Best Tools for Baking and Cooking
Kitchen tools and supplies can vary widely in quality and price. Get my recommendations for the items you'll rely on week in and week out.
If you love to bake, I recommend a stand mixer.
A Kitchen-Aid has been the gold standard in the past but there are other competent, dare I say better, brands out there, including Ankarsrum.
I use mine for mixing cookie dough like Chewy Toffee Cookies.
I also use the stand mixer for shredding chicken for Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwiches.
Parchment Paper is essential, I like a parchment paper roll instead of precut sheets.
KitchenAid Flex Edge Beater
If you have a stand mixer, you really should get one of these flex edge beaters, which saves time while you're mixing dough. The one drawback of a stand mixer is having to stop the machine midway through to scrape the sides and the very bottom of the bowl.
A Flex Edge Beater eliminates that by acting as a spatula itself. It gets all the dough incorporated from the sides and bottom so you don't have to.
Obviously you need half sheet pans for baking cookies like Classic Peanut Butter Cookies. But, half sheet pans also come in handy for making savory things like Spicy Shrimp Nachos.
Use spatulas for mixing up dough or scraping sauce out of a food processor. My favorite sauce for making in the food processor is perfect on nachos or for making quesadillas.
Making baked goods always turns out better when you're weighing your ingredients instead of relying on the measuring cup method.
I've been using an Etekcity Food Scale for years now and while it's looking a bit rough, it still works like a champ. It's lightweight and accurate.
You'll want exact amounts of flour when you're making treats like Lemon Shortbread Cookies or Pumpkin Spice Scones.
Grocery Delivery
I have more time to do fun things and to bake by either getting groceries delivered by Misfits Market or doing pickup.