These buns are totally festive, perfect for a holiday table such as Thanksgiving or as a Christmas morning treat. Soft inside, light, reasonably sweet, full of dried cranberries and chopped walnuts, they taste delicious served warm, with chilled unsalted butter that melts on their tops. The yeasted dough is comprehensive and can be baked as a simple loaf or braided in Challah bread style. Cranberry-Walnut Buns are also great as festive burger buns served with turkey patties, vegetables and cranberry sauce. Find the recipe here…

Traditional sweet mini pies baked and eaten in the festive season before Christmas. Mince pies are made from short crust pastry filled with the sweet mix of dried fruits, spices, citrus zest, all soaked in alcohol. These festive pies of English origin have been known there since the 13th century. They originally were savoury, not sweet as consisted of a mixture of minced meat, suet, fruits and spices. Today almost every housewife has her own recipe for mince pies and mincemeat if she prepares a homemade version of the pies. I prefer less sugary filling but use a bit sweeter French buttery pastry. Try my recipe here…

Mincemeat needs at least two weeks to macerate before using in mince pies. Dried fruits, almonds, spices and orange zest have enough time to soak beautifully in sherry, and their flavours become rich and complex. Although I’m not entirely against store-bought mincemeat as you can buy a very good one, but when is homemade its taste is completely different. Homemade mince meat is easy and quick. Cooking takes only 10 minutes, dried fruits, almonds are available at grocery stores, and you can control the amount of sugar which may be important. The homemade mincemeat can be made up to six months in advance. Find the recipe here….

This cranberry sauce is sweet and tart, packed with festive flavours - orange, cinnamon and ginger. It's a perfect condiment or a side dish served with cheese, meat such as chicken, goose, duck. It's also a must to top off Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner. The cranberry sauce is very easy to cook at home and can be made of frozen or fresh fruits however, cranberries are in season so can be easily found at grocery shops at the moment. I prefer my sauce smooth which is actually a cranberry relish. Find the recipe here...

Granola and Granula. Both names were used in the 19th century in the United States for foods which contained whole grain products crumbled and baked until crisp. Then this breakfast meal consisted of Graham flour and was formed into sheets, baked twice and broken up into smaller pieces. It was edible only when soaked in milk overnight. Fruits and nuts were added in the 1960s and the first mass-market granola was introduced in 1972. Today most of the store-bought granola is high in sugar, unhealthy oils, artificial flavourings, some unnecessary ingredients and it isn’t healthy anymore. But amazingly delicious and healthy cereals can be made at home from the ingredients we know and like. Home made granola is absurdly easy to make. Find the recipe here...