Honey Butter Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts hater? You are guaranteed to LOVE our honey butter brussels sprouts! 

Holy moly! All this time I thought brussels sprouts were called 'brussel sprouts' without the 's'? Turns out I've been wrong this whole time and it's actually 'brussels sprout'! Mind blown.

Anyway, I digress.

Did you hate brussels sprouts as a child? I certainly did. I mean who on earth liked the taste of boiled cabbage without any flavouring or goodness? They literally tasted like a combination of nasty farts and cabbage. I remember being forced to eat them as a child, and poor little me, sitting at the dinner table having to eat every single one of them on my plate until they were finished.

In fact, until the ripe old age of 26, I have had nothing but bad experiences with brussels sprouts.

Let's rewind. Christmas 2006 - sounds about right, I think  I was 16.

So my sister and brother used to live in the UK for many years while I was still in High School, which meant Mum, Dad and I and the rest of the family traveled a lot to London. This year we decided to take a family holiday to London to have a civilized family Christmas with Mums cousin and her family.

Now, Christmas in Australia is a very different affair compared to England. For starters, it's Summer at Christmas time, which means lazy, long days of cold ham, turkey, salads, fruits, beach and outdoor dining. As opposed to England, where, like America, it's bloody freezing and you eat as much warming dishes and turkey as you possibly can, as well as fill up on mulled wine and spiced apple cider.

This was a new experience for us and looking down at the laden dinner table, I realised very quickly that Mum's cousin had served brussels sprouts.

Nope. Not happening, there was no chance that I was going to eat them.

So while I steered clear of the brussel sprouts, everyone else in the family happily tucked into them.

Now, the one thing I've found with brussels sprouts was that after a little while, they give you a little flatulence, especially if you have eaten enough of them. And this is where the story gets interesting.

A Christmas in our family, also wouldn't be complete without playing some kind of game or board games. That year, we decided on Twister.

Not if you're not familiar with Twister, then I suggest you get on board ASAP, because honestly, it is the most fun to play! Even as an adult, and especially after a few drinks, it is so, so fun! Basically, the aim of the game is to have 2-4 (or more) people playing. A person spins the dial, and each person has to follow the instruction. There are 4 colours and basically, you might get the task 'right hand on blue' and everyone on the board would have to find a place to put their right hand.

In a nutshell, you end up between other peoples legs, and in a complete mess until someone finally falls over.

Twister is all very well and fine until you add brussels sprouts to the mix, and then sure enough, after a Christmas dinner of turkey and brussels sprouts, things turned sour pretty quickly.

Imagine this, a group of adults and children, in a small room playing twister together, but heads near butts and so on and so forth. Well, let me tell you, the smell was toxic. In fact, even to this day as a family we laugh at the look of shock on our cousin's faces when he realised that playing a friendly game with the Walker family, wasn't actually that much fun.

But far out it was funny. We still laugh it about Christmas, about the story of the Walker family, a dinner of turkey and brussels sprouts, and a game of Twister. It's like the start of a bad joke.

So it's safe to say, that after that experience I steered clear of brussels sprouts for a while, up at least until last Christmas when we moved to America.

But let's get cracking on these honey butter brussels sprouts!

I think the thing with sprouts is, is that you have to make them right, and take away the horrible cabbage taste. That's why drowning them in butter and honey and cooking them is oh so good!

These honey butter brussels sprouts are warming, sweet, juicy, crunchy and just damn delicious! The trick isn't to cook them fully through, you still want them to be a little crunchy in the middle. The sprouts soak up all the butter and honey leaving you with a mouth full of flavour!

Much better than the Christmas brussels sprouts story!

Make these and perhaps some rosemary fries or green beans for the dinner table?

But that is what Christmas is for - making memories, having a laugh and hanging with family. Do you have a funny Christmas (or Thanksgiving) story to share? Let me know, comment below and get on the brussels sprouts board!

📖 Recipe

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