3 Delish Recipes To Impress At Every Kind Of Christmas Party

When it comes to feasting during the festive period, people usually fall into one of two categories: those who labour tirelessly to create yuletide culinary delights — and those who are happy to ride on the former’s coattails but still gorge themselves silly. So, what side of this calorie-dense fence do you usually sit on?

Sure, when you’re a kid you can get away without whipping up any profound contributions when it comes to that special time of the year. However, this hall pass does begin to wear thin with time, meaning relationships can become strained due to mismatched culinary expectations. And nobody wants any bad vibes come present-opening time.

With Christmas just around the corner, now is the perfect time to reinstate your prowess in the kitchen. And there’s no one better equipped to aid you in your pursuit than the ever-helpful Alexa courtesy of the Amazon Echo Show. Alexa has a new and improved recipe experience that gives you hands-free, voice-guided instructions for 50,000 delicious recipes from taste.com.au. Think of Alexa as your sous chef, setting timers, keepings lists, converting measurements and temperatures, and even playing your ultimate cooking playlist. We’ve pulled together some of the best recipes from taste.com.au that Alexa can help you whip up to impress this silly season.

Christmas Couscous
Whoever said you don’t make friends with salad hasn’t gotten their fork into this beauty. This dish is super easy to make — the trick is to make it as fresh as possible. Ask Alexa to set timers for you as you work through the instructions so you can keep your prep and cooking times short, and make those 15 minutes count by asking Alexa to put on your carefully curated Christmas playlist. 

To cook this recipe with Alexa, just say “Alexa, find me a Christmas couscous recipe.”

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (300g) pearl couscous
• 1 cup (120g) frozen peas
• 2 x 150g packets Coles Deli Baby Bell Peppers Stuffed With Cream Cheese, drained
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tbsp avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind

Method:

1. Cook the couscous in a large saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender, adding the peas in the last 4 minutes of cooking. Refresh under cold water. Drain well. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Add the peppers to the couscous mixture in the bowl with the onion, parsley, oil, lemon juice and garlic. Season. Toss to combine. Transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with lemon rind.

Maple Bacon Christmas Trees
When heading to a social gathering with close friends, you may feel the need to push the boat out a little. And why not? Christmas only comes once a year! These little pieces of bacon-y goodness will go down a treat. These have a slightly longer prep and cooking time, so start by asking Alexa to pull you up the recipe for a cheeky marg. Once you’ve got your drink in hand, ask her to read out the recipe step-by-step as you cook so you can keep bacon grease of your screen – and your cocktail.

To cook this recipe with Alexa, just say “Alexa, show me a recipe for maple bacon Christmas trees.”

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, partially thawed
• 200g rashers streaky bacon
• 2 tbsp maple syrup, plus extra to serve
• 22 cocktail onions
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan-forced. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
2. Cut 22 x 2cm-wide strips from pastry sheets. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, cut bacon lengthways into 2cm-wide strips. Place bacon in a large bowl. Drizzle with maple syrup. Toss to coat.
4. Place 1 pastry strip on a flat surface (keep the remaining pastry in the fridge). Top with 1 piece of bacon, gently pressing to secure (bacon will be shorter than pastry). Using the picture as a guide, fold pastry and bacon together to form a tree shape, starting with a small amount and widening as you go (until you reach the end). Starting at the tree’s base, thread 1 skewer through the centre to the top of the tree (leave 1cm at the top of the skewer for pickled onion). Place on tray. Repeat with remaining pastry strips and bacon to form 22 trees. Press 1 pickled onion on top of each skewer.
5. Brush trees and onions with remaining maple syrup. Brush trees with egg. Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden and puffed. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle with extra maple syrup. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve.

Christmas Rocky Road
Impress the fam-bam with these sweet delights, and all misdemeanours of Christmas-past will be forgotten. Because let’s face it — who doesn’t like rocky road?! There are a fair few ingredients to this one, but you can add everything you need to your shopping list on the Alexa app so you can easily grab everything when you’re at the shops. And if you realise you want to make this all year round? Just say “Alexa, save this recipe” (if you have a device with a screen) and you can return to it with a click whenever you want. Easy!

To cook this recipe with Alexa, just say “Alexa, find me a rocky road recipe with gingerbread biscuits.”

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Makes: 12 pieces

Ingredients:

• 200g dark chocolate, chopped
• 100g milk chocolate, chopped
• 20g copha or butter, chopped
• 280g pink and white marshmallows, halved
• 150g shortbread fingers, coarsely chopped
• 4 x 35g packets Coles Gingerbread biscuits, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup (70g) slivered almonds, toasted
• 4 x 52g Cadbury Cherry Ripe bars, coarsely chopped
• Green & red Mars M&M’s/M&M’s Minis, to decorate

Method:

1. Grease the base and sides of a 20cm x 30cm lamington pan. Line with baking paper, allowing the sides to overhang.
2. Place combined chocolates and copha or butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir for 5 mins or until the mixture melts and is smooth.
3. Combine marshmallow, shortbread, gingerbread, almond and Cherry Ripe in a large bowl. Add chocolate mixture. Gently fold until just combined. Spoon into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with M&M’s and M&M’s Minis. Set aside for 1 hour to set. Cut into pieces to serve.

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Give the gift of Echo Show with Alexa from Amazon.com.au this festive season.

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Lead image credit: Alliance Images / Shutterstock