Love Week 2011: Kitchen Gadgets . . .

{Williams Sonoma cookie scoop}

I’m feeling better today.  I want to eat again.  Good thing. First up, my birthday cheesecake.  Then lunch with my mom and sis at Clyde’s.

I love food. And I love being in the kitchen.  True, many days the drudgery of preparing three meals a day for the multitude can get to me.  But when I’m baking or making a really special dinner for my Hubby, I feel at peace in the kitchen. 

I’m trying to stock it with all sorts of gadgety goodness.  My friend Jennie, who worked at Williams Sonoma for years, is helping me navigate the unchartered waters of kitchen essentials.  Today I’m going to share a few of my loves with you.

Pictured above is my WS cookie scoop.  It actually stopped effectively scooping cookie dough years ago and is now primarily used for scooping muffin and cupcake batter into pans.  Two scoops from this baby makes a perfectly sized muffin.

This, my friends, is the IKEA dough scraper.  If you make bread of any kind, you must get this tool.  It is perfect for cutting my mother-in-law’s cinnamon roll dough.  But it’s even more perfect for scraping up all the dried leftover dough bits when I am done.  My counters have never been so grateful. It’s super expensive though – like three dollars.

A good, sharp, smallish (paring sized) knife w/ a cover.  This one is from Jennie and I bless her every time I use it.  I have a decent set of Henkel knives but they get used every day and have become dull over time.  This little green knife is super sharp.  Perfect for cutting a tomato!   I love to take it in my bag to the park with an apple.  The handy sheath cover means I don’t slice my finger when I reach in the bag to find it.  Awesome.

Yeah, it’s a spatula.  But not just any old spatula.  This one is tiny. It looks like a kiddie toy.  It is perfect for getting the last of the sour cream out of a measuring cup.  Or getting to the very bottom of a can of soup. It reaches into corners and crevices never before known to man.  Again, Jennie hooked me up with this fave.

I fought this one for years until Jennie made me.  It’s a micro plane zester and it is heavenly. All other grater related objects are put to shame by this fella. He’s sharp as a razor.  I can’t look at him without craving freshly grated parmesan or lemon zest or coconut lime banana bread.  Golly.  I think I’m going to bake today!

So there you have it.  Five kitchen gadgets I love.  What about you?  Do you have a secret weapon I need to know about?