Nigella Lawson Makes This Special Sauce Every Christmas

While some holiday traditions might involve chopping down a fresh Christmas tree, hosting a Secret Santa exchange with your friends, or binge-watching over-the-top Hallmark holiday movies, many other traditions center around food. You might bake endless batch after batch of Christmas cookies with your grandma, maybe using the snickerdoodle recipe that's been in your family for years. Or, you might decorate a homemade gingerbread house with your kids. Or, maybe you even have the whole family over for a massive Christmas feast that features traditional dishes that you get to enjoy only once a year (looking at you, honey baked ham!).

Regardless, there's no denying that the holidays and food go hand-in-hand. Nigella Lawson knows this well — and even she has a favorite Christmas treat. The celebrity chef and cookbook author recently took to Twitter to share the one recipe she makes every year when December rolls around. Here's Nigella's go-to, along with the recipe that you can try yourself.

As a big foodie herself, it's no surprise that Nigella Lawson has a whole arsenal of holiday recipes. However, according to the culinary personality's recent Tweet, her favorite is a Christmas Chutney, which she says is the "cornerstone" of her Christmas pantry (via Nigella.com). Made with apples, dates, cranberries, cloves, and ginger, the chutney "is just so full of Christmasiness" and is something that Nigella loves using to elevate subs, cold cuts, and Christmas dinner leftovers. 

And as a bonus, it makes for a great gift for almost anyone — and it's a breeze to whip up, too. "Since it is easy to prepare a lot at one time, you can get a tidy number of presents ... out of one under-an-hour stint in the kitchen, too," Nigella explains in the recipe notes.

Nigella isn't the only one who's a fan of her chutney. People on Twitter who have tried making it themselves chimed in with their own reactions to the tasty spread. "I make this every year for friends and family," one person Tweeted. "The best chutney I've ever tasted."