Cook Up a Christmas Storm in A Gourmet Kitchen

If you need some incentive to get your festive bake on, the sight of the gourmet kitchen in Endeavour Foundation’s $2.2 million Christmas Prize Home may well be all the inspiration you need.

With gorgeous stone benchtops and streamlined cabinetry for days, the stunning, chef-worthy kitchen is enough to inspire even the most hesitant cooks.

Spend some time in this gorgeous kitchen and try not feeling compelled to start whipping up a batch of Christmas Rum Balls.

(In fact, our Prize Home team have been heading home each night and baking up a storm and they don’t even know why.)

NOTE: If all this talk of baking has you in the mood, scroll down to see the Endeavour Foundation team’s favourite Rumless Rum Balls recipe.

So, what do you need to create an ‘inspirational’ gourmet kitchen like the one in our Christmas Prize Home? Here’s our top four gourmet kitchen essential ingredients…

Top 4 gourmet kitchen ingredients

1 A great layout

Forget the old ‘kitchen triangle’ idea which aimed to have your stove, fridge and sink all within a couple of steps of each other.

In today’s more indulgent and spacious kitchens, it’s all about creating work zones that, well, work.

So, for a highly functional gourmet kitchen space, plan your layout around the tasks you need to do like prep, cooking, serving and clean up. You won’t regret it.

2 An island bench

Every great kitchen needs an island.

In times gone by, cooking – and family life in general – revolved around the kitchen table.

Somewhere along the way the kitchen table went MIA and galley kitchens were all the rage.

But thankfully, the good ol’ kitchen table is back and better than ever in the form of today’s kitchen island.

As the central point of a gourmet kitchen, a modern, multifunctional island is designed to handle food prep, plating up, family dinners and entertaining. And of course, the bigger the better.

3 Plenty of storage

“My kitchen has too much storage,” said no one, ever.

And for the home chef, having ample space for efficiently and appropriately storing everything from fresh produce to appliances and serving ware can literally be the difference between good and gourmet.

And not all storage is created equal.

Trading some of your kitchen cupboards for easy-to-access under bench drawers will help ensure everything is at your fingertips when you need it.

If your budget and space permit, a butler’s pantry is the ultimate gourmet addition to any kitchen, offering extra space, out of sight, for messy prep, kitchen projects like kombucha or sourdough starter, and, of course, even more storage.

4 Quality appliances

Ultimately, in a gourmet kitchen your appliances are the tools of your craft. Here quality matters.

The wish list of appliances will be different for every home chef, so it’s important to consider how you like to cook and what will help you turn out amazing food that’s a joy to prepare.

Whatever you decide you need, whether it be a double oven or a massive double-door fridge/freezer, make sure you choose quality appliances designed to deliver and go the distance.

Explore the ultimate gourmet kitchen

The perfect blend of all four of our gourmet kitchen ingredients, the stunning kitchen in our $2.2 million Christmas Prize Home is the ultimate kitchen goal.

Explore this amazing kitchen for yourself, and don’t be surprised if you head straight home to start baking.

Visit in person

You’ll find Endeavour Foundation’s Christmas Prize Home at Little Mountain on the Sunshine Coast.

Little Mountain is on the edge of beautiful Caloundra at the southern end of the Sunshine Coast which means that this ultimate family home is just 10 minutes from a spectacular selection of beaches including Kings Beach, beautiful Moffat Beach and family favourite, Dicky Beach.

For directions and opening times click here.

Take a virtual tour

If you can’t make it to our Christmas Prize Home in person, or you just can’t wait, taking a virtual tour is almost as good. You can almost smell the gingerbread baking.  

5-ingredient Christmas Chocolate Balls

Chocolate rum balls are an undisputed Christmas favourite and super easy to make.

Here at Endeavour, we make the kid-friendly version and leave out the rum.

If you’re inspired to whip up some yummy treats for the festive season, here’s the Endeavour Team’s favourite Rumless Rum Ball recipe:

Ingredients:

• 250grams of plain, sweet biscuits
  (Great options include Arnott’s Milk Arrowroot, Marie, Nice or Scotch Finger biscuits. For gluten free rumless rum balls, use gluten free arrowroots or scotch finger biscuits.)

• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (395g)

• 1 cup desiccated coconut

• ¼ cup cocoa

For rolling:

• 1 cup desiccated coconut or for something a bit different, why not try rolling your Rumless Rum Balls in crushed nuts or sprinkles?

Method:

Step 1:

Crush up the biscuits in a food processor or pop them in a Ziploc bag and whack them with a rolling pin.

(The latter option is somewhat more satisfying if you’re feeling the stress of the festive season and is a lot of fun for the kids.)

Step 2:

Pour your crushed biscuits in a large bowl then add all of the other ingredients and combine.

If you’re finding the stirring hard going, get your hands in there and work the mixture together until it is well combined.

Step 3:

Grab approximately a tablespoon of mixture at a time and roll into balls using your hands, then roll each one in your preferred topping.

You could even have a few of the toppings on the go to create some variety and make your Rumless Rum Balls extra special.

You can store your fresh made treats for up to two weeks in an airtight container in the fridge, but chances are they won’t last that long.

If you’re keen to get organised, you can also make them ahead of time and store in the freezer until it’s time to celebrate.

Choc-mint Rumless Rum Balls

For an extra special variation on a crowd-pleaser, try adding a few drops of peppermint essence to your Rumless Rum Ball mixture and then roll them in chocolate sprinkles.