Holiday gift buying can be a challenge. But if you know someone who loves to cook or has a passion for baking, it doesn't have to be. There are so many affordable choices when it comes to picking out a gift for the culinary enthusiast. To make picking out the right tools even easier, I've asked some of my most favorite food bloggers for their recommendations for "must-have" kitchen tools.
Recommended by:
Dorothy Reinhold
A kitchen timer for a gift might seem prosaic, but this, my
friends, isn’t just any old kitchen timer. This is a digital Polder Clock,
Timer & Stopwatch, and it will change
your life! Sure, we all have a timer built into our ovens, but if you’re like
me, you need something more portable. I swear by this…in fact, I so often have
it swinging around my neck that it might as well be my necklace!
I usually have two or three things going at once in the
kitchen. A single timer simply won’t do for multi-task cooking. In that case, for
sanity, I use the oven timer for the contents of the oven, and this baby for
the stove. When developing recipes, I have often used the stopwatch to
time how long something cooks – for example, I hit “go” when I begin the sauté,
and “stop” when it looks done, which allows me to more accurately determine
cooking times. I am
forever putting something in the oven or on the stove and leaving the room
to check e-mail for “just a minute.” You know how that goes. You start
spelunking in your in-box and hours can elapse until you come up for air.
I burned too many things until I got the Polder, which beeps at me
whatever room I am in because I am wearing it.
Want something to time?
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Recommended by:
Julie Mastbrook
My recommendation for a “must have” stocking stuffer for the chef in your family: A KitchenAid Hand Blender. This handy little tool is by far one of the most wielded gadgets in my cooking artillery. I use it to enhance everything from silky homemade soups to fresh whipped cream (using one of several available attachments) with the simple push of a button. No muss no fuss. It’s an absolute must have for anyone with a passion for cooking.
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My "must-have" recommendation for the home chef...a small notebook. I carry one in my purse,
one in my car, one in my kitchen, one by my bedside. I use them to jot down
anything food related. great meals I have had, ingredients I want to track
down, restaurants i want to try, and recipe ideas. I have a large
bound book I use when I actually start to cook...but the little ones are
great to tracking my food obsessed life! the ones HERE are
nice because they have page numbers. when the books are full, they get labeled
and any recipes get logged in my large book. for example...a book I filled in April 2010 would be labled 04/2010. if I have a recipe for bolognese in it, I
would log that as bolognese 4/2010 p. 27. As you can see, little notebooks are a
must have for me.
You can get the recipe for Ragu Bolognese
that Christy brought back from her trip to Italy HERE
Something that is greatly under
appreciated is salt. I keep an array of specialty salts on hand for my baking.
Just as in savory, I like to use Maldon sea salt for a finish. One of the
most obvious uses is in caramels. If I were to choose a sea salt for a baker, I would go with Maldon or Fleur de Sel. Use it as a finisher on chocolates or
caramel nut tart, and in recipes like salted caramel ice cream, butterscotch pudding,and flourless chocolate cake.
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Recommended by:
Heather Schmitt-González
How do you measure your
flour? Do you dig your measuring cup in
and then wipe off the excess...or do you whisk it around to aerate it, and then
gingerly scoop it into your measuring cup and level off the top with a flat
edge? And while you're thinking about
it, how did the person who tested the recipe you're following measure their
flour? One method yields an absolutely
different weight/amount of flour than the other. And since baking relies heavily on the
science of all the components of a recipe interacting in just the right way, I
am a firm believer in the benefits of owning a digital kitchen scale. Forget the measuring cups, just break out the
scale, a bowl, and a scoop...and get baking!
Use a Ozeri scale with Heather's
I'd pretty much given up on
vegetable peelers. I could never seem to
find one that didn't dull. Quickly. One day while working in the kitchen
(restaurant kitchen...needed to do a lot of peeling), I realized that I
couldn't find my peeler, so I borrowed one.
As I ran ran the blade across the potatoes, I was in awe of the way the
peeler just seemed to glide so effortlessly without any
"catching". Potato after
potato, I marveled at this simple device in my hand. After the mountain of potatoes were cubed and
throw into the steamer, I went in search of more things to peel. All of a sudden, I went from peeling as
little as I could get away with to volunteering to peel anything that needed
peeling. And a few things that
didn't. The ceramic blade never seems to
get dull. I immediately bought myself a
ceramic vegetable peeler and to this day, 3 years later, that blade still works
like a charm. It's also great for
getting thin slips of Parmesan cheese from a wedge.
The Shenzen peeler comes in handy for Heather's
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My favorite kitchen tools? Aside from the obvious, which is
a great knife and a good cutting board, it's a mandoline. Though my favorite
kitchen tool was a late addition to my kitchen (as a gift), and not one that
comes out everyday, it is a tool that I am so grateful for owning when it does
come out to play. I love this tool because it not only makes a wiz out of
slicing onions for French Onion Soup (perfect for large quantities of
vegetables), but also recipes such as scalloped potatoes or Pomme Anna, which to be honest, I would never make without
one. And the list does not stop there as the mandoline is great for home made
chips such as sweet potato chips or beet chips and dozens of other
recipes that requiring slicing.
If you're creating your
Christmas wish list, consider adding a mandoline as this tool can make your
life so much easier. They come in many different designs, with some at $10
(slender simple designs which I love), perfect for a stocking stuffer or a
hostess gift, or really fancy ones with all types of blades and attachments for
$75 or more. You decide! You'll thank me later :)
is a dream to put together with the Mandoline.
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Recommended by:
Camilla Mann
Here's my recommendation for a must-have that fits
comfortably in a stocking for that special baker in your life...a NORPRO Deluxe
Pastry Blender. Not just any pastry blender. This one, specifically!
First I will admit that for years I didn't even have a
pastry blender. I made due with the tines of a fork and my crusts definitely
reflected that. Second, I have had a parade of inferior pastry blenders that
fail me one of two ways. Either the tines bend or I rip the handle off. I am,
admittedly, not easy on my cookware. My pots - that my husband gave me for
our first Christmas together. Yes, it was self-serving, but much appreciated! -
weigh a ton. My knives are more than hefty. I needed a pastry blender that
matched my whirlwind cooking style and I finally found it. Eureka! This one has sealed end caps so the screws don't spontaneously unthread and jam your garbage disposal. Can you tell that I speak from experience? After doing the dance of joy, when I located
this, I actually bought two. One I use all the time. The other is tucked away,
wrapped in tissue paper, ready to go in case I need it.
So, that's it. A pastry blender will do wonders for the
crusts of your favorite baker. And this pastry blender is a dream come true.
Durable, hefty, and comfortable in your hand...and perfect in a stocking. Happy
holidays and happy baking.
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Recommended by: Me
Jenn Erickson
Most weekends my husband can be found out back in the wee hours of the morning tending to the smoke and fire of his BBQ, making magic with little more than some coals, a few wood chunks and a hunk of meat. So when it came time to buy him a birthday present, I did my research to find the perfect slicing knife and came across the Victorinox Granton Edge 12" Slicing Knife -- an America's Test Kitchen "Best Buy".
This affordable knife slices through meat like it's butter, bread like it's air, and slices tomatoes paper thin. It's light, comfortable, and when friends and family have the opportunity to use it in our home, they always want to take it home.
The Victorinox knife makes perfect slices of brisket for my
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Simply put, when it comes to grating ginger, zesting citrus, and shaving nutmeg, a Microplane can't be beat. One of my favorite hostess gifts to give is a big wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano wrapped in cellophane and tied off with baker's twine and adorned with a Microplane.
I used my microplane to grate fresh nutmeg for my
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Many of the items mentioned above are already in my kitchen, and those that aren't are going on my holiday wish list.
How about you?
What's your "must-have" kitchen tool?