Prepare for the holiday baking marathon by properly stocking your kitchen. Or consider a handy piece of equipment as a gift for the baker on your list.
1 - Cooling racks
Stacking or expandable racks allow for cooling large numbers of items at once. Stacking racks save on counter space with their vertical design; expanding racks fold up for tighter storage. Executive Chef has several expanding racks; Compleat Kitchen has a three-tier stacking rack. All are in the $20 range. Pampered Chef produces a very well-made stacking rack for $13.50 per level (visit www.pamperedchef.com to find a nearby representative).
2 - Insulated cookie sheets
A layer of air within these sheets keeps temperatures even, which means the bottoms of your cookies won't burn. They may seem an indulgence compared to regular sheets, but consider them a worthy lifetime investment. Common brands are Airbake and CushionAire. Find them at Wal-Mart or other discount stores for as little as $8.36 per sheet. Larger sheets and non-stick versions can be found at Williams Sonoma and Compleat Kitchen for about $20.
3 - Scooping spatulas
Sometime calls "spoonulas," these do double duty as spoons and scrapers. Williams Sonoma and Executive Chef have tough silicone versions in multi colors for $4 to $9. Less expensive types can be found in supermarkets and discount stores, often packaged with regular spatulas.
4 - Baking parchment
Parchment helps with clean-up, but also with set-up. If you have just a few cookie sheets, production probably comes to a halt while the sheets are tied up in the oven. But you can continue rolling or dropping cookies if you simply line them up on parchment. When the cookie sheets come out of the oven, slide off the baked cookies, parchment and all, and slide on the unbaked. No time or oven heat is wasted. Cost is about $3 for 30 square feet in supermarkets. Executive Chef has precut sheets, $2.75 for six, as well as reusable Teflon sheets, $7.50.
5 - Measuring scoops
So simple, yet so handy, these scoops let you reach way down into a bag of flour or sugar. Kmart carries three-scoop sets in the Martha Stewart line, $8.65 for metal and $3.29 for plastic.
6 - Oven hook
A child learning to bake may have a fear of putting his/her hand into a hot oven. This simple tool allows you to push in or pull out the oven rack while standing a safe distance away. It also has a ruler, which can be used to measure pan sizes, the size of cookies or their spacing on a cookie sheet (important in some recipes). A nice stocking stuffer for $3 at Compleat Kitchen.
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