In today's Bite: Yummy christmas bakes

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It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

Ederflower

, pomegranate and heady spices baked in to a

chocolate panforte

, a

fruit mince tart

and

dutch spice biscuits

- it is beginning to smell a lot like Christmas.

So I guess it's time to decide what will be served on the big day. Ham, turkey, beef, pork, lamb, seafood ... it's daunting, but Ray McVinnie is making it sound much more manageable in his latest

Get the Idea column

.

Fooling around with those traditional rich, hearty, too-much-on-a-hot-day recipes sounds way more palatable, and a much more fun and relaxing way to "do" Christmas. If something goes wrong you can embrace it as your twist on the tradition, hehe.

Allyson Gofton

is surrounded by charcuterie in France and her

mini sweet peppers with olives and almonds

will most certainly be making an appearance at some stage over my Christmas celebrations.

But tonight, because scallops are to hand, it's one of the most

simple, yet impressive pasta

dishes ever.