Top chefs and celebrities are embracing the humble jelly, with supermarkets reporting sharp rise in sales

It has long been a staple of children’s parties and hospital dinners, but now jelly is taking a star turn after being embraced by everyone from Michelin-starred chefs to the fashion industry.

On social media, videos of elaborate wibbly wobbly jellies are racking up hundreds of thousands of views. The star of Kim Kardashian’s latest campaign for her underwear brand Skims isn’t Goldie Hawn or Kate Hudson but a shuddering dome-shaped pink jelly. Supermarkets are reporting a rise in sales of jelly cubes while the online vintage homeware site Vinterior has had a 500% rise in sales of antique jelly moulds in the past six months.

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A restaurant favourite you can knock up at home using the last of the Christmas turkey

Our daughter’s favourite meals are usually interactive. For example, we make summer rolls, tacos, sushi and these crispy turkey pancakes at the table, laying out all the various ingredients for us to construct our own wraps from whatever we fancy. Leftover scraps of roast meat go a very long way when mixed with other ingredients in a wrap.

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Grape and grain combine with festive chocolate and maraschino to create a warming fireside sipper

This drink draws its inspiration from the rich colour of amber, or kehribar in Turkish. The blend of whiskey, cognac and cherry evokes the warm hues of this gemstone, and of cosy nights in front of the fire.

Kemal Demirasal, The Counter , London

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A nutty and enticing Christmassy alternative to mince pies that just begs to be devoured with a hot cuppa

A pack of puff pastry provides endless inspiration for quick, last-minute desserts, and I almost always have one in the freezer, ready to defrost. Here, I’m transforming it into turnovers filled with an easy almond frangipane and spoonfuls of mincemeat. If you’ve had your fill of mince pies, but still have some mincemeat to use up, these make for a great pudding, especially if served with custard or cream .

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No need for festive stress: just stock up the fridge and cupboard with stuff you know people will like

How do you feel about entertaining? I have a few friends who love it. For them, it’s an opportunity to tidy the house, light kitsch candles and remember to bleach their upper lip. Welcoming other people into their home gives them the warm fuzzies.

It gives me the white-hot fear, though. Entertaining often feels like an elaborate performance that I’m either too skint or tired to execute, especially at this time of year. I now understand why so many fall short in that segment on Come Dine With Me when they have to provide “entertainment”. Here, the word is used to denote a specific brand of forced fun that’s always one false move away from a potential hostage situation.

Bag-in-box wine is a particularly cost-effective cheat code for lazy hosting

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‘Long chim’ translates loosely as ‘come and try’, and you literally could try everything here on a single visit

Long Chim in Soho is a new restaurant by the chef David Thompson, the man who changed the face of Thai food in the UK back in the early noughties . You’ll hear this repeated by chefs and food writers whenever Thompson’s name is mentioned, and his work genuinely warrants genuflection. Without him, it is said, there would be no Som Saa , no Kiln , no Smoking Goat , no Speedboat Bar , nor many of those other hip Thai eating spots run by earnest boys called Crispin who serve kipper curry to other earnest boys called Crispin.

Thompson did not by any means invent the concept of Thai people eating – they’ve been managing perfectly well by themselves since the country was created in the 13th century – but he certainly dismantled the UK’s love of gelatinous yet sating pad Thais and of boiled chicken pieces swimming in tinned coconut milk and masquerading as green curry. When he opened Nahm in 2001 , Thompson laughed in the face of the predictable, cosy and safe Thai food we’d been used to – comforting sweetness and nuttiness, with gentle, fragrant wafts of coriander and unthreatening heat – and instead favoured scallops, pigeon, Asian celery, white pepper and often alarmingly bold levels of both fresh and dried chillies.

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When my mum died we found a container of her handmade festive favourites in the freezer. I eat one every year and reminisce about past Christmases with her

Every year on 1 December, I’ll open the freezer and know that Christmas has finally come. Hidden away in a large Tupperware box are mince pies that were handmade by my mother.

For the past 20 years, I have been slowly making my way through them by eating one on 1 December every year. With their rough, thick pastry cases and delicious handmade whisky-soaked mincemeat, each pie fills me with joy and nostalgia, as I reminisce about past Christmases with my mum.

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Make ahead and enjoy on the morning of the big day: a giant beetroot fritter with creme fraiche and smoked salmon, a bircher muesli loaf with cranberry compote, and a savoury bread-and-butter pudding with hot honey

Among the mad rush of Christmas, don’t neglect the most important meal of the day: breakfast. It’s vital fuel to get you through the day, particularly if you are hosting or nursing a sore head from the night before. Christmas Day breakfast should feel festive and special, but it shouldn’t overwhelm. These recipes are easy enough to put together for a crowd without a fuss, and can be made ahead of time, giving you plenty of time to concentrate on locating the crackers, chilling the champagne, basting the turkey or perhaps even just enjoying the festivities.

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Bridget’s parents liked Indian food, so long as it wasn’t too spicy, and invited me to cook a festive dish. Tears soon began streaming down their faces

I had been seeing my girlfriend for six months when she suggested we spend Christmas with her family. This was uncharted territory for me: past relationships had either not lasted long enough or had been with people whose families did not celebrate Christmas. I felt nervous, but was determined to make a good impression on Bridget’s parents, who lived in a remote rural community in the Scottish Borders – a part of the world that was very different from anything familiar to me.

Having grown up in a Muslim family, I was unused to traditions such as Christmas dinner. I worried that requesting halal meat might interfere with her family’s food plans. Bridget’s parents, being deeply kind and empathetic people, suggested that perhaps I could prepare a Christmas curry for the family. They enjoyed Indian food and this would allow me to bring a part of my cultural heritage to their home – which was how I came to be in their kitchen preparing a saag aloo , based on a recipe learned from my mother.

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