Chef Nigella Lawson reveals her favourite Christmas recipes

You would expect Nigella Lawson’s favourite dessert to be a decadent gateau or pastry — not the classic Aussie pavlova. The cooking queen shares her favourite Christmas recipes ahead of her visit to Sydney early next year.

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You would expect Nigella Lawson’s favourite dessert to be a decadent gateau or pastry — not the classic Aussie pavlova.

“Funnily enough I love a pavlova at Christmas,” the British celebrity chef tells BW Magazine.

“(I also love something) my great aunt used to make called Australian Christmas pudding which was ice cream with all the dried fruits found in a traditional Christmas pudding.”

Lawson will be sure to get her fill when she visits Sydney in February.

“(I plan on) eating wonderful food, drinking wonderful wine and gazing at that wonderful expansive sky,” she says.

UK TV chef and author Nigella Lawson will host a show in Sydney next year.

“For me it’s just very uplifting. I love being back home but when it gets dark at lunchtime every day and you can’t go out without three overcoats, it can be wonderful just to be wandering about without a jacket.

“I’m lured towards the warmth and the blue sky but I can’t be in the sun so I have to walk around with hats and umbrellas, looking like Michael Jackson.”

While here, the 58-year-old will share her culinary secrets with fans and says she’s open to going wherever the audience questions take her.

“People feel very strongly about food both in terms of how it features and what cooking is about,” she says.

“For me food is such a repository of memory. I cook very much in the same way as my readers or viewers and that creates a real bond.”

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It’s hard to imagine everyday home cooks seeing themselves reflected in the star. Touted as the world’s sexiest chef, she is beautiful, eloquent and has a food empire that fails to slow down.

Can her audience truly emulate a woman who has sold more than three million cookery books around the world?

Lawson insists they can.

“You don’t need to have any particular skill or professional expertise to go into a kitchen and cook,” she says.

Lawson’s relatable cooking style makes sense as she recounts her Christmas traditions.

“I make edible Christmas tree decorations,” she says.

“They are sort of a gingerbread biscuit that’s quite sturdy and made to hang from a tree.”

Originally published as Chef Nigella Lawson reveals her favourite Christmas recipes