My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

From time to time, I'll be making note of certain kitchen gadgets that I just ADORE! I don't know why, but I can spend an embarrassing amount of time in the kitchen gadget section of any store. I'm like a kid let loose in a candy store...I just can't get enough of well-made and useful cooking implements. Here are some of my favorites:

Can you guess what this is?


This little guy can quickly remove all the kernels from an ear of corn in a flash, which makes a boring job really easy!


My ball whisks! The best whisks I've ever owned. I will admit, they do make a lot of noise, but when it comes to hand beating they can't be beat (pardon the pun!).


My microplane...how did I ever survive without it!


This is my brand new mini meatball scoop.

I'm planning to use it for baking cookies for the holidays. I have larger sizes, but this is the one I've coveted for quite a while!

Last, but not least...here is my absolute favorite new kitchen toy...um, I mean seriously useful item! (wink) It's the Bakers Edge Brownie Pan, which adds two chewy edges to each serving. And aren't the chewy edges the best part of a brownie? I brought the pan to my DD's house, she made the first batch and immediately declared them the best brownies she'd ever eaten! Forgive the stock photo, but I didn't have my camera with me that day. Next batch will definitely be photographed and posted! I kept putting off buying this pan because I thought the $34.95 price tag a bit steep, but it really is worth every penny!

Well, that's it for now. I think I hear a rugelach calling my name...

My Rugelach - The Baked Truth

Well, the dough was rolled out, the rugelach were filled and shaped, and the oven was preheated and ready to go. I haven't rolled dough for quite some time, and I seem to be out of practice! In my humble opinion, the finished product made up in taste what it lacked in beauty!!


See the strange looking item peeking out on the right side of the plate? As you can see, that's not a rugelach. I took one of the packets of chilled dough, rolled it out a bit, spread some nutella over the top, and then gently kneaded it into the dough. Then I formed pieces of the dough into crescents and baked on a separate cookie sheet along with the rugelach. I don't have a name for these, but they did taste yummy.

I dug out what I call MY traditional rugelach recipe, only to find the only difference was that my recipe was doubled, and the dough gets some sugar and a splash of vanilla.

Actually, I think the hint of vanilla does add a nice touch to the flavor of the dough. Also, combining the sugar with the dough seems to produce better results than sprinkling it on top just before baking.




I recently purchased the flat cover for my Cuisinart food processor.

I can't begin to tell you what a difference it makes! Before having this it would be such a pain to clean the cover that has the tube feed permanently attached! The flat cover makes clean-up a breeze. Why, oh why, didn't I think of purchasing this a long time ago! This is going to make me look forward to using the food processor instead of dreading it because of the annoying clean-up!