A decent collection of traditional winter recipes, with a particularly charming edible gift section.
Feature image credit: Murdoch Books
There’s something so wholesome about traditional Christmas recipe books, but unfortunately for Australian readers, many of the mainstays aren’t all that appropriate. Roast meats, sweet pies, and heavy pastries sometimes make it to our summer festive period, at least for the diehard traditionalists, but it makes much more sense to choose a light, warm-weather menu for Christmas entertaining in the Southern Hemisphere. So the first thing to accept about Christmas Classics is that it can also be used for mid-year winter classic inspiration, and on that front, it does a very good job.
As the name suggests, this is a book of old faithful recipes, so it’s not one for people seeking trendy, cutting-edge, TikTok-viral Christmas dishes. It’s not a collection of sausage roll wreaths and brie and cranberry smashed potatoes, but glazed ham, turkey breast with cranberry stuffing, and Brussels sprouts with chestnuts. The book begins with a few tips on keeping the stress out of Christmas cooking, including having your knives professionally sharpened and pre-ordering key ingredients. Then the recipes are sorted into a few easy-to-follow chapters: First Course, Main Course, Sides, Desserts, Cakes and Puddings, Drinks and Nibbles, and Edible Gifts.
There’s plenty here for dessert-lovers, and the recipes that work as edible gifts, like Raspberry and White Chocolate Truffles (page 234) and Stained Glass Biscuit Decorations (page 246) are particularly nice additions. Overall, it has a decent range of dishes on offer, all displayed amongst aesthetic photography and glossy pages. While the recipe instructions don’t go into as much detail as other cookbooks contain, the instructions are mostly simple and easy to understand.
Mushroom Pithiviers (page 37)
How good! These had a really nice, earthy flavour and came together easily. I swapped out rosemary for thyme based on personal taste, and also used tawny port and light puff pastry, and they were still delicious. Although a clear winter warmer, this one is definitely a good choice at any time of year, since mushrooms are widely available all the time, and you can vary the mushroom types that you use.
Spiced Loin of Pork with Fig and Ginger Compote (page 72)
Roast pork is one of the European Christmas staples that did survive to Australia’s summery festive period. So this is a good recipe to have in your arsenal, particularly because it’s simple and full of flavour; I tweaked the recipe slightly by adding some garlic to the pan. The crackling wasn’t crackling quickly enough for me, so I turned the oven up to 250 degrees Celsius, which had it blistering within 10 minutes. Despite being a lean cut, the meat was tender and looked impressive as a main for Christmas entertaining.
Rosemary Roasted Pumpkin (page 110)
Whether you’re making pumpkin at Christmas or during the winter, it’s always a satisfying side dish. This recipe infused the pumpkin (and potato, since I added some of that too) with nice flavour, but you could easily adapt it to suit whatever herbs or spices you prefer. Rosemary is probably the king of roast vegetable pairings, but you could take this basic recipe in so many directions.
Apricot Crumble Tart (page 155)
Half a crumble and half a tart, this apricot dessert was the best of both worlds. The pie crust will now be my go-to for apple pie, while the crumble topping made it a little lighter with sweet and nutty notes. This was certainly a festive recipe, but the apricot filling wasn’t a hit for my tasters. Perhaps using fresh apricots (and turning it into a summer/real Aussie Christmas dessert!) would produce a different result, but the dried apricots were quite overwhelming. I wouldn’t make this specific recipe again with the same filling, but the pie crust and crumble sections are faultless.
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Reviewed by Vanessa Elle
Instagram: @vanessaellewrites
Distributed by: Murdoch Books
Released: September 2026
RRP: $34.99
