Rachel Allen’s recipes for marmalade, chutney and sauces let you create tasty homemade edible gifts this Christmas

One of my favourites is this sweet onion marmalade that we have been making at the cookery school for many years, see recipe below. It works a treat with everything from burgers and sausages to cold meats and cheese. It’s as good eaten as soon as it’s made, as it is in six- or 12 months’ time. If you wish, replace the butter with olive oil.

The pear and pecan chutney, below is one to save for the cheese. Mature, almost crumbly, cheddar just loves this preserve, either in a sandwich or with crackers on the side. Make sure to keep stirring it as it cooks to avoid it sticking and burning.

If you’re cooking a roast turkey, chicken or goose this Christmas, then this cranberry and port sauce, below, will be just what you need. Feel free to add a pinch of cinnamon or star anise to the sauce too, or even a little orange juice in place of the port if you’re serving duck or goose. Made today, this will keep for at least six months.

And as for the sweet chilli sauce, also below — this is sweet, but also salty, spicy and jammy — just perfect with everything from fried eggs to grilled chicken and spring rolls. Naughty but very nice.

Sweet onion marmalade

Makes 3 x 200ml jars

You will need:

• 25g butter

• 680g onions, peeled and thinly sliced

• 150g caster sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 scant teaspoon ground black pepper

• 100ml sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

• 250ml red wine

• 2 tablespoons crème de cassis — see Top Tip

1 Melt the butter in a saucepan and allow it to foam and then turn light golden.

2 Add in the onions, the sugar, the salt and the ground black pepper. Stir, then cover the saucepan and cook for 30 minutes over a gentle heat, stirring from time to time to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.​

3 Remove the lid and add the Sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, whichever you’re using, the red wine and the crème de cassis. Cook over a low heat, uncovered, for another 30 minutes, stirring every now and then.

​4 It should be slightly thick when ready and it’ll thicken a little more as it cools.

​5 Pour into sterilised jars and cover while hot.

Top Tip If you don’t have any crème de cassis for the sweet onion marmalade, you can replace it with blackcurrant cordial.

Sweet chilli sauce

Makes 4 x 200ml jars

You will need:

• 1kg ripe tomatoes

• 4-6 red chillies

• 8 cloves of garlic, peeled

• A 5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

• 50ml fish sauce, nam pla — see Rachel Recommends

• 500g caster sugar

• 200ml red wine vinegar

1 Place the tomatoes in a bowl and cut a small X through the skin of each with the tip of a knife. Pour boiling water (it must be boiling and not just hot) onto them and wait for 10-15 seconds, until you can peel away and discard the skins.

2 Place the chillies, the garlic and the ginger in a blender and blend well, then add in the tomatoes and the fish sauce and blend to an almost smooth puree.

​3 Put the puree, the sugar and the vinegar into a saucepan, and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

​4 Cook gently for approximately 45 minutes, stirring every now and then to prevent sticking until it has thickened to a jam-like consistency.

​5 When cooked, pour into sterilised glass jars, cover and allow to cool.

Rachel Recommends To make the sweet chilli sauce vegetarian, replace the Thai fish sauce with soy sauce, or tamari.

Cranberry and port sauce

Makes 2 x 200ml jars

You will need:

• 350g fresh or frozen cranberries

• 50ml water

• 150g caster or granulated sugar

• 50ml port

​1 Place the cranberries in a saucepan with the water over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and allow to gently boil until the cranberries have burst, this takes about 7 minutes.

​2 Remove the lid and boil until there’s hardly any liquid left in the saucepan, then stir in the sugar and the port until dissolved and boil for just 1 minute more.

​3 Take off the heat and pour into sterilised jars and cover while warm.

Pear and pecan chutney

Makes 5-6 200ml jars

You will need:

• 4 large pears or 5 medium pears (1kg in weight)

• 1 cooking apple (about 225g)

• 200g onions, finely chopped

• 400ml cider vinegar

• 150g sultanas

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 400g caster or granulated sugar

• 100g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

​1 Peel the pears and cut them in quarters. Using a small sharp knife, remove and discard the core from the pears and cut the pear quarters into chunks 1cm in size.

​2 Do the same with the apple. Peel it, cut in quarters, remove and discard the core and cut the apple quarters into small chunks.

​3 Place the pear and the apple chunks in a large wide saucepan with the chopped onions, the cider vinegar, the sultanas, the ground cinnamon, the ground nutmeg and the caster sugar or granulated sugar, whichever you’re using. Bring up to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then turn the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour until thick.

​4 While the chutney is cooking, place the nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and cook, tossing regularly, for about 4 minutes, until toasted and a few shades darker.

​5 When the chutney is cooked, stir in the toasted nuts, transfer to sterilised jars and cover with lids.