We did a lot of baking in the Quarantimes, and I’m sure many of you did, too. The reward of creating something in a few hours, plus the reward itself of deliciousness? Perfect for stress relief and carbo-relief. In this edition of the gift guide, we’re sharing some tools, recipes, and gift sets we loved and relied upon this year!
Sarah: This year, I relied on my silicone rolling mat quite a bit more than I expected. From making egg noodles and homemade pasta (with a pasta machine we found on eBay) to rolling out dough for grilled pizza, we love how easy it is to use, and to clean up.
I also experimented with making donuts this year, both frying them and baking them. The donut baking pans I bought worked wonderfully with the Sally’s Baking Addiction recipe for maple glazed spice donuts.
Items on my future baking wishlist include:
That one makes larger cookies, but I also really like this one for smaller, 1oz/2 tbsp bundles of delicious dough (Murder Cookies? Yes, please!). The listing says “meatballs” but folks in the reviews and questions area have mentioned using it for dough, broth, herb butter, and all sorts of things:
I love the King Arthur Flour baking catalog because it’s like aspirational carbo-sugar p0rn, and this year is no different. A few gifting ideas for yourself or someone else AND yourself:
King Arthur also offers gift cards for shopping that horribly tempting catalog in future months.
And then, there’s Penzey’s.
Claudia: Oh Penzey’s, where do I start!! You really can’t go wrong with Penzey’s but I think extra special are Fox Point ($6-70) (with the caveat that it contains salt) and Sunny Spain ($6-20) (which is salt-free lemon pepper.)
Honorable mentions go to Vietnamese cinnamon and Chicago steak mix.
I love the King Arthur Danish whisk, and this set is great, too:
Amanda: I’m obsessed with my bench scraper. I have the OXO stainless one:
I also kickstarted these sheet pans from Prepd. Got them a couple weeks ago and they are AMAZING. No need for mats because they’re super non stick.
Shana: My favorite newish-to-me tool is my danish dough whisk. I have this one:
So lightweight, but helps me work doughs I could never manage otherwise.
Amanda: Oooh! One of my fave cooking channels on YouTube (Emmymadeinjapan) swears by her Danish dough whisk!
Shana: Falling down a cooking video rabbit hole in 3…2…1…
I think my most transformational baking tool is actually my food processor. I upgraded to a Breville a few years ago and it’s my precious baby.
What about you? What baking tools top your must-have or wish-list?
Hey, I’ve got this exact silicone map! It’s VERY useful when I do pies and quiche. Our pizza, I spread the dough directly on parchment paper and drop it – paper included – on the pizza stone waiting in the oven. We even have the big flat pizza paddle they use in movies for it. I tried getting rid of the parchment paper, but the uncooked pizza is too sticky and soft, everything falls all over the place during the transfer. I need to find a reusable alternative to parchment paper.
I’ve also had the donut pans for years and NEVER used them… I’m going to try the spice donuts recipe. Thanks!
(Now eyeing the danish dough whisk. Do I need it?)
I joined a CSA (community-supported agriculture) program this summer, and it was wonderful discovering all the new-to-me vegetables. Baking/cooking can be a gift you give yourself as well as others, if the results are edible of course! (I’ll admit some of my efforts were not so edible. I discovered I can’t do anything with garlic scapes.)
Ah, King Arthur flour! It’s a wonderful place to visit in Norwich, Vermont (when it’s safe to travel once again).
As for my kitchen tool, someday I’ll get a Vitamix blender. #LifeGoals
I’m a big fan of my KitchenAid mixer. I guess that’s if you really, really like someone, but we did find a refurbished one for a (little) bit cheaper. For someone who rolls a lot of pie crusts and cutout cookies, I recommend perfection strips/pastry rulers. You put them on either side of your blob of dough and you roll the rolling pin over it so it keeps everything at a nice level height. Easier to do than explain 😉 There’s a lot of different brands, but I think they’re all relatively similar. I could *not* get cutout cookies to my liking until I had perfection strips. No more bumpy dough!
In the more stocking stuffer/small present realm, I don’t think you can go wrong with a box of precut parchment paper. I do have silicon baking mats too, but these precut papers are great when you’re making big batches. I also use them for storing dough (first roll between 2 sheets, then chill/freeze on baking sheets) or layering more sticky baked goods in storage containers.
Also, so many fancy sprinkle jars/brands to choose from now! That would be a fun smaller gift.
I recently bought myself a new Magimix 5200XL, they have upgraded it a lot since I bought my first one some thirty (!) years ago. At some point after I bought my first Magimix I “rationalised” the accessories, – I didn’t need a dough blade, I kneaded my bread dough by hand; well I’ve changed in those thirty years and now often don’t have the energy for hand kneading so I was no longer making bread regularly. Now I have the new one I’m back to keeeping us in bread most of the time, so I would be happy with the Magimix just for that, but it does so much more that makes preperation of various things even easier than the old one did, plus it’s red not boring white – I am a bit in love!
I’ve also been gradually acquiring silicone bakeware which I find fantastic, and my most recent aquisition is silicone stretch lids in a variety of sizes. The lids are incredibly versatile, as well as covering bowls they cover my oblong baking dishes and even produce, at the moment my largest two are covering two parts of a large squash we used a slice from the other night.
I just placed a massive order at Penzey’s last week! Their toasted onion powder is one of my favorite things to add to… pretty much everything. I sprinkle it on cottage cheese, avocado toast, regular toast, eggs, sandwiches, etc. it adds so much flavor with as close to zero work as possible.
I also bought some of those silicone stretch lids on sale on Black Friday, so it’s nice to hear they’re effective @jazzlet!
One past-gift that did not seem amazing at first but has proved me wrong was a set of 8 silicone spatulas. It has 4 standard sized spatulas and 4 smaller spatulas and the big ones are obviously useful, but the smaller ones have proven incredibly useful as well. Great for getting stuff out of jars, measuring cups, and spreading things.
I highly recommend King Arthur Flour for both their flour and website. They have great how-to videos (I have made bagels and pain au chocolat for the first time because of Arlo and his father), and all of their recipes are dependable. It is one of the few websites (like this one) where the comments are helpful.
These are two of my go-to kitchen tools:
— A Silpat, which is great for any kind of non-stick baking, from cookies to rolls.
— A serrated tomato knife, which slices tomatoes without squishing them. It’s great for making salsas, etc.
Now I want to bake something! 🙂
I love Danish dough whisks — I bought two in different sizes from Lee Valley Tools and I use them often. I’ve also been using beeswax wraps to reduce the amount of plastic wrap I use. They’re great for wrapping up cheese (and my sense is that they help cheese keep longer, though I can’t prove it) and also for things like wrapping half an avocado or covering bowls (you shouldn’t use them for meat). Nature Bee has nice ones in cute patterns. I’ve been wondering about silicone stretch lids so I’m glad to hear they’re useful.
I’m a bit of a spatula addict. Big ones (I have one that could fold 10 qts of batter), little ones that get every last bit out if jars, long and narrow, short and wide, spoonulas, offsets, silicone, metal, seasonal. I even have one with a keyhole opening in the end for cleaning off beaters. You name it, I’ve got it and think you should have it. For instance: https:www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-silicone-mini-spatula-spoonula-classic-wood.
How stinkin’ cute are those?
I’m lucky enough to have an actual Penzey’s store half way between me and the bff. It’s our regular meeting up spot. They’ve been closed to in store shopping since March, which I applaud, but shopping online can’t replace being able to open jars and take in deep breathes. Well, not with the cocoa powder. Won’t be making that mistake again!
Sorry, couldn’t resist, for the spatula lovers:
https://youtu.be/4BUDwj_mXKE
Hi! King Arthur’s is one of my favorite sources for baking paraphernalia and hardcore to find ingredients.
Also, one of my favorite kitchen purchases was a set of ladles of various sizes. Just great for serving/transferring soups and such to various containers/jars/strainers. I think mine came from Amazon. In theory one can measure with them as well – making uniform pancakes and such.
And I’ll be looking into the silicon lids. I have 18” wide rolls of plastic wrap and aluminum foil (from my local wholesale club) which are crazy useful but also sort of wasteful. Something reusable to replace them would be great.
And count another Penzey’s fan. I definitely feel lucky to live five minutes from a store.
While it is not an equipment thing, I do a lot of baking and will not do without my Mexican vanilla. It is so much more mellow than Madagascar. I got addicted to it when a friend brought me a big bottle of it from Cancun as a cat-sitting thank you. I was a bit appalled that Williams Sonoma literally TRIPLED the price this year due to the difficulties caused by COVID, but I bought it anyway because one bottle lasts me almost a year and really, nothing tastes the same without it. Using Mexican vanilla and real unsalted creamery butter has elevated my baking to a whole new level.
Seconding and thirding Penzey’s; silicone mats; pastry guides for getting an even thickness on anything rolled. I did NOT know about those meatball freezing thingys and now I must look. Thank you, all.
@Laurel, bwahahahaha!!!
I would shop there.
Penzeys double-strength vanilla extract and pretty much any of their cinnamons (I like the house blend as an all-purpose jar to have around) are life-changing if you bake a lot. I buy pretty much everything from Penzeys now, they have never disappointed me. The Northwoods seasoning is the fastest shortcut out there to a great egg salad.
Also, these spice organizers from Ikea are the only organizational system that keeps my massive spice drawer from gaining sentience and overtaking my kitchen. They’re not super fancy looking, but I love them:
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/variera-insert-for-spice-jars-white-00177249/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAk53-BRD0ARIsAJuNhpvC_saP521pcY0PVt0Sm_8hyjXbZiUQ-xymbHeciTilcIq2hOE4nGsaAk0wEALw_wcB
I too love my silicone mat. It makes rolling dough much easier and taking the left over bits to the recycle bin a neater task. Second/thirding the Danish whisks! Love them and tried to order from Lee Valley for xmas gifts but they’re out of stock until February so sigh, I guess they’ll be birthday gifts instead.
But, hands down, the best tool I’ve been introduced to recently is the cake lifter (Wilton version here: https://www.amazon.ca/Wilton-2103-307-Cake-Lifter-8-Inch/dp/B001BOELLI/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=cake+lifter&qid=1606950252&sr=8-7). While I may have used it once to move a cake, I use it constantly to lift, rotate, flip over my pie dough, puff pastry, biscuit dough, pizza dough, scones etc. It easily slides under the pastry without ripping it and being oversized it can handle the pastry once it’s been rolled out. I’ve even used it to transfer pizza dough to the pizza stone and lift it off again. (Tip for those in Canada: Dollarama sells a version for $4 in their kitchenware section). The only down side to all this baking tool use is the Covid-19 pounds I’ve gained. Thanks for all the other tips and tool recommendations!
I feel like my KitchenAid Mixer is one of the best purchases I ever made! Years ago we saved up and bought the most basic one, and I loved it. After my mom died, she left me a bit of money, and I upgraded the mixer. Our first one was white, bought at Costco-the second one was red-a color I always wanted, and every time I use it I think of my mom.
Nordic Ware has been around forever, but I rediscovered them this year. Fun products, great heavy duty items, and free shipping for me after spending a reasonable amount of money. I live in Alaska, and I really appreciate that. When I say I could spend a paycheck with them-I’m totally serious!!
Happy Baking!
@Violet, I sautéed garlic scapes and put them in egg fried rice.
I have one of those silicone mats. My mom has the tupperware version–hers is not silicone–since the 60s or 70s.
I also have the bench scraper.
I use silicone spatulas for everything, and I have them in multiple sizes.
I grow my own saffron. Cheapest way to own it and easy to harvest.
The silicone stretch lids sound good. Can someone recommend a brand?
@Arijo I worked at a pizza restaurant in a former life. The trick to using a pizza paddle is plenty of flour on the paddle and then make your pizza right on the paddle. When you go to put it in the oven there’s a quick jerking motion that you do to get it to slide off and then once you’ve got an edge of the pizza on the stone you can usually slide the rest of the paddle free. That’s probably the trickiest part. Dough that’s been rested in the fridge is also easier to work with since it’s springier and less sticky than room temperature dough which tends to want to expand like the blob and just stay where it’s been stretched too.
You can’t really get the paddle back under it until the crust starts to form, the raw dough can tear.
@DonnaMarie : I hope you have a splatypus? Great stocking stuffer for the person who likes novelty kitchen items, or platypus, but also shockingly useful!