Scrumptious Christmas with easy-peasy recipes from MediaMarkt and koch-mit.de

For many of us, dashing through the snow outside and the yummy smell of freshly baked Christmas cookies inside is the ideal vision of Christmas. But it frequently fails to materialize – not just because of the lack of snow, but also because of the lack of expertise in the kitchen! Many people have never learned how to bake biscuits and have no idea how to produce a proper Christmas dinner. But help is at hand with MediaMarkt and its portal koch-mit.de. It’s full of inspiration for Christmas delicacies, and with its basic practical tips even encourages greenhorns to simply go for it – true to MediaMarkt’s motto “It’s all about you having fun!”

Cookie recipes which can’t go wrong

A good recipe for budding bakers to start with is vanilla biscuits made from shortcrust pastry. To make four trays, you’ll need 75 grams of sugar, 125 grams of butter, three packets of vanilla sugar, 250 grams of flour, a pinch of salt, and an egg. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, knead the dough together, and then roll it out on a floured worktop until it’s nice and smooth. Roll up the cookie dough and put it in the fridge for half an hour to make it a little firmer. Then roll it out with a rolling pin again – and it’s ready for you to cut out the biscuit shapes. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper and put them in a preheated oven at 200°C. After just 10 minutes, the biscuits should be nice and crispy and can be taken out. By the way, there are also recipes which are just as easy on koch-mit.de for hazelnut macaroons, jammy biscuits, chocolate and orange cookies, and cinnamon stars.

Delicious Advent dinner – no goose required

Making a delicious main course for Christmas needn’t be difficult, either. So come on – get cracking on the stove, because there’s no need to wait until Christmas Day to treat yourself and your friends to some delicious food! Roast goose or turkey might be traditional, but it can be a little tricky if you’re still getting to grips with the cooker. Don’t worry – there are plenty of other Christmassy things which can be served up, too. koch-mit.de includes some culinary highlights for Advent which are effortless to make, such as salmon fillet in a speculaas crust (a light yet tasty meal), an Advent edition of the Italian classic spaghetti Bolognese, or how about a vegetarian mushroom ragout with rice? Moreover, winter barbecues have come into fashion, although make sure you wrap up nice and warm! And while you’re standing outside with your friends in the frosty air, you might want to resort to mulled wine and even something stronger to keep out the chill as you wait for the barbecue to do its work …

Vital ingredients: Good preparation and good equipment

Ralf Jakumeit, the chef from the MediaMarkt cooking show which can be seen regularly on koch-mit.de, has a few basic tips for beginners before they get down to work in the kitchen. First of all, he recommends having all the utensils and ingredients you’ll need neatly laid out in order to prevent chaos later on. Apart from frying pans, saucepans, knives, bowls, a blender, biscuit trays and baking sheets, you also need to have some good kitchen scales to make sure you add all the ingredients in the right quantities. And whatever you’re cooking, a good food processor is an ideal assistant in the kitchen. It saves lots of work and does all sorts of jobs with absolute precision. Those in need of new kitchen utensils and appliances for baking and cooking at Christmas time will find a huge selection in their local MediaMarkt, as well as plenty of expert advice. Ralf Jakumeit advises beginners to start with simple recipes from koch-mit.de. Recipes are classified as easy, medium and difficult, and the number of steps is also a good indication of how tricky a recipe is: the fewer there are, the simpler it will be. Mind you, don’t forget that even simple recipes will go down a treat with your hungry fellow diners! Just remember MediaMarkt’s kitchen tips – and even the rookiest of kitchen rookies will produce some marvellous Christmas miracles. So what are you waiting for? Get cracking in the kitchen!