Cooking with the kids at Christmas is one of the most fun filled Family activities I can think of. Why not bake up a storm in the kitchen over the festive holidays, keep them entertained, and then reap the rewards for dessert, it’s a win win!
Check out these fun & tasty recipes from Aldi and get baking this festive season...
Get into the Christmas Spirit with Aldi’s festive Profiterole Snowman Towers!
Serves: 8 people Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes
Recipe: Ingredients: For the choux pastry 200ml Cold Water 50g The Pantry Caster Sugar 85g Kilkeely Irish Unsalted Butter, plus extra for greasing 100g The Pantry Plain Flour Pinch of Stonemill Salt 3x Medium Healy’s Farm Eggs
For the cream filling 300ml Clonbawn Double Cream
For the chocolate sauce 100g Choceur White Chocolate 3 tbsp Clonbawn Double Cream
For the decoration The Pantry Baking Almonds- Flaked The Pantry Chocolate Chips or The Foodie Market Dried Fruit Dominion Fizzy Cola Laces
Method:
1. Bring water to boil and then add butter. When the butter has melted and the water is boiling add the flour, sugar and salt and beat until a dough forms. The dough is done when it comes cleanly away from the edges of the pan. Leave the dough to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
3. Beat the eggs in a bowl and gradually add a bit at a time to the dough mixture to form choux pastry. The mixture should be dropping consistency but not too runny.
4. Using a piping bag, pipe 8 choux buns about 2" wide and 8 buns about 1.5" wide then 8 about 1" wide.
5. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove the smallest choux buns from the oven and return the tray for 5 more minutes. Then remove the medium sized choux buns and return the tray for a final 5 minutes.
6. Leave the choux buns to cool while you whip the cream and make the chocolate sauce. To make the chocolate sauce melt the white chocolate in the microwave checking every 30 seconds until it has melted and then stir in the double cream.
7. To finish the snowmen towers pipe the whipped cream into the hollow centre of the profiteroles and then use the white chocolate sauce to top the profiteroles.
8. When the chocolate sauce has cooled stack the towers (biggest, then medium, then the smallest to make 8 snowmen) and finally decorate them with the dried fruits, nuts or chocolate.
Learn how to build and decorate with the Family by making Aldi’s Gingerbread House!
Serves: 5 people Cooking time: 50 minutes
Recipe: Ingredients: 230g Kilkeely Irish Unsalted Butter 180g The Pantry Soft Dark Brown Sugar 90g Grandessa Squeezy Honey 550g The Pantry Plain Flour 2 tsp The Pantry Bicarbonate of Soda 3 tsp Stonemill Ground Ginger 1 tsp Stonemill Ground Cinnamon 2 Healy’s Farms Egg Whites 450g The Pantry Icing Sugar 2 tsp The Pantry Lemon juice
Method:
1. Begin by cutting out the 3 templates needed to make each gingerbread house and put to one side for later.
2. Melt the butter, brown sugar and honey together in a saucepan.
3. Sieve flour and mix with the bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon then make a well in the centre.
4. When the butter, sugar and honey have melted stir to combine and pour into the flour mixture.
5. Then, carefully stir the mixture together (it will be hot!) until combined and when the mixture is cool enough use your hands to create a stiff dough.
6. Divide the dough equally into 5 balls.
7. Roll the first portion of dough, between two pieces of grease proof paper, to about 1/2 cm thick. Then using the templates, cut out 2 of each to create the 6 pieces needed to make each house (If you would like to have cut out windows and a door they can be cut out now or piped on after instead).
8. Repeat this 4 more times to create enough to pieces to make 5 gingerbread houses and bake each batch for 8-10 minutes at 180°C.
9. While the gingerbread pieces cool, make the icing by whisking the egg whites until frothy and then add the icing sugar one tablespoon at a time.
10. Next stir in the lemon juice and whisk until the mixture is thick and holds a stiff peak. Cover the icing with a tea towel until ready to use.
11. To assemble the houses fill a piping bag with the Royal icing and pipe a line along the edges of the back piece and hold the sides in place.
12. Next pipe a line along the front edges and attach it to the side pieces. If necessary use cocktail sticks to hold the sides in place.
13. Finally pipe the icing along the top edges and place on the roof.
14. Finish by decorating with your favourite sweets or pipe a design with the icing.
Christmas time and ice cream? What more could your heart desire than Aldi’s Christmas Time Ice Cream Bomb!
Serves: 8 people Prep time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 120 minutes
Recipe: Ingredients: Aldi Specially Selected Panettone €5.99 (on sale now) 2 tubs of your favourite Specially Selected Ice Cream 150g Moser Roth Peruvian Dark Chocolate 50g Choceur White Chocolate
To decorate 20g The Pantry Baking Almonds (flaked and toasted) 20g Shelled Snackrite Roasted and Salted Pistachios 20g The Foodie Market Dried Cranberries
Method:
1. To begin take the ice cream out of the freezer to begin to soften.
2. Then take a medium sized plastic mixing bowl and line it with cling film and leave enough over the sides to cover the ice cream bomb when completed.
3. Slice the top of the panettone about an 3-4cm thick and place this rounded side down in the bowl.
4. Then slice the rest of the loaf about the same thickness and cut each slice in half. Place the semicircles around the bowl to line it with the panettone, filling in any gaps.
5. When the bowl is lined with the panettone and the ice cream has softened, spoon the ice cream into the panettone.
6. When all of the ice cream is in the panettone, press any excess down to create a level base for the cream bomb and cover the base with the cling film.
7. Freeze the ice cream bomb for at least 1-2 hours.
8. When you are ready to serve the ice cream bomb carefully melt the dark chocolate and, in a separate bowl the white chocolate, in the microwave checking it every 20 seconds.
9. Then roughly chop the pistachios.
10. Turn the bowl upside down and use the cling film to release the ice cream bomb then pour over the dark chocolate.
11. Next drizzle the white chocolate over the top and then cover with the almonds, pistachios and cranberries.
All ingredients available in your local Aldi store, Aldi are extending their opening hours this Christmas to make sure more shoppers can avail of the unbeatable range, and prices, so you can safely pick up everything they need.
Opening hours over the festive season:
• Friday, December 18th – 9am to 10pm
• Saturday, December 19th – 9am to 10pm
• Sunday, December 20th – 8am to 10pm
• Monday, December 21st – 8am to 11pm
• Tuesday, December 22nd – 8am – 11pm
• Wednesday, December 23rd – 8am to 11pm
• Thursday, December 24th – 8am to 7pm
Special thanks to PRESENCE PR for the recipes