Alternative Christmas desserts

World-renowned chocolatier Paul A Young has come up with a fantastic solution for any sweet-toothed types who feel the traditional Christmas dinner is missing something – a Christmas pudding made with three types of chocolate! As with a fruit pudding, it is best to make this well in advance to give the flavours time to mature resulting in a dense, sophisticated chocolate dessert.

All of the fun of a pudding, with the addition of delicious spirits! Take a liquid lunch approach to your Christmas dessert and put together a Christmas cocktail or two. The Mince pie Manhattan and Christmas pudding cocktails in particular aim to bring together the classic flavours of Christmas sweet treats in an all-too-drinkable potent liquid form.

Rice pudding made with almonds and cream is a traditional part of the Danish Christmas dinner and is known as Risalamande. Served cold and topped with cherry sauce or fruit compote, this is a good alternative to the British Christmas pudding if you'd rather not have extra pans bubbling away for hours on the hob while you're cooking the Christmas turkey. In Denmark it is common to conceal a whole almond inside one of the puddings and award a gift to the person who finds it.

Moving across Europe to Italy and the traditional Italian sweet bread panettone, stuffed with raisins, chocolate chips and candied fruit soaked in rum. While it is deliciously festive, panettone is not one to make at home if time is against you as the dough needs to be chilled for some time. Fortunately, however, panettone is a popular Christmas gift meaning if you do end up with one (or more) you can incorporate them into some wonderful dessert recipes. Rachel Davies suggests a delicious alternative of Panettone Bread and Butter pudding, a great warming dessert for the beginning of a cold winter.

If the idea of having any dessert after a filling Christmas dinner seems a bit too much, why not try festive biscuits? Christmas biscuits can be flavoured with a selection of spices from cardamom, ginger, cloves, treacle or cinnamon or simply made with a little pinch of vanilla. Biscuits are one for the children to help with during the Christmas holidays, especially when it comes to decorating; have a go at Graham Campbell’s easy Christmas Reindeer cookies, or Sally Abé's Christmas ginger biscuits.

No matter how full you feel it can be difficult to resist tucking in when the cheese and port is wheeled out. Indulge and experiment with cheese varieties – try an even split of those you know and those you've never even heard of – and bake your own oatcakes or crackers to have on the side. To make your cheeseboard extra special stock up on delicious spiced chutneys and dried fruit to go with it, and don't forget to lay in a bottle of good quality port.