What's Prue Leith's top Christmas cheat? (We'll give you a clue - it's about sprouts!)

The Great British Bake Off judge also confessed to once dropping a roast turkey on the kitchen floor and doing ‘what anyone would - I just picked it up and carried on’.

She told the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine that ‘when it comes to the Christmas vegetables, don’t be a snob’.

She said: ‘I have no problem in admitting my sprouts are frozen. I swear you can use frozen sprouts, frozen peas and frozen spinach out of a packet. Just put a bit of nutmeg or garlic in, along with salt and pepper and cream, it’s delicious and a lovely colour’.

The chef and TV personality also recounted a family Christmas lunch faux pas.

She said: ‘One year I dropped the roast turkey because it was so heavy, and it slithered along the kitchen floor for a couple of feet. ‘

‘Nobody was looking so I did what anyone would - I just picked it up and carried on.’

The 77-year-old, who replaced Bake Off favourite Mary Berry to judge alongside Paul Hollywood, made headlines a few weeks ago when she accidentally tweeted the name of Bake Off winner Sophie Faldo hours ahead of the finale.

She said: ‘For a few days I felt like cutting my throat, but everybody was very sweet about it. I can’t believe I could have been such an idiot. I was absolutely mortified, I thought, ‘Oh, what have I done?’.

Leith issued a formal apology following the incident, saying her mistake was due to a time difference as she was out of the country on the day the final was due to air.