Christmas recipes

No matter what time of year, it's never too early to start planning your Christmas recipes. Perhaps you want to try something new, or maybe you're spending it at someone else's home and have been asked to bring a plate of something, but what? Starting to feel the onset of Christmas dinner panic?

Just because on December 25 we gather our umbrellas and towels and head down to the beach to make sand castles instead of snow angels, doesn't mean that we can't partake in the culinary traditions that signal for people elsewhere in the world a winter of festive feasting. And just because we pop our hats and sunscreen on and head to the cricket on Boxing Day also doesn't mean that we can't come home to the delicious leftovers of a rich, homemade Christmas pudding recipe!

We believe Christmas recipes should be enjoyed by everyone around the world, no matter what the season, temperature, or side of the globe — we'll still take that Christmas cake recipe, thank you! In fact, perhaps it's because we're so far away from the more traditional wintery European-type celebrations that we appreciate white Christmas recipes so much — as a special treat once a year that is completely inconsistent with the weather and our way of eating.

But, Australians have adapted our own Christmas recipes over the years to incorporate that iconic and indispensable culinary appliance of ours — the barbeque. We love to substitute this cooking method, well suited to our scorching summers, with roasting and other slower cooking methods. Not only is it a more social way to cook, but also great for seafood and other Christmas recipes that form part of our unique version of a Christmas spread.

You'll find all sorts of Christmas recipes here, both hot and cold, traditional and contemporary, to help avoid those last-minute Christmas dinner panic attacks.