Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
In Episode 30, we bring you some great Thermomix Christmas gift ideas and share some useful resources of where to get more inspiration for your holiday gifts.
Click on the play button at the top or download this in iTunes or on Stitcher Radio (and don’t forget to leave a review – it can be OUR Christmas gift, from you!)
Helene from Super Kitchen Machine has created a fabulous resource of ‘fan favourite’ Thermomix Christmas gift ideas. She has also created a spectacular visual version of this which will really get your creativity flowing. You can find her Thermomix Christmas board on Pinterest.
Here are the recipes we discussed from her blog post:
Recipe 1 – Chocolate Salami (from Super Kitchen Machine)
Also known as ‘salami dolce’ or ‘sweet salami’. This was our favourite Christmas gift in 2012. You can really make it look like a salami by shaping it with a sushi mat and dusting it with cacao (or a cacao / paprika mix for a spicy treat!) We didn’t go through all the individual steps, but the Super Kitchen Machine blog post is very thorough!
Recipe 2 – Super Easy Capsicum / Chilli Jam (from Super Kitchen Machine)
‘Super Easy’ was an understatement. This would make a great gift for cheese lovers as it will go very well with cheese and crackers. The smell as it is cooking is divine! Note that the size of the capsicum in the beginning is the size of the pieces you will finish with so, depending on your preference, you may wish to chop for a little longer. Next time we make this (and there WILL be a next time), we will chop up the dried chillies first, then add the capsicum and chop again.
Recipe 3 – Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam (from Tenina)
Another ‘super easy’ yet impressive gift for a foodie. Again, this will get your noses dancing while it’s cooking! The recipe is VERY easy to follow. You simply put your strawberry / apple / vanilla bean / sugar in and you’re on your way!
Another great resource for Thermomix Christmas gift ideas is from Thermomix Recipes. This blog post gives you a great selection of recipes, particularly those that are popular in Europe. We couldn’t get past the first on their list…
Recipe 4 – Nougat (from Thermomix Recipes)
Did you know how easy it is to make Nougat in your Thermomix??? It is honey + one egg cooked (with the butterfly in place) for an hour in the Thermomix. You then stir through the toasted nuts of your choice. We followed Recipe 2 on Thermomix Recipe’s post. We also used a mix of honey and rice malt syrup as we had run out of honey.
It changed consistency throughout the hour…
As we did not have the confectionery rice paper we waited until the mixture had reduced to 50 degrees before taking it from the bowl and putting it between two pieces of baking paper.
Before putting the top layer of paper on…
To wash the bowl, we 3/4 filled it with hot water with a drop of dishwashing detergent and put it on 1 minute/Varoma/Speed 6. A quick whoosh of the scrubbing brush cleaned up the sticky mess in no time flat.
There are a few online option of where to get the confectionery rice paper from. Please note: DO NOT use the same rice paper that you would use for spring rolls or rice paper rolls – if you have to put the paper in water, it is the wrong paper. The type of nougat that this recipe makes is the chewy soft nougat.
Now… to use that nougat…
Recipe 5 – Nutty Nougat Chocolate Bikkies (from Tenina)
How could one woman create so much deliciousness? Now, first of all.. these are gluten free AND if you can tolerate butter (which many non-dairy folks can), they are low-dairy. Yet ever so chocolatey.
It was like mud! Delicious mud!
The recipe was also very easy to follow. We found that to achieve the consistency of the almonds that Tenina recommends, 3 seconds/Speed 8 worked best. See the picture below to see our difference between 4 seconds/Speed 4 and 3 seconds/Speed 8. That is the great thing about Tenina’s recipes – she really puts a lot of effort in to make sure you can’t fail!
The only other change that we made is that when we added the nougat (see photo below showing how we chopped up our homemade), we put it on Reverse+Speed 1 for 10 seconds, then used the spatula to push it around before putting it on Reverse+Speed 1 for another 10 seconds.
We haven’t yet dusted them with icing sugar as Tenina recommends (due to them not being ‘pretty’… but we’re fairly confident that they will be eaten just the same!). Note on cooking: the top tray of our oven cooked these to perfection in 12 minutes. The bottom tray probably needed another minute as they were a bit crumbly.
The friendly folks at Forum Thermomix also have some great Thermomix Christmas discussions going on – take a look at their great ideas, ask your questions and join in the conversation!
Here are some cool tips from this podcast…
- Don’t throw your jars away! Have a drawer that you can put any empty jars into after they have been cleaned – they will come in handy down the track for your Thermomix Christmas gifts! Read this Facebook conversation to see how the rest of The 4 Blades community sterilises their jars.
- If you need to cut up a vanilla bean, snip it with scissors! Much easier.
- To create extra room in your refrigerator, put one tray / platter on top of the other spacing them with shot glasses / egg cups / cookie cutters etc.
Feedback on the Podcast
If you have any suggestions for upcoming shows or a question for an upcoming episode, we’d love you to leave a Comment below.
If you enjoyed this podcast, we’d be extremely grateful if you would take a second and leave us a review and rating over on iTunes. Once on that page, simply click on the “View in iTunes” button to leave your review — thanks very much!