Christmas is my favourite time of year. I am a winter person, I love the cold and the way the world goes silent when covered in snow. "Hygge", the Danish word for cosiness, is about being inside with candles, great comfort food, and lots of cakes and sweets.

I go a little crazy at Christmas, starting on the first of December by getting out my decorations. I become pathetically happy when I unwrap all the little glass balls, my pixies, ribbons, candles, stars, and especially my little porcelain snowman. It is actually difficult to explain that sensation of happiness I feel by being reunited with these small, ridiculous, and to some extent useless items. After I have decorated the whole house I feel, for a short while, that everything is perfect.

My baking recipes are a collection of family recipes and recipes of my own, but they are all founded in the Danish Christmas tradition. The reason why you have to bake so many different cakes is that you have to have enough for the month and for the holidays. Have fun with them, it doesn't have to be perfect or stressful.

Pepparkakor: pepper cookies

Everybody in my family has their favourite Christmas cookie, so there is no way around baking all of them. I also use them as gifts for parties in December, and they are always much appreciated. These Pepper cookies are fun for children to play with, and can be made in different shapes and decorated with different coloured icing. The dough can also be used for a gingerbread house.

MAKES ABOUT 125
For the dough:
golden syrup 150ml
brown sugar 175g
ginger powder 2 tbsp
white pepper ½ tsp
butter 175g
double cream 150ml
baking soda ½ tsp
plain wheat flour 700g, plus a bit of flour for kneading

For the icing:
icing sugar 300g
food colouring
water a bit

Mix syrup, brown sugar, ginger powder and butter in a big mixing bowl and whisk until soft and smooth. Then add the cream and mix well again. Mix the baking soda and flour, then mix into the butter mixture.

Flour the kitchen table and knead the dough well, then wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge overnight.

The next day roll out the dough really thinly and cut with the cookie cutters, using different shapes and sizes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

When cold, decorate with icing. Mix icing sugar with food colouring and then add water a little bit at a time, until the icing is smooth. Make sure it isn't runny.

Vaniliekage: vanilla Christmas cookies

These are my husband's absolute favourite, so I bake this recipe times three to make sure I have enough for the whole month.

MAKES ABOUT 80
vanilla pods 2
caster sugar 250g
plain wheat flour 500g, sifted
cold butter 375g, cut into small pieces
egg 1

Split the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife. It's important to use real vanilla and not vanilla essence. It will not be the same flavour and you want the small black seeds in the cookie.

Mix the caster sugar and the flour, then add the butter with your fingers until coarse crumbs are formed.

Add egg and vanilla seeds. Continue working until the dough is formed into a ball.

Put the dough on a lightly floured table and knead it for 1-2 minutes. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour or to next day.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

Flour the table and roll the dough into sausages about 1cm thick and 5-6cm long. Curl each one into a ring and press the ends firmly together.

Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 7 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin.

Kransekage: almond cookies

These are mandatory for New Year's Eve when we eat them at midnight, which is really a bad idea because it will kill the taste of champagne.

MAKES ABOUT 24
blanched almonds 100g
caster sugar 200g
egg whites 2
homemade marzipan (see below) 500g
walnut halves 24
dried apricots 6
tempered dark chocolate 200g

For the homemade marzipan:
blanched almonds 500g
icing sugar 100g, plus extra for kneading
water 50ml

First the marzipan – if you cannot buy good quality marzipan you can make your own (the recipe makes 600g). Whizz the almonds in the food processor and keep whizzing until they become a paste. Add the icing sugar, whizz again, then add the water and whizz again. Take the marzipan out of the food processor and knead it on a work surface dusted with icing sugar. Now it is ready to be used for cakes and sweets. It will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge, and you'll find it tastes much better than shop-bought stuff.

To make the almond cookies, whizz the almonds and sugar together in a food processor until finely ground. Add the egg whites and whizz again until you have a smooth, white mixture. Make sure the mixture does not get too hot in the processor, otherwise the egg whites start clotting.

Grate the marzipan and then blend it into the almond mixture. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover tightly and leave to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours or until the next day.

Shape the mixture into 24 rectangular cakes about 2cm wide and 6cm long, like shortbread fingers. Press a walnut half on to one end of each almond finger, and two strips of dried apricot on to the other end.

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5. Place the shortbread fingers on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 15-18 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Melt the chocolate gently in a double boiler, then dip the bottom of each almond cake in the chocolate and leave to set on a piece of baking paper.

Julebolle: Christmas Danish

I bake these mainly for tea, but also for Christmas brunch. It is a Danish with spices, raisins and dried fruit. They are best on the day they are baked, or toasted the days after.

MAKES ABOUT 24-28
To make the pastry dough:
yeast 50g
whole milk 200ml
eggs 2
caster sugar 100g
salt ½ tsp
plain flour 400g, plus some extra flour for rolling out the dough
cinnamon powder 1 tsp
coriander powder ½ tsp
cardamom powder ½ tsp
raisins 150g
candied lemon peel 60g in small cubes
candied orange peel 60g in small cubes
cold butter 300g, thinly sliced
egg 1, beaten to wash the buns

First prepare the dough. In a mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk. Stir in the eggs, caster sugar and salt.

Mix the flour, spices and raisins, lemon and orange peel, and then stir until the dough comes together and leaves the edge of the bowl. Turn it on to a floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes until it is shiny but not sticky. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Roll out the dough into a 50cm square, ½ cm thick.

Spread very thin slices of butter over the dough about 10cm in from the edge, so that the square of dough has a smaller square of butter on top. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter so that they meet in the centre, making a square parcel.

Carefully roll the dough into a 40cm x 60cm rectangle in a little flour, making sure that it doesn't crack and that the butter stays inside the dough parcel. Next you want to fold the dough so that the butter becomes layered within it. Fold the bottom third of dough over the middle third, and fold the top third down over that. Roll out the dough again and fold the same way. Do it 3 times.

Divide dough in two, and roll out both of them to about ¼-½cm thick.

Cut the dough out into about 12-16 squares from each piece of dough. Put all the corners together and form a little bun. Place each bun corners down on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hour at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 225C/gas mark 7. Brush the pastries with a little beaten egg and bake them for 12–15 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack. Eat when they are still a bit warm, or toast and eat with blue cheese the next day.

Lucia brød: Lucia bread

Legend has it that on 13 December 1764, a gentleman in Sweden was roused in the middle of the night by a beautiful voice. He saw a young woman in white dancing through his room singing. She had wings and was carrying a candle. That was Lucia the Saint. She brought light, food and wine as comfort on what was, in the Gregorian calendar, the longest night of the year.

We celebrate this each 13 December. Girls will dress up in long white dresses and walk with lit candles singing the beautiful Lucia carol and bringing the Lucia bread. It's one of the favourite Christmas traditions and always tends to bring out tears. Somehow it makes you thankful for life.

MAKES ABOUT 22
fresh yeast 40g (or 15g dry yeast)
lukewarm milk 500ml
saffron 5g
butter 200g, melted
plain wheat flour 1kg
caster sugar 100g
raisins 75g

To finish:
raisins
egg 1, beaten

Danes always use fresh yeast, but if you only have dry yeast, use 15g and follow the directions written on the wrapping. Otherwise, dissolve fresh yeast in the warm milk in a mixing bowl, then add the saffron and stir until the mixture turns yellow. Add the melted butter. In a separate mixing bowl, sift together the flour and 1 tsp salt, then stir in the sugar and raisins.

Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until the dough comes cleanly from the edge of the bowl. Knead the dough on a floured work surface for 10 minutes, until it is shiny but not sticky. Put the dough back in the bowl and leave to rise for 1½ hours at room temperature.

Lightly knead the dough again on a floured work surface. Divide it into 22 equal pieces. Roll them into sausages then curl the ends so that each piece is shaped like the number 8. Put one raisin in the middle of each circle. Place breads on baking trays lined with baking paper, cover with tea towels and leave to rise again for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Brush the risen breads with beaten egg and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown all over, then remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

You can eat them as they are or spread with cold butter.

Brunkager: brown cookies

If you like spice or plum cakes you will love brunkager. This cookie is good with tea, therefore perfect for Britain.

MAKES ABOUT 175
butter 250g
golden syrup 125g
muscovado sugar 250g
blanched and chopped almonds 50g
candied lemon 50g, finely chopped
candied orange 50g, finely chopped
ground cinnamon 1 tbsp
ground cloves 2 tsp
ground cardamom ½ tsp
ground ginger ½ tsp
plain wheat flour 500g sifted

Melt butter, syrup and muscovado sugar in a pan and stir until the mixture is smooth. Cool a little. Add almonds, candied peels and spices and mix well. Cool the mixture completely.

Mix the flour into the cold mixture. Knead until the dough is smooth. Divide the dough into two, then form into two or more thick sausages – diameter 3-4 cm – and wrap them in cling film.

Chill the dough for at least two days – this is to bring the flavour of the spices out (the dough can be chilled for at least a month).

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the cookie dough into very thin slices with a sharp knife. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 5-6 minutes. Watch them, they burn easily, and ovens vary.

Store the cookies in an airtight tin.

Honning hjerter: honey hearts

Christmas isn't Christmas without honey hearts. I eat them guiltily all through December for afternoon tea. The recipes for honey cakes and the way spices are used in them can be traced back to the Middle Ages. They can also be decorated with icing and hung on your tree or shaped into men, women and Santa. The full flavour of honey in these cookies first really appears after a week, so bake them well in advance of Christmas.


MAKES ABOUT 20-25
honey 500g

egg yolks 3
plain wheat flour 500g, sifted
baking powder 2 tsp
baking soda ½ tsp
ground cinnamon 2 tsp
ground cloves 1 tsp
ground allspice 1 tsp
tempered dark chocolate (see below) 300g

Melt the honey and cool down. Add egg yolks and mix well. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices very well and fold that mixture into the honey mixture. Knead the dough until it is smooth on a floured working surface. When done wrap in cling film and chill for at least 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3.

Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and place it between two sheets of baking paper. Roll the dough out between the papers until 1-1.5cm thick. Peel off the top layer of paper and cut out hearts with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, about 4.5cm wide. Keep doing that until you have used all the dough.

Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Store them in an airtight tin for about a week before covering them with tempered chocolate. We usually decorate each honey heart with a small glossy picture of an angel or Santa Claus.

Make the tempered chocolate. This is the easy way to do it. Chop the chocolate finely, take two-thirds of the chopped chocolate and melt very gently in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of warm water – making sure the chocolate doesn't overheat. When it is melted and has reached 50C, add the rest of the chopped chocolate and mix until all the chocolate has melted. Heat all the chocolate very gently, back up to a temperature of about 31C. Now the chocolate is ready to be used.

Marzipan and nougat

Making homemade sweets and chocolates is how we start the celebration of Christmas. Put all the ingredients on plates, place them in the middle of the table, and make different kinds of sweets. Put on a tray with parchment paper to dry.

MAKES ABOUT 45-50 PIECES
marzipan 400g
icing sugar to dust
soft Danish nougat or hazelnut paste 200g

Cut the marzipan in three and roll out one piece on a work surface dusted with icing sugar until the marzipan is about 5mm thick. Halve the soft nougat and roll out one piece to cover the rolled-out marzipan.

Roll out the second piece of marzipan as before and lay it on top of the nougat, followed by the remaining nougat.

Roll out the final piece of marzipan and lay it over the stack so that you end up with a total of five layers alternating marzipan and nougat. Cut into small diamond shapes 1cm wide and serve. They can also be dipped into tempered chocolate (see Honey Hearts recipe). All the sweet treats can be stored in an airtight container.

Almond chocolate

MAKES ABOUT 40
almonds 200g
dark tempered chocolate (see Honey Hearts recipe) 200g

Remove the skins of the almonds – pour over boiling water and after a short time remove the skins. Dry the almonds then chop them roughly and mix with the tempered chocolate . Using a teaspoon, place small balls of the mixture on parchment paper and leave until the chocolate has settled and is dry. You can also make this with popcorn.

Marzipan with cognac

MAKES ABOUT 20
prunes 3
cognac 4 tbsp
marzipan 300g
dark tempered chocolate (see Honey Hearts recipe)150g

Leave the prunes in the cognac for 2 hours, then chop the now soft prunes. Mix the prunes and the rest of the cognac into the marzipan, then form the marzipan into a rectangle 1cm thick, then cut into 1 cm cubes, and dip them in tempered chocolate. Let them rest on a wire rack until the chocolate has settled. You can replace the prune with orange zest, dates or raisins; and replace the cognac with any other liqueur of your liking.

Dried fruit

assorted dried fruit, such as apricots, figs, dates 300g
dark tempered chocolate (see Honey Hearts recipe) 200g

Dip the fruit in tempered chocolate, either the whole dried fruit or just part of it. Let them rest on a wire rack until the chocolate has settled.

Candied fruit

Divide the fruit into smaller pieces.

orange slices halved
fresh ginger cubed
orange peel strips
lemon peel strips

To make candied fruit, for 500g fruit you will need 750g sugar and 500ml water. Boil the sugar and water until 110-115C. Then add the fruit to the water and let simmer very gently for 5 minutes. Then take the fruit out of the sugar-water and let it dry on a wire rack. Then it is ready to use in the same way as the dried fruit.