These five kitchen tools will change the way you cook

We all know that a healthy diet starts with a nutrition-packed breakfast that can power us through the day. What most of us don’t realise, however, is that with a good blender it takes only seconds and it reduces the need to wash up. Case in point: the Blend Xtract Blender, which comes with two stylish sports bottle-shaped cups with plenty of room for a filling smoothie so you can blend and drink with the same bottle.

This Power Berries Smoothie recipe is a simple and effective breakfast. Not only is it full of anti-oxidants, it’s also rich in insoluble fibre, providing a sense of fullness that can prevent you from overeating, and control hunger and cravings.

Power Berries Smoothie

Ingredients

200g blueberries

6 raspberries

Half cup of ice

250ml of fresh milk

Method

Put all the berries into the blender.

Add in ice and followed by fresh milk.

Blend for 20 seconds. Blend longer for a smoother mixture.

Garnish with mint leaf and more berries.

Cooking for two or three doesn’t have to be a laboured and messy affair, and the hand blender proves it. Powered by an 800W motor, this triple-blade hand blender can chop through dense and tough foods like frozen fruit and root vegetables in a matter of seconds. It’s also great at making pesto – just toss in all the ingredients, and give it a whirl for less than a minute. The great thing about pesto is that you’re free to tweak the recipe as you wish: in this case, baby spinach and pistachios were used to give this pesto a hearty oomph.

Hearty Spinach Pesto

Ingredients

2 cups of baby spinach

2 small cloves of garlic

0.5 cup of pistachios (or walnuts)

0.75 cup of olive oil

Method

Place baby spinach, garlic and pistachios into the hand blender chopper attachment.

Pour in olive oil.

Use the turbo option and blend for 30 seconds.

If you're serious about taking your cooking skills to the next level, the Chef XL Sense Kitchen Machine is the ultimate kitchen tool that will save you time and precious kitchen space.

A professional kitchen tool that's handy for baking cakes and cooking up meals, the Chef XL Sense Kitchen Machine is more than just a fancy mixer. It features a large 6.7 litre mixing bowl designed with built-in bowl handles and splashguard with an extra-large feed chute that makes it effortlessly easy to use.

It also comes with five bowl tools that are specially designed to help home bakers create pastries and cakes like a pro: the K-Beater, which reaches every area of the bowl; a whisk that's specially shaped to trap air while mixing; a dough hook for kneading; a flexible creaming beater for smoother cake mixtures; and a folding tool that helps the mixture retain as much air as possible. 

Furthermore, with attachments and accessories like the spice miller, pasta roller, chopper, mincer and juicer, it can be an all-in-one kitchen device that will fit into any kitchen. Imagine, cooking an entire pasta meal (and juice) using just one machine – it can be done!

One recipe that makes full use of this tool is the Cranberry, Cointreau and Clementine Crumble, a party favourite that just requires three steps to make.  

Cranberry, Cointreau and Clementine Crumble

Serves 4

Ingredients

250g cranberries

Juice of one large orange

A splash of Cointreau

100g sugar (caster or granulated)

100ml water

Crumble topping:

75g butter, cubed

175g plain flour

50g caster sugar 

Method

Put the cranberries, orange juice, Cointreau, sugar and water in a pan on medium heat and leave to warm up until just simmering. Wait until all the cranberries have burst and the mixture has thickened, with plenty of juice remaining.

Add the butter, flour and sugar to the mixer and turn on to a low speed. Leave it for a minute or so until the mix develops a breadcrumb-like texture.

Put the fruits into a dish then top with the crumble. Place in a preheated oven at 180C for 30-40 minutes or until nicely browned.

If there's one step that most home cooks would like to skip, it’s chopping vegetables. Sure, finely dicing an onion is great for improving your knife skills, but when you're in a rush to make dinner or an extra batch of salsa dip, the Multi Chop Chopper will save you loads of time and tears.

Salsa Dip

Ingredients

6 ripe tomatoes

1 bunch of fresh coriander

1 onion

2 fresh jalapeño or green chillies

1 large clove of garlic

1-2 limes

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Method

Pull all the ingredients into the chopper and let it chop for ten seconds.

Cakes, pastries and pizzas are great additions to any party – but making it can take up a good chunk of time, especially if you’re making it from scratch. This is where the Chefette Hand Mixer comes in: It handles the hard work of mixing, folding and kneading in a matter of minutes. It has five speed settings and a pulse function, allowing you to create everything from light and fluffy sponges to smooth creamy fondants without breaking a sweat.

Homemade Pizza by Helen Jessup

Ingredients

500g ‘00’ flour

Pinch of sea salt

7g sachet of dried instant yeast

1 tsp caster sugar

30ml extra virgin olive oil

325ml water

Passata

Grated cheese

Your choice of toppings (like ham, rocket and tomatoes) 

Method

Add the flour, salt, yeast and sugar to the mixer bowl and attach the dough hook.

Add the olive oil and half the water. Set the machine running.

Add more water slowly, until a sticky (but not wet) dough is formed.

Keep the machine running for a few minutes until the dough is soft and elastic.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in size.

Divide the dough into two (for large pizzas) or six (for individual pizzas) portions.

Roll out on a floured surface.

Place on a baking sheet and spread the passata over pizza bases.

Cover with grated cheese, mozzarella and toppings.

Bake in preheated 200C oven for approximately 15 minutes.