CHRISTMAS is a time to celebrate many things, but it’s also a time to eat.

Everyone has their favourite Christmas dishes, whether it’s a traditional family recipe or just a Christmas favourite.

Here’s a list of our favourite Christmas recipes.

Dominica’s warming Polish soup

Stemming from her Polish heritage, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without some Barszcz (beetroot soup) for Dominica. While the Poles are used to eating it during a winter Christmas, it tastes just as good on a hot summer Australian Christmas.

Barszcz – Beetroot soup

Ingredients:

2 litres vegetable stock

6 medium beetroot, peeled, grated

60ml vodka

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or one tablespoon red-wine vinegar

1/4 bunch chives, finely chopped

white pepper and salt, to serve

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Strain the beetroot and set aside. Combine half the beetroot juice and stock and bring to boil, cover and simmer on low heat for an hour.

Add the remaining beetroot, lemon juice, vodka, sugar, chives and seasonings.

Serve hot with boiled potatoes and chopped dill for garnish.

Joshua’s juicy ham

Who doesn’t look forward to a juicy, glazed ham on Christmas Day? This recipe is easy and simple to make!

Baked ham with sugar mustard glaze

Ingredients:

4-5kg raw smoked ham on the bone

100g soft brown sugar

7 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Method:

Place the raw ham in a large, clean bucket. Add enough water to cover and soak overnight, or up to 24 hrs ahead, changing the water twice.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas. Drain and place the ham in a large roasting tin, cover tightly with foil and bake for 3 hrs.

Remove the ham from the oven and turn the heat up to 200C/180C fan/gas. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice the rind off the ham, leaving about 1-2 cm of fat; cut a diamond-shaped pattern into this. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and mustard, then rub all over the ham. Roast for 30 mins until the ham is tender and the outside nice and sticky.

To serve, cut 1cm-thick slices off the ham to go alongside bread/sweet potato, scalloped potatoes/potato salad etc.

Emily's potato perfection

Potato bake is always a family favourite. It's great for barbecues, for snacks and even for breakfast if you really want to. And this recipe is simple and easy.

Potato bake

Ingredients:

8 medium potatoes

300ml sour cream

1 packet dry French onion soup

1-2 cups grated tasty cheese

Optional: add some chopped spring onion to the cream mix or add some bacon layers

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Grease a baking dish with canola cooking spray or a little butter.

Clean potatoes well and slice thinly leaving skin on.

In a mixing bowl mix sour cream and French onion soup mix until well combined.

Layer potatoes and sour cream mixture in baking dish starting with potatoes on the bottom, until all used up.

Top with grated cheese or layer cheese through.

Bake for about an hour. Time varies in different ovens. Check by poking through the potatoes to see if they are soft... If they are, it's ready!

Tori’s tasty treat

Custard tarts are delicious any time of the year, but there’s something about a custard tart at Christmas, that just makes them more delicious.

Custard Tart

Ingredients:

140g butter, chilled and diced

250g plain flour

Zest from 1 lemon

100g caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp whole milk

For the custard

250ml thickened cream

250ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split

1 strip lemon zest

1 tsp nutmeg

8 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

Method:

To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour with the lemon zest and a pinch of salt until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, egg and milk and bring together to form a dough.

On a floured surface, roll the pastry out and line it on a 20cm tart tin, leaving a bit of pastry hanging over the edge. Chill for 30 mins.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas. Line the tart tin with baking beans/rice etc, bake for 20 mins, then remove the beans/rice and continue to cook for 20 mins until the base is biscuit-like. Remove from oven and reduce the temperature to 140C/120C fan/gas.

Bring the cream, milk, vanilla pod, lemon zest and nutmeg to boil. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, then pour the hot milk and cream over, beating as you go. Strain custard into a jug, allow to settle for a few mins, then skim off any froth.

Carefully pour the custard into the tart case and bake for 40 mins or until just set with the very slightest wobble in the middle. Remove from the oven, trim the pastry edges off and leave to cool completely. Top with cinnamon and/or nutmeg! 

Linda's booze bombs

In Linda's wise words "the best - you don't need turkey or anything else." That pretty much sums it up.

Booze bombs

Ingredients:

300g Bourneville or dark cooking chocolate

100 ml (6.5TBS) golden syrup

75ml (5tsp) brandy

100 ml (6.5) whisky or dark rum

200gm Marie biscuits finely chopped

200 gm pecan nuts processed until finely chopped but not ground.

Icing sugar

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except the icing sugar in a mixing bowl and blend well.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls

Pack on trays and refrigerate until hardened.

Booze Bombs keep in fridge for 3 weeks.  (if you don’t eat them all!)

Jackie's jolly joy

Beware: once you start eating this log of goodness, you won't be able to stop.

No bake Yule tide log

Ingredients:

One packet of chocolate ripple biscuits

One container of thickened cream 

Chocolate flake and mint leaf lollies to decorate

Method:

Whip cream.

Spread on base of cake plate tray.

Join biscuits together with cream and sit the on the cream on the plate to create a log-style effect.

Coat the biscuit log with remaining cream.

Decorate with flake and mint leave.

Put in fridge to set.

Serve in slices.

Jen's fruity fix

If you're looking for something healthier, to satisfy that sweet tooth without adding pounds to your hips, why not try an edible fruit Christmas wreath? It also looks pretty.

Edible fruit Christmas wreath

Ingredients:

1x foam wreath shape

Toothpicks

3 packets of strawberries

1kg green grapes

1-2 packets blueberries

20 cherries

* You can use other fruit combinations - but make sure you choose fruit that will hold together and won't discolour if cut. Watermelon works well!

Method:

Rinse and thoroughly dry all fruit.

Insert tooth picks randomly around the wreath. Leave around 1cm sticking up. You don’t need to totally fill the wreath - aim for 20-30 toothpicks to start with.

Starting with the largest fruit (strawberries if you are using them), stick the fruit onto the toothpicks around the wreath and continue until the wreath is full!

Pete’s very alcoholic punch

This is a recipe Peter made with mates for an NRL grand final several years ago, but it’s also a great drink in the summer heat. All measurements for this are very rough, and entirely up to the creator which tipple they use. This can easily be made for the kids too - just without the alcohol. Remember, enjoy this in moderation, and don’t drink and drive.

Punch with some extra punch

Ingredients:

850g of tinned fruit salad (diced pears, diced peaches, whole grapes, pineapple pieces)

400ml of vodka (but you can use Malibu for a coconutty flavour)

2L of Passiona soft drink

2L of Lemonade/Solo

If you want a bit of tang to this, you can also throw in some pineapple juice, or, as crazy as it sounds, some ginger beer.

And if you want a dash of something else, throw in a bottle of champagne, or Passion Pop, depending on your budget.

Method:

Empty the fruit in a large punch bowl, including all the juice, and pour in the vodka. Cover and leave to soak for a few hours, occasionally giving it a stir.

Just before serving, add the soft drinks and anything else you want to the mix, along with a stack of ice and stir well.

Beware that the fruit packs the most punch (ha) in this recipe, so make sure you keep stirring when serving. You don’t want to get a cup full of just fruit...

*** Do you have a favourite Christmas recipe? Send it to emily.barton@fairfaxmedia.com.au ***