Not planning on channelling Martha Stewart this Christmas? Here are a bunch of kitchen hacks that will help you cut corners and keep it simple this festive season. Ok, so it’s that time of the year that (mostly) mothers everywhere are expected to magically be able to bake, glaze, pipe and toss with ease. Just throw together a cake, no problem! Make a ham – alrighty then, bring a salad – I’ll get right on that. But what if your scope of talents doesn’t lie in this area? We have your back! Here are seven kitchen hacks that should see you through.
If your cake or pav collapses, just call it a trifle
We have all been there, the cake is baking beautifully, it looks perfect and then decides to fall apart instead of obediently exiting the pan. This is the moment in time that it becomes one of the ingredients the trifle that you have actually been planning this whole time. Basically, any failed dessert can be hacked into a trifle, just break it up more and layer it with cream and custard and whatever else takes your fancy. You don’t even need a trifle bowl to do it. Stemless wine glasses are perfect for individual trifles, and they look super fancy too.
Grated butter, what?
So, often a recipe calls for butter at room temperature, but there are two problems with this. Firstly, it takes for bloody ever for butter to make it to ‘room temperature’ and if you’re reading this article, there’s a chance you are not the type of person who is that organised in the kitchen. And the second problem? ‘Room temperature’ the concept and ‘room temperature’ the reality are two very different things when you’re baking for an Aussie Christmas. So just grab a cheese grater (that’s the metal thing with all the holes in it) and grate your butter straight out of the fridge. That should do the trick.
Pomegranate.
So we actually wrestled about including this one in the list. I mean, can a fruit (we’re 97% sure it’s a fruit) really be a hack just in itself? When it comes to Christmas, the answer is yes. You see, the inclusion of these fancy little things instantly elevates whatever average dish you make into something thoughtful and Christmas themed. Salad; chuck it in. Pavlova; sprinkle it all over. Cheese platter; pile it on the Camembert, or just cut one in half and nestle it in between the crackers and walnuts. Fancy, right?
Pinterest.
Pinterest is your best friend if you use it wisely. But there are a few rules you need to follow. Firstly, decide what you are making and search for that, and only that. CHRISTMAS SALAD: Now you have 10 minutes to find a recipe to steal draw inspiration from. Set a timer and focus, or else you’ll fall down a rabbit hole of tattoo designs and balayage lobs. Keep realistic expectations, chose easy recipes, and for the love of God, don’t try to make a hedgehog cake. You should, however, Google ‘hedgehog cake fails’ when you get a chance.
Melting chocolate the easy way.
If you’re on dessert duties and you’re scared, just remember this one rule: Everything looks good with drizzled chocolate on it. And we have a cracker of a hack for this. Just put the chocolate in a zip lock bag, drop it in a bowl of boiled water until it melts, then snip the corner and pipe away. No double boiler, no wastage and zero clean-up. This trick also works if you want to make chocolate-dipped strawbs; just open the top of the zip lock bag and dunk them in.
Don’t own a rolling pin?
Chances are, you probably have a bottle of wine banging around thought? Wine bottles are actually a perfect substitution for rolling pins. You’re welcome.
Grazing Platters are your friend. There’s this hot food trend happening right now, and you need to listen up. Grazing platters are a thing, and you can absolutely make them. Wherever your culinary skills fall on the scale of Dog the Bounty Hunter to Chrissy Teigan – this is a dish you can’t get wrong.