Mary Makes Christmas: Mary Berry and special guests make gifts for Christmas pressies and recipes for a comforting Christmas

With just one week to go until the big day, time is running out if you’re still undecided what gifts to get your loved-ones or what dishes to make over the festive period.

But fear not, the nation’s favourite cook, Dame Mary Berry, is on hand with some original ideas to make sure the holidays go without a hitch.

Of course, this is not the first yuletide special Mary has brought us over the years, and her shows have become somewhat of a perennial staple.

In Mary Berry Saves Christmas in 2020, she helped a group of amateur cooks make lavish dinners for their families, and a year later, she presented Mary Berry’s Festive Feasts in which she taught three novice cooks how to prepare for the season.

Mary Berry’s Ultimate Christmas followed a year later and, and in December last year, BBC One aired Mary Berry’s Highland Christmas.

Now, for this year’s Christmas-themed programme, the 89-year-old former Great British Bake Off judge is heading to a magnificent coastal setting to show the nation how to make delicious foodie gifts for family and friends.

“The idea of Mary Makes Christmas is I make a lot of presents, nice things to give people at Christmas,” she says.

“There’s something special about being generous with your time – you can make some of these things far ahead and there’s nothing better than a gift made with love.”

Joined by Strictly dancer Oti Mabuse, TV favourite Amanda Holden and DJ Nick Grimshaw, Mary has the ideal recipes to gift, including sumptuous mini Christmas cakes, chewy and crispy almond snowballs and spicy Christmas chutney.

Along with her gifting recipes, Mary also whips up a delicious winter vegetable soup with chestnuts, her family Christmas Eve favourite, prawn and haddock fish pie, with a delightful twist of a cheesy creamy style topping, some truly original turkey pasties, and a creamy show-stopping clementine crème brûlée.

Mary and Oti are amazed to see a group of Santa-hat-wearing swimmers run into the sea for their traditional cold water Christmas dip.

As a reward for braving the waves, the pair share their freshly made almond snowballs with the swimmers.

Mary invites Amanda to join her in the historic local pub where they catch up on all things Christmas and make boozy apricots in brandy and a deep rich stilton dip, both perfect for gifting.

As a thank you, Amanda surprises Mary with a visit to the local church for some festive entertainment.

Then it’s off to the RNLI boathouse in Rye, where Mary and Nick roll up their sleeves and get stuck into making some divine ginger flapjacks to share with the volunteers, family and friends at their annual RNLI Christmas carols celebration.

A wonderful treat for them all and a perfect gifting recipe to end the show.

If you’re looking for more tips from Dame Mary, she insists it’s all about being uncomplicated.

She told PA Last year: “The key is to keep your ingredients simple. And also, not to be ashamed of buying things that make cooking easier, whether it’s Panko breadcrumbs or pre-rolled puff pastry. Who cares if you didn’t make it all from scratch?”

And after all these years presenting festive-themed shows, Mary still has a special affection for this time of year.

“I really love Christmas,” she says. “I’ve done a few Christmases in my time, and it’s all a matter of being organised.”