Today sees the start of the Christmas period, there is still time to get ready

Advent, meaning “coming” in Latin, signifies the arrival of the baby Jesus. The 1st of December is plenty of time to get ready for Christmas and it would be lovely to only have 24 days of bombardment. Supermarkets have adverts with tables groaning with food – enough to feed an army for several days. The expectation has become too high and we feel inadequate if we don’t do three meats, stuffing, cocktail sausages, two types of potatoes, five types of vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce and three different puddings. Ignore the adverts and do a slightly bigger Sunday dinner and you’re good to go. And don’t worry about pre-making stock for gravy – Bisto was invented for a reason.

I don’t want to come across like the Grinch and there are many things to love about this time of year. Let’s face it, the weather can be depressingly dull and a bit of festive magic livens everything up a bit. It’s a time to get together and indulge in a bit of the sweet side of things without feeling too guilty. This week’s recipes are not necessarily Christmassy but they’re comforting and delicious. At this time of the year fresh fruit is a bit insipid and not very inspiring. The exception is the arrival of some juicy clementines. When I was growing up, and I’m really ageing myself here, it was an essential part of the Christmas stocking. The good old days when citrus fruit, and not an iPad, got a child excited! I loved the exquisite sweet, slightly sour segments and also how easy they were to peel. In the dessert here I’ve paired the citrus in a Bakewell tart with frozen cherries as they are consistently available. Line and blind bake a pastry lined tart case then top with clementine frangipane, dot over the cherries and top with more frangipane and bake. The whole thing is served with clementine custard made with the juice.

Frozen cherries are great in that they taste good but they come with the stone removed. For a quick pudding place them in some bowls and make a quick white chocolate sauce by boiling 250ml of cream and whisk in 100g of chopped white chocolate. Pour over the icy cherries and as they melt they produce a lovely sauce. Serve with some shortcake on the side for a no fuss pudding.

Another stalwart of the Christmas of my youth was the presence of a tray of dates. They were nowhere to be seen the rest of the year but they always appeared out of nowhere a few days beforehand. I’ve included a recipe for a classic sticky toffee pudding made with dates and served with a rum toffee sauce. Just add a dollop of cream or ice cream to complete the sweet treat. Both these puddings can be made ahead and frozen.