Food glorious food, Christmas Turkey with brussels. While we’re in the mood, white wine sauce with mussels.

Ah, Christmas. The time to get together and enjoy the company of friends and family, exchange presents and most importantly, cooking at Christmas with some easy recipes all the family can enjoy. 

We now have a bit of a tradition on Christmas day when it comes to meal times (that’s if we’re hungry after eating 10lbs of chocolate for breakfast).

I always have smoked salmon with cream cheese on a toasted bagel for breakfast and a Turkey roast for lunch followed by Christmas pudding and clotted cream (has to be Cornish).

I then continue to eat ALL the cheese for dinner. With lots of wine. And pringles. And pickled onions. And Christmas Yule log….

You get the picture!

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Cooking at Christmas

I wanted to mix it up a little bit this year though and that’s where VonShef came in. VonShef recently sent me a few bits for the kitchen and we have thoroughly enjoyed using our Vonshef kitchen appliances.

I wanted to try out a few easy Christmas recipes anyone can make and enjoy (including 2 fussy children who love roast potatoes one day and view it as the devil’s food the next. Whhhyyyyy??).

If you are looking for the best kitchen appliances for Christmas, then read on. 

VonShef 5L Air Fryer

Well, who knew that having an air fryer in the kitchen could be life-changing?

Unfortunately, even though our oven is only 3 years old, it has always been absolutely awful at cooking chips. We’ve tried everything… more oil, quick oven chips, homemade chips.

We’ve always had to put the heat up to the max and add at least an extra 15 minutes onto the cooking time and still soggy chips!

This Vonshef Air Fryer has a wonderful modern design and a detachable basket so it is extremely easy to put your food in.

The best feature has to be, it gives you the taste of the food being deep-fat fried but with up to 80% less fat. I cannot praise this air fryer enough and have enjoyed discovering new air fryer recipes.

So far, we have had chips, roast potatoes, hash browns, a whole roasted chicken and churros in the air fryer. They have all been cooked perfectly and the air fryer makes them crisp without the fat. An air fryer makes it easier when cooking at Christmas as it can shorten the time to cook your food and free up space in your oven!

Churros and Chocolate Ganache

One of my favourite air fryer recipes so far, you can’t go wrong with a few delicious churros!

What you will need –

• An Air Fryer
• A bag or party box of frozen churros
• 200g dark chocolate, chopped
• 300ml double cream
• 2 tbsp golden caster sugar

Method –

• Put the frozen churros into the air fryer and cook at 180°C for 10 mins.
• Pour the cream into a saucepan with the sugar and simmer until the sugar has melted
• Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat.
• Add the chocolate and whisk until it is smooth.
• Serve with the churros!

VonShef Dual Belgian Waffle Maker

Another firm favourite in our household, Saturday mornings are for pancakes and waffles in our kitchen!

This job normally comes down to the husband (mainly because I really dislike making pancakes and made sure I did a terrible job of them so I never got asked again! Haha).

He absolutely loves using the VonShef Belgian waffle maker, it creates perfectly crispy waffles in about 5 minutes and the kids love choosing a different topping for them every Saturday.

It is one of our most used Vonshef kitchen appliances. 

Christmas tree Waffles (makes about 10 waffles)

My kids love these and they thoroughly enjoy decorating them with squirty cream and sprinkles. Anything goes!

What you will need –

• A waffle maker
• 4 large eggs
• 300g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 600ml semi-skimmed milk
• Green food colouring
• Sprinkles, fruit and squirty cream for decorations

Method –

• Heat the VonShef waffle maker
• Mix the flour, bicarbonate and sugar together
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites, keeping the yolk on one side
• Add the egg yolks and melted butter and slowly whisk the milk into the mixture
• Add the green food colouring
• Gently fold the egg whites into the mixture with a cold spoon
• Using a ladle, pour the batter into your VonShef waffle maker and cook for 5 minutes.
• Cut the waffles into triangles, layer them on a plate to look like Christmas trees and get the kids to decorate with sprinkles, fruit and cream

Copper 3 Piece Aluminium Pan Set

I love these pans. They are extremely good quality nonstick frying pans and the sizes are perfect for either frying up breakfast for 4 or cooking an omelette for 1.

The copper colour of these frying pans is stunning and always needs to be on show!

Chorizo & Almond Brussel Sprouts

Agh, the brussels sprouts at Christmas! I guess they’re like marmite, you either love them or hate them.

I personally hate them but always feel the need to have them at Christmas! It’s a tradition, like watching the Queen’s speech or falling asleep to the Doctor Who Christmas special!

What I do like to do though, is to find new recipes when I’m cooking at Christmas. I try to find ways to use the leftovers and one of my favourite dishes, along with turkey curry, is chorizo and brussels!

What you will need (serves 4) –

• A large frying pan
• 400g trimmed brussels sprouts
• 50g butter
• 50g chopped chorizo
• 50g chopped blanched almonds

Method –

• Boil some salted water in a pan and cook the sprouts for around 2 mins. If you have already cooked the brussels and they are left over, no need to do this!
• Put the chorizo and butter in a large frying pan and heat for around 5 mins until the butter has melted and the chorizo begins to brown
• Add the sprouts (when cooked) and fry them for 5 minutes until they start to crisp making sure they are coated in the butter
• Once the brussels are cooked, add the blanched almonds and fry for another minute.
• Serve! 

Glass milk frother

Whenever someone asks me what I would like for Christmas, I always really struggle to answer.

When you get to my age, you pretty much have everything you want and if you need something, you tend to go and buy it for yourself.

If someone had said to me only 5 years ago that one day, I would be ecstatic if someone bought me a milk frother for Christmas, I would have laughed into my very large glass of wine.

One of my favourite things to do is to go to a local coffee shop, order a latte and write my blog posts. However, my latte spending was getting out of control!

The VonShef milk frother has been a game changer, everything stops at 1.30 pm every day so I can make myself a perfectly foamy latte. It means I have cut my latte expenditure down to just one a week and I have more money in my pocket to buy cake! 

The Ultimate Baileys Hot Chocolate

My milk frother has not just been used for lattes, oh no! We also love using it to make the kids deliciously creamy hot chocolates. And maybe even a Bailey’s hot chocolate for myself. 

What you will need –

• 50 ml Baileys
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 100ml milk using the milk frother
• Squirty cream
• Chocolate fingers, sauce, marshmallows, whatever takes your fancy to put on top

Method –

• Put the cocoa powder in a mug and pour a little bit of hot water to make a paste. Froth the milk with the VonShef milk frother and add it to the cocoa powder.
• Add the Baileys
• Squirt cream onto the top and garnish it with marshmallows, chocolate sauce and flakes. Delicious!

These are just a few ideas and recipes to help you when cooking at Christmas. The VonShef kitchen appliances and cookware can all be found on vonhaus.com.

If you need me, you’ll find me in the living room with a Bailey’s hot chocolate and some churros whilst watching a Christmas movie. Bliss!

This is a sponsored blog post. I was sent all the above items to review and all views are my own

Mel x

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