Gifts For A Young Budding Baker
My daughter has become quite the lil baker. As I'm posting she's making pecan-lace cookies that she had seen on Everyday Food.
For Easter, intead of placing candy in her basket we gave her a tiffany blue hand mixer with bread (what do you call them) attachments? Mom, obviously,is not a baker.
Her B'Day is approaching and I want to make her a "baking basket".To date we have purchased pastry bags, tips, silicone spatulas, a silcone cupcake sheet, and now,I'm stumped.
All you amazing bakers out there. Help me, please!
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27 Comments:
a pastry blender like this one is a great tool for getting the perfect crumb when mixing pastry dough for pies etc.
yayfood at 6:03PM on 09/04/09
A brownie pan and a bunch of fun cookie cutters. Shaped cake and muffin pans (they make a dinosaur one!). I'm 24, but nothing makes me happier than novelty cooking equipment.
KarynMC at 6:07PM on 09/04/09
Danish dough whisk. Once you own one, you'll use it all the time. I got mine from Breadtopia.com, but there are surely other vendors. If you're not familar with it, just goggle it.
dmcavanagh at 6:08PM on 09/04/09
silpat for baking cookies
tart pan with removable bottom and a tart tamper
rolling pin
oven thermometer (this is a biggie since every oven is different)
kitchen scale (baking volumes by weight, not measure)
mini loaf pans, tart pans
stoneware shortbread pan
cooling racks
cake spinner
cookie cutters, biscuit rings
colored sugars, candies, food colorings, extracts
sifter
hot pads and mitts
pastry brush
sour dough starter, gluten and loaf pans (and a bread baking cookbook)
frosting spatulas
silicon spatulas
measuring spoons and cups
monogrammed apron
double boiler
CJ McD at 6:19PM on 09/04/09
I'd go to king arthur flour's web site and browse their great ingredients and equipment. Lots of inexpensive things. How about some pastel colored sugars or colored gel flakes for decorating? A silpat? It will save her a lifetime of greasing the pan.
Ebay is also a great place to get cookie cutters, including some old classics.
lemonfair at 6:21PM on 09/04/09
nut chopper
cookie scoops (like little ice cream scooper with spring release)
microplane zester
parchment paper
holiday shaped pans (x-mas tree, heart, easter egg, etc.)
CJ McD at 6:25PM on 09/04/09
Silpat mats for baking have already been mentioned. I suggest a larger Roul'Pat mat (25"x17"), the perfect item for rolling out pie crusts and working with bread dough. It keeps your countertop clean, rinses off easily, and will not become rancid like old-fashioned pastry cloths.
salpico at 6:32PM on 09/04/09
Wow. You guys are great. @Cj McD-- My daughter LOVES just LOVES colored sugars. I cannot believe I didn't come up with that on my own.
She will find them in Marshall's, TJ MAXX, William Sonoma, or, a cart in the middle of nowhere.
donnie at 6:33PM on 09/04/09
@salpico--I'm familar with silpat mats, never heard of a Roul'Pat. Where can I purchase online?
donnie at 6:35PM on 09/04/09
I second the silpat, tart pan, oven thermometer, cookie scoops, microplane, cake spinner and kitchen scales. Use those all the time. Don't know what I'd without them. Also love the pastry blender and use it exclusively for pies, scones and tart dough. Also you could get her some great baking cookbooks. I'd recommend the following for good all around starter books with good info on each genre of baking.
martha' baking handbook
baking from my home to yours, dorie greenspan
baking with Julia
bakewise
for something fun the martha's cookie book (also cupcake book) are pretty great and very easy to use.
bigfatmouth at 6:36PM on 09/04/09
@lemonfair-
Oh, that would be cool if the young baker really gets into and stays with baking-- some vintage cookie cutters and equipment. Great idea.
CJ McD at 6:38PM on 09/04/09
@donnie-
Roul'Pat mats are sold at most kitchenware shops and online suppliers. Amazon, for one, has 'em. Just Google it.
salpico at 6:43PM on 09/04/09
This is soooo cool! Didi( who posts here every once ina while) is going to be sooo happy. Don't worry, she's in back to school mode.
I personally love the idea of cookbooks, she'll have them forever.
She's turning 11 and this is the generation of DVD's if you're planning on referencing without using the computer. Are ANY of the aforementioned available on DVD?
donnie at 7:19PM on 09/04/09
@ KarynMc--
@lemonfair--
What a great idea. AS I've posted, I am not a baker. However, I do love to cook. It was always tns of fun to receive really off the wall, as well as functional, vintage things. I have a food mill(one word? 2? no clue) that I had no clue what to do with when I received it, now, I can' live without it!
donnie at 7:25PM on 09/04/09
You could get her a subscription to King Arthur Flour's "Baker's Sheet" newsletter, or any of their cookbooks. What I like about their books is they tell you what to expect during the baking process, and teach good technique - fantastic for a beginner/intermediate.
AliceBlue at 7:36PM on 09/04/09
Add a few ingredients along with the gadgets, so she can make something right away! Some good chocolate, specialty vanilla, flavored extracts, yeast, almonds or coconut for decoration, you get the idea. Pizza ingredients might be fun for her. There are so many different interpretations and applications.
My 12 year old son started cooking when he was 7 and it is SOO much fun! I do bake and cook and it is so great to be able share something I really love (and the girls will love) with him, and now he comes up with recipes that are actually very good.
McD is right about the apron and I went one step further and got a chef's hat and a chef's jacket.
We have awesome pictures; his brother drew a curly French mustache on him.
Have fun and let us know!
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 9:23PM on 09/04/09
How about Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking From My Home to Yours"? It's an awesome resource with very approachable recipes.
fujimama at 9:31PM on 09/04/09
i would definitely include that microplane zester, especially if she likes citrus desserts -- and a lemon reamer. the cheap wooden ones with a pointy tip are great.
cybercita at 9:50PM on 09/04/09
Pastrychef.com has tons of great tools and ingredients at reasonable prices. They're not as cheap as, say, walmart, but the quality is well worth the slightly higher price. Their service is good. You'll have your stuff in a week or less.
beth1 at 11:04PM on 09/04/09
donnie et al: I had a set of some great, transparent red cookie cutters as a child (50's) - Christmas ones. They're called HRM cookie cutters, and it turns out there are cutters for other seasons as well. They're relatively inexpensive on ebay (and even less expensive now than a couple of years ago). I'm a sucker for transparent bright colors. But they also have some neat metal cookie and doughnut cutters that are even older.
lemonfair at 6:30AM on 09/05/09
A nice bundt pan - one of those heavy duty ones that have intricate designs in them - would be nice.
Please don't waste money on a double boiler. Any pan with any metal or glass bowl set in it is a double boiler. Spend your money on stuff that doesn't spontaneously occur in the kitchen.
My A#1 gift for your fledgling baker is: Half sheet trays. They are ubiquitous in the professional kitchen and are invaluable in the home kitchen. They are good for cookies, sheet cakes, brownies, placing under springform pans to catch drips and corraling multiple small ramekins or cake pans going in the oven.
If space is not an issue, go to a restaurant supply place and get a box of sheet pan sized parchment. It lasts forever and has so many uses.
Please congratulate the future flour junkie for me and give her a big high 5!!!
therealchiffonade at 6:48PM on 09/05/09
@Donnie - I don't know of any baking books on DVD, but if you are going to get her an actual tree-book, I think that The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is an amazing resource. Everthing from super simple to very complex, with wonderful pictures of the finished product.
And if she's really into cake, I'd suggest hitting ebay, where you can get some awesome vintage cake keepers.
chisai at 9:09PM on 09/05/09
Does she have a recipe binder/box yet? I have a feeling she's going to start collecting a lot of recipes over the next few years, so it would be good to keep them organized. Even if you're not a baker, maybe other family members are? Perhaps start to collect those for her?
meem21 at 12:32PM on 09/06/09
if she gets into bread-the perfect book is "beard on bread" by james beard.
you're a lucky mom!
(also, a digital scale, as mentioned above, is vital!)
gastronomeg at 11:24AM on 09/09/09
Some nice nesting bowls, metal, glass, or plastic would be great. All the different sizes accommodate good mise en place.
A nice apron with her name embroidered will help keep her clean and quite possibly cut down on the laundry!
carla_rose at 12:08PM on 09/09/09
These are all such great suggestions, I find it difficult to add anything! But I'll try. I like Beth Hensperger's "The Bread Bible," which in addition to many regular yeast breads includes some quick breads, muffins, etc. Admittedly there is some overlap here with Dorie Greenspan's "Baking from My Home to Yours," but I love them both.
It looks like tools and ingredients are pretty well covered, but what about a pretty cake stand or some other serving dishes? There's nothing like delivering a beautiful cake or tart to the table on a footed cake stand!
CEBakes at 12:55PM on 09/09/09
These are all such great suggestions, I find it difficult to add anything! But I'll try. I like Beth Hensperger's "The Bread Bible," which in addition to many regular yeast breads includes some quick breads, muffins, etc. Admittedly there is some overlap here with Dorie Greenspan's "Baking from My Home to Yours," but I love them both.
It looks like tools and ingredients are pretty well covered, but what about a pretty cake stand or some other serving dishes? There's nothing like delivering a beautiful cake or tart to the table on a footed cake stand!
CEBakes at 12:55PM on 09/09/09