kitchen tools

There are so many tools to help you get things done in your kitchen. We have some of our favourites. From our Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers, to the Danish Dough Whisk, to a bowl scraper all the way to our latest tool, the Instant Pot. And don't forget, some of these items also come with their own line of accessories.

Here are some of our favourite tools that we think you will find handy.

Air Bake Pans
We got several of these pans years ago and there is no looking back. We bake cookies and bread on them. While you can't throw them in the dishwasher, or even a sink full of water, a little care each time you use them and they will last you a very long time. Depending on what we am baking, we sometimes put parchment paper on them - French Bread for example. We put Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies directly on the pans then only have to wipe them down with a clean damp cloth to bring them back to looking new.

Bowl Scraper
We only recently purchased one of these and OMG, what took us so long!? This is especially helpful when making White Bread or cookies. Big bowls and lots of good stuff you don't want left in the bowl. Not a big investment, but well worth it.

Danish Dough Whisk
Because baking bread from scratch around here includes making eight loaves at a time, there is a lot of dough. When all is said and done, that means adding between 20 and 24 cups of flour to the dough. Before it is turned out of the bowl to knead, it must be mixed in a very large bowl. Some of you may be old enough to recall armstrong steering in your vehicles (before power steering). Well, this is like armstrong mixing. A very large wooden spoon was the tool of choice before, and then we found the Danish Dough Whisk. It makes mixing bread dough a breeze in comparison. If you are a home bread baker, do not miss using this tool. You can see our Danish Dough Whisk in action on the video for No Knead Pizza Dough video.

Electric Knife
Because we bake our own bread, we don't have the convenience of presliced store bought bread. So we started using the electric knife, previously only used for large roasts, turkeys and hams. So, to paraphrase, this is the best thing FOR sliced bread. When you first start out, your slices are probably a little wonky. But like everything else, practice, practice, practice. You will have it down in no time.

Ice Cream Scoops
Yes, that is scoops, plural. And they are not all for ice cream. One is for portioning cookies only. It is a great way to portion control your cookies, making them look uniform. Even a melon baller falls into this category. It is a great size to portion Belgian Lukken Cookies. They aren't very big so the large end of a melon baller works perfect.

Immersion Blender
A must have for making Tomato Soup. Instead of having to transfer the contents of a pot of soup to the blender in small batches because you don't want to have Tomato Soup going all over the place (ya, that NEVER happens in our kitchen - LOL), putting the Immersion Blender directly into the soup pot really saves on time... and clean up.

Instant Pot
When we got our first Instant Pot, we were afraid, very afraid. It sat in the box for well over a month. Then we finally brought it out of the basement and took it out of the box. Next it sat on the living room floor for a couple more weeks. Almost returned it. So glad we didn't. So far, knock on wood, everything we've made has been fairly good or needs just a bit of tweaking. We can live with that. The big joke around here is trying to figure out what we can make next. The challenge is adapting some regular recipes for the Instant Pot. Our Baby Back Ribs recipe was the first recipe we converted. But we are also making things that we have never made before. And, as Maxwell Smart used to say... And loving it! If you don't know who Maxwell Smart is, go ask your parents or grandparents. Rice Pudding was one of those new recipes that was scary, but so yummy. Above is our picture of Big and Red, apply named we think. Big is the 8 QT Lux, and red is the 6 QT Viva and it is red (go figure!).

Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and accessories
How did we ever function before we got our stand mixer? We mix cookies and french bread, whip up egg whites and whipping cream. But with our accessories, we make home made Ice Cream. Mocha is our favourite flavour. But now, we have attachments for pasta as well. Ever try homemade pasta? It is amazing. Home made Cheese Ravioli? Coming right up! Right now we have two of these beauties in our kitchen. We can get them both going on a busy day!

Pizza Peel
Our family loves homemade pizza. And we really take pride in the pizza we serve. We usually make three or four pizzas at one time, so everyone can have the flavours they want with lots of left overs for lunches. When the pizzas are ready for the oven, they get baked for a time in their pans. When they are almost done, they get pulled out of the pans and slipped back onto the oven racks without the pans so the crust can crisp up a bit more. Once the crusts are done, we slide them onto the Peel and take them over to a large cutting board. They are cut then slid back onto the original baking pans. The Peel makes moving the pizza around so much easier.

Popcorn Popper - Hot Air
Perhaps it is a little old school to have one of these, but it is, hands-down, our favourite way to make popcorn. You can add your own toppings. Want a little or a lot of popcorn and toppings? You make the call. And you never have to smell that burned smell from the microwave!

Silicon Trivets
These may seem so insignificant, but they are amazing. They are soft and versatile. You can wash them up with ease. We now have several of them in various shapes and colours.