Celebrity festive recipes: Jacinda Ardern, Labour MP

Labour MP, Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

My family have always had a couple of holiday traditions - you can tell they're traditions because they're old school, frozen in time, as it were.

My sister and I would always make marshmallow balls, which was probably just an excuse to eat condensed milk at the time. Because they were raw, I guess mum didn't need to worry about us getting anywhere near the oven.

Now, my sister and I make them on opposite sides of the world and talk about the quality of our marshmallow balls. I send her photos when I've done mine but she's got a new baby so I don't know whether that will happen for her this year.

We also make a cheese ball, which at least is slightly retro now. With a good Snax cracker. Everyone turns their nose up at it but then they eat it.

Jacinda's marshmallow balls

100g butter

1/2 cup (90g) brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 tin condensed milk

2 teaspoons cocoa

2 cups plain sweet biscuits crumbs, about 1 1/2 packets

1 packet large marshmallows

coconut for rolling

Method:

Place butter, condensed milk, sugar, cocoa and vanilla together in a pot over a low heat. Stir until butter is melted then add crushed biscuits. Scoop a tablespoon of mixture and roll it around a marshmallow to form a ball. Finish with coconut.

Refrigerate overnight.