Category: gift guide

Wrapping your sandwiches is a good thing. I like wrapping sandwiches in paper or aluminum foil just like they do at take-out restaurants because wrapping a sandwich helps the sauces and spreads mix with the ingredients in a sandwich. If it’s a hot sandwich, wrapping also helps keep everything warm and melts your cheese.

Note: this is not for smoking drugs.

$8

Deli Squares – Wax Paper Sheets (12 x 12) (Pack of 100) (Plain)

A set of squeeze bottles is crucial if you ever plan to make any sort of dressing or sauce for sandwiches. Salad dressings are perfectly stored in these containers, and you can even transfer your store bought mayo over if you want to squirt it instead of spread it.

$10

Pinnacle Mercantile Plastic Squeeze Condiment Bottles with Red Tip Cap 16-Ounce Set of 6 Wide Mouth

If you or your friends throw sandwich focused parties, these are fun to have. They’re great for serving burgers or just hanging out with a few chicken tenders, french fries or bread sticks in a basket.

$13

New Star Foodservice 44140 Fast Food Baskets, 9 1/4-Inch x 6-Inch Oval, Set of 12, Red

I didn’t think a flour shaker would be very useful, but I bought this cheap one on a whim and kept it filled with a little flour and left it on the counter and it’s a mainstay now. If I’m dealing with some dough, I just reach over and can shake/dust some flour on my surface and be back in business. Buy one for your baker friends.

$4

Winware Stainless Steel Dredges 10-Ounce with Handle

If you or your friends bake or cook, you probably already have at least one of these, but they can always use more or replace the aging ones they have.

As a baker, I often will have bread rolls proofing on a sheet pan, prior to baking, and I use a second sheet pan as a hat to protect the dough while it rests.

$25 (for two)

Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker’s Half Sheet, 2-Pack, Silver

Every baker needs at least two baking racks. These are great for letting fried food rest as well as lifting cooking food up off the hot sheet pan and allowing air to circulate, crisping up cooking food as well.

Hot biscuits and bread can cool on racks so that air circulates, and we don’t end up with soggy bottoms.

$20 (for two)

Checkered Chef Cooling Rack – Set of 2 Stainless Steel, Oven Safe Grid Wire Racks for Cooking & Baking – 11 ¾” x 17″

Every baker or biscuit maker needs a bench scraper set. Even non bakers would find a use for these for things like scooping up and transferring chopped veggies or scraping out the last of the sauce from a bowl.

The round one scrapes out bowls and the metal one is great for cutting dough or scraping up things off your cutting board. This is a fairly cheap gift for yourself, or a baker friend and it will be used. I own and use two.

$11

Chef’n Pastrio Set Bench Scraper and Chopper, Includes Stainless Steel and Plastic, Red

You can’t be a baker without a scale. I should stop writing now, but everyone knows that isn’t going to happen.

Just buy a scale if you don’t have one and if you know someone who is aspiring to bake, this is a no brainer. Also: start looking for gram only recipes if you own a good scale and want to bake. They’re way more consistent and your results will be a lot better.

$21

Escali Primo Lightweight Scale, Standard, Pumpkin Orange

This is a great cookbook for a baker of any experience level. It was updated and re-released in 2021 so it’s likely that the person you might be shopping for has not purchased it yet. For 20-ish bucks, this would be a great gift of a very dense baking cookbook. Highly recommended.

$20

The King Arthur Baking Company’s All-Purpose Baker’s Companion

These bowls are great for anything from making biscuit dough, to whisking up homemade mayonnaise and dressings.

The lids make it so you don’t have to waste plastic wrap if you need to proof dough or store something in the refrigerator. You can find cheaper Pyrex sets without lids, but I really like having them.

$40

Pyrex 8-piece 100 Years Glass Mixing Bowl Set (Limited Edition) – Assorted Colors Lids

Yes, this is a tool for fixing up your house. You can buy these at the big box home improvement store.

BUT they’re perfect for smashing two burgers on a griddle. I use one every time I make smash burgers. Just don’t use it to spread grout in your bathroom and then bring it back to the kitchen. If you’re buying one of these for smashing burgers, leave it in the kitchen and hand wash it clean like your other kitchen tools.

$15

Goldblatt G03454 11-Inch Finishing Trowel Stainless Steel Wood Handle

You need a thermometer. One thermometer is not enough.

I use this one pretty much whenever I’m cooking to tell how hot the cooking surface is. It’s become almost second nature for me to grab this thermometer and double check things.

Unless you’re a professional cook, something like this could greatly contribute to your cooking skills.

$26

Etekcity Infrared Thermometer 774, Digital Temperature Gun for Cooking

This is the spatula I use for flipping burgers. You can spend more money and get one with a wider surface, but this one works just fine for me and I recommend it since the price is really good.

$11

OXO SteeL Lasagna Turner

I don’t own this exact griddle. The one I own is a no-name brand that I received at a white elephant Christmas party, and it works just fine. But if I was going to replace mine, I would buy this one. Lodge is a good company, and this is a pretty good price for something that will stand up for years and maybe even decades of use.

$30

Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, 16.75 Inch, Black

Sure, you can make biscuits without stainless steel biscuit cutters, but I usually don’t. When making biscuits with the expectation of layers, you need to cut swift and straight and you can only do that with a knife via straight line cuts or you need straight up/down cuts with a sharp circular biscuit cutter.

These cutters will get the job done and you can also change up your biscuit size and use these to cut cookies as well.

These biscuit cutters can also be used to shape sausage patties for cooking to fit your biscuits and they can be used to mold a cooking egg for the proper size for a biscuit or English muffin sandwich.

$9

12 Pieces Round Biscuit Cookie Cutter Set – Stainless Steel Circle Donut Cutter Molds Assorted Size – Including One Tin Box for Storage

I’m a big fan of this butter dish. This is the one I leave on the counter with the GOOD BUTTER in it. It’s easy to clean and looks nice on the counter.

$19

OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Butter Dish

I don’t own this exact rolling pin. BUT it’s the one I would buy right now, because it’s a reputable company and it’s only ten bucks. The rolling pin I typically use is so old that Amazon didn’t exist when it was made.

But if you are interested in making biscuits and need a rolling pin, a flat one like this with a 10-inch base is exactly what you would want. Get this one unless you need a fancier French rolling pin (a French style rolling pin is NOT very good for biscuits).

$10

Farberware Classic Wood Rolling Pin, 17.75-Inch, Natural

Alton Brown introduced me to something like this back in the 90’s/2000’s. My wife and I liked it and she bought something similar at that time. We can’t find the exact version that we bought, but this one looks similar and is from a good company. I would be buying one of these if ours was lost or broken.

It’s great for measuring things like mayonnaise or molasses or most anything that needs to be scooped and spread into a container. Once you get it into this measuring cup, you can use the plunger to just slide it out, leaving almost no leftover in the container. This also makes for easy cleanup.

If you don’t have anything like this, you need one.

$13

OXO Good Grips 2 Cup Adjustable Measuring Cup

My Mom gave us this parchment paper holder (and the plastic wrap holder below). I was skeptical at first and questioned why she gave it to us but once we started using it, I will never go back.

It’s hard to describe exactly why this works, I think it’s the weight and the top closure that makes dealing with and cutting parchment paper so much easier. Try it, you’ll like it.

$25

ChicWrap Baker’s Tools Parchment Paper Dispenser with 15″x 41 Sq. Ft Roll of Culinary Parchment Paper

You can read what I wrote about the parchment paper holder above to get the gist of why this is a great kitchen purchase for me.

Basically, everyone knows that plastic wrap can be troublesome at times. This holder and the swiping cutter magically makes plastic wrap easier to cut and handle, even with wet or messy hands in a semi-emergency situation (we’ve all been there).

$19

ChicWrap Triangle Refillable Plastic Wrap Dispenser with Slide Cutter and 250′ of Professional BPA Free Plastic Wrap

A nice set of measuring cups and spoons. When you’re measuring wet ingredients like honey or mustard, the ingredients slide off very easily because of the smooth surface.

$12

KitchenAid Classic Measuring Cups And Spoons Set, Set of 9, Aqua Sky/Black

I really like these silicone whisks. They won’t mess up any of your non-stick pans and in my experience, they work as well for making something like whipped cream or homemade mayonnaise just as well as a metal whisk.

$20

OXO Good Grips 2-Piece Silicone Whisk Set

I love tongs! This is a good pair, and the silicone tips mean you won’t scratch up any of your pots and pans. I like the quick release action on these tongs and use them all the time unless I’m grilling outdoors.

$20

KitchenAid Silicone Tipped Stainless Steel Tongs, 10.26 Inch, Black