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KitchenWare :: Cooking Utensils :: Pastry & Cookie Tools
Pastry & Cookie Tools Products
Pastry and Cookie Tools: Some Essential Items
The number and variety of pastry and cookie tools available is staggering. Arguably, there are more gadgets available to bakers than any other type of cook. While some of these gadgets may become essential parts of you baking life, others will collect dust in your pastry and cookie tools cabinet, so choose wisely.
It is tempting to buy all the pastry and cookie tools in sight, but limit yourself to what you really need and will use. A sensible way of shopping is to decide in advance what your next project will be then purchase any tools you'll need. That way, you are certain to use the pastry and cookie tools you buy.
It is advisable to have quite a few pastry pans, pie pans, cake pans and cookie sheets. You will want to have the right cooking surface for the job. Heavy aluminum and tin-plated steel make the best pastry and cookie tools.
Make sure you have various sizes of pastry pans and cookie sheets when assembling your collection of pastry and cookie tools. Depending on what you like to bake, you will want to have cake pans, loaf pans, muffin pans, pie pans, cookie sheets and jelly roll pans.
You cannot handle food fresh from the oven with your bare hands, so utensils are an essential element of your pastry and cookie tools. Wood spoons are cheap and very good for mixing dough or batter. If you have non-stick pans, they won't ruin them, like you would with metal spoons.
You will have a thousand uses for spatulas, ranging from scraping cookies off baking sheets to frosting cakes. You'll want narrow ones for loosening your baked creations from the pan. The perfect utensils for getting baked stuff loose from pans are narrow spatulas. They're good pastry and cookie tools for applying frosting also.
You'll also need some whisks as part of your arsenal of pastry and cookie tools. You will use them for batters and sauces, beating egg whites, and whipping cream.
Two sets of measuring cups are another vital element in your collection of pastry and cookie tools. You'll need a set for dry ingredients and a set for liquids. These can be obtained in sets. You'll also need more than one set of measuring spoons in your collection of pastry and cookie tools.
A reliable timer is among kitchen gadgets you can't do without. Don't' count on your ability to watch the clock. Let a timer remind you and avoid turning your cookies and pastries into charred little cinders. You will also want to have a pair of kitchen scissors amongst your kitchen gadgets, as they're handy for trimming pie dough, cutting paper to line pans and snipping pieces of dried fruit.
You'll also want vegetable peelers and apple corers, especially if you're inclined toward baking pies or fruit tarts. As odd as it may seem to the inexperienced baker, a ruler is a gadget you'll need among your pastry and pie tools. You will use it for measuring pan sizes and pastry shapes, but also as a straight edge when cutting pastries and dough.
You will need to also have a big, thick dough scraper. This has a thousand uses, but you will be using it for its intended purpose constantly. Get the widest one you can, you'll use it to cut, lift and turn sticky dough and scrape work surfaces clean. Of course you'll also need cookie cutters. Let your imagination run wild. A pastry bag is an essential kitchen gadget; you will want one with an assortment of decorating tubes. In addition to decorating, you will use it to pipe meringue mixture and fillings into pastries. Lastly, you'll need cooling racks for the last step before your cookies and pastries are ready to eat.
