying with a crunchy yorkshire pudding! And my all-time favourite is soup is a smooth and creamy root veg and squash soup, a great way to use up all those pumpkins in your veggie patch.
And when you want to wrap your hands around a cup of something warm, my selection of festive flavoured hot chocolates, including a minty After 8 drink, a steaming spiced chocolate and a cup of candy cane cherry amaretto can’t be beaten.
Only last week I shared 3 festive drinks recipes, so here’s the link to my coffee shop Christmas menu hacks. I’ve made dupes of a famous chain gingerbread latte, toffee nut latte and honeycomb latte so that you can enjoy them at home.
And finally, it wouldn’t be Christmas without the traditional Christmas cake. I’ve made a few different variations over the years but this recipe has a fruity Caribbean twist so check it out. Plus, here’s an idea for using up the leftover Christmas cake too..!
I hope these recipes have given you some inspiration for your own festive baking and making. Please do leave me a comment if you try any of them out this December 🙂
