Festive baking with AEG

Christmas came early for me last week after a trip to Taste of London: Festive edition to take part in such a fun baking masterclass to try out the new AEG Mastery Range. There were twinkly lights, Christmas trees, champagne whilst we cooked, festive recipes, and now a couple of AEG appliances on my Christmas list (Jules, I want this and this) – I’m ready, I’m telling you.

Now, even if you are not quite ready for Christmas chat, you may want to know more about some of the wondrous kitchen appliances I used on the night led by GBBO finalist Richard Burr (he kept a pencil behind his ear – do you remember?) and Gluts & Gluttony founder, Kathy Slack. I have long dreamed of designing my ideal kitchen and when I watch videos like this one of all the super clever appliances, storage solutions and accessories it makes me realise just how much is possible. During the class I was lucky enough to try out AEG’s new MaxiSense Pure induction hob as well as the Steamboost Steam Oven, which are part of the Mastery Range, as well as some of their small kitchen appliances so let me tell you a bit about them…

Making the sausage rolls themselves was super easy and after a little mixing and rolling they baked perfectly in the Steamboost Steam Oven as the steam browns and crisps, which is exactly what you want with pastry. However, I couldn’t quite work out how we were going to make an red onion based chutney in the small amount of time we had because it literally takes HOURS to properly cook onions in my kitchen.

Firstly, we all need to be using a stick mixer for chopping our onions. Seriously, it’s life changing. The AEG stick mixer is so quick and so powerful so my worst kitchen chore is no longer an issue. Also, I have only recently realised that blending onions almost to a puree for the base of sauces makes the cooking process so much quicker if you are short on time and it’s particularly good for cooking for a baby who can’t yet chew bits of onion.

Anyhoo, it turns out the only reason it takes forever to cook sauces in my kitchen is because I don’t have an induction hob. The new MaxiSense Pure induction hob that we used during the class is flipping amazing – we cooked that chutney in about five minutes. It heats so quickly, cooks so evenly and is super easy to control. It’s sleek too as it is completely black when not cooking. I WANT!

Christmas spiced sausage rolls recipe

So here are the finished spiced rolls with the delicious cranberry chutney (you need to make the chutney – it’s really, really good).

Ingredients for four sausage rolls:

100g puff pastry
75g unseasoned sausage meat
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
Zest of half an orange
10g sage leaves roughly chopped
1 egg
Flour for dusting

For the chutney:

1 small red onion
170g fresh cranberries
100g caster sugar
Zest of half an orange
2tbsp red wine vinegar
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Black pepper to taste

Method to make the sausage rolls:

1. Put the sausage meat, salt, chilli and sage into a bowl and zest half an orange over the mixture, mix thoroughly with a spoon.

2. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the puff to 10x20cm.

3. Shape the sausage meat into a ball and cover in flour, then roll out on the floured surface to 20cm long.

4. Lay the sausage meat onto the puff and paint one edge (of the puff) with beaten egg.

5. Roll the pastry over the sausage and seal onto the egg coated edge.

6. Cut the sausage into four equal pieces and brush with the beaten egg. Slash diagonally with the paring knife and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees (fan).

To make the chutney:

1. Finely dice the red onion and soften over a low heat in the saucepan until translucent.

2. Take 40g of the cranberries cut them in half and set aside.

3. Tip the remaining 130g of cranberries into the pan (with the onions) over a low heat and add the caster sugar, salt, vinegar, cayenne and the remaining zest of the orange.

4. Stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until the sugar has melted then turn the heat up (to a medium heat) and continue stirring until the cranberries burst (about another 5-10 minutes).

5. Take off the heat and stir in the remaining uncooked cranberries.

Ok, now I get to talk about all the twinkly lights, star decorations, champagne and canapes! Christmas is nearly here, people!!! The event has got me very excited.

Have you got any good festive recipes you can recommend? Or maybe plans for a new kitchen in the new year? I’d love to hear more…

Katy x

*This post was written in collaboration with AEG.