My Favorite Things

Cookware - Caraway pots and pans.  We recently switched over to Caraway pots and pans and I can say they are a dream!  They clean easily saving time in the kitchen.  There are various sizes and colors from which to choose or just get a whole set like we did!

Kitchen Gadgets - I love kitchen gadgets!  I've collected a lot over the last 25 years or so as gifts and "must have" purchases.  Here's a few of my favorites:

• Silicone spatulas with wooden handles - These work great whether scraping a mixer bowl or cooking and flipping eggs.  The handle does not heat up in the pan and they withstand high heat.  I might have one for each month of the year...  Check out Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma for fun, colorful and seasonal designs.  

• Silpat baking mat - Available through Amazon; they also carry Amazon Basics baking mats that are more economical.

• Stainless-steel bench scraper - Great for scraping up flour and dough from your work surface.  Also works great for lifting pie crust and cutting pastries.

• Stainless-steel locking tongs - Available in silicone tipped or wood tipped to protect non-stick pans.

• Thermoworks Thermopen - Instant read thermometer.  Works great for checking temperatures when melting chocolate, baking bread, making fudge, etc.

Other Kitchen Must Haves - 

• Breville Toaster Oven - This product is amazing!  We're on our second one but they last forever and have excellent customer service.  We use ours so many times per day.  Works great for proofing dough as well.

• Breville Immersion Blender - This is another product that I use all the time.  Instead of pulling out the big stand mixer you can whip up fresh whipped cream with this in minutes with super easy cleanup.  You can also chop nuts or other cooking ingredients really quickly.  

• Nordic Ware sheet pans with lid - Available at Amazon.  The lids allow you to stack sheet pans in the fridge or freezer.

• Snapware Glass Food Storage Containers - Ditch the outdated plastic storage containers which may contain BPAs, BPSs or BPFs.  If your plastic container does not have a recycling symbol or has a 7 at the bottom it may have BPA, a known hormone disrupter.

Reliable Recipes and Ingredients- 

America's Test Kitchen Cooks Illustrated cookbooks - The Best Recipes cookbook made a big difference in my baking.  Not only do they have great recipes but America's Test Kitchen teaches you why one technique or ingredient might be better than another which you can then apply to other recipes.  My family loves their Belgian waffles and pancake recipes, they're way better than any restaurant.

Other favorites include Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz, and New York Times Cooking.

Quality Ingredients-

A great bake is enhanced by high quality ingredients like using pasture raised eggs when making creams and custards or using natural extracts instead of artificial ones.  

High-quality chocolates like Ghirardelli, Guittard, and Valrhona can make a big difference in giving your dessert the right chocolate flavor. Be sure to use either natural cocoa powder or Dutch-processed cocoa as directed in your recipe.

Use organic unbleached flour when possible. The less processed your ingredients are the better.  All these seemingly small differences really add up!