Put a new spin on some favourite holiday recipes.
For the home baker
If you’ve got home bakers on your holiday gift list, there are plenty of attractive and functional items on the market to help them whip up delectable goodies.
Canadian artisan Brenda Watts of Hermitage, Prince Edward Island, makes French rolling pins out of flame birch in her Cattails Woodwork studio. They look like freshly baked baguettes, as decorative as they are useful.
“I believe that beautiful things made from wood can have a purpose beyond what pleases the eye,” she says. “They should bring pleasure in use.” www.etsy.com/shop/CattailsWoodwork
Lisa Van Riper’s The Humble Elephant studio in Erie, Pennsylvania, also crafts rolling pins; hers are made of maple, and are embossed to roll out patterns such as flowers, hearts, leaves or farm animals. www.etsy.com/shop/HumbleElephant
Get things stirred up with Macy’s copper mixing bowl set from Martha Stewart Collection. Stainless steel with copper plating, the 1.5-quart, 3-quart and 5quart bowls nest handily. www.macys.com For exact measuring, Taylor Scale’s glass-topped digital scale is easily cleaned and operates with a couple of AAA batteries; an auto-off feature saves power. www.target.com Silicone mats with printed-on measurements for pie crusts, cookies and other baked treats make it easy to form or dollop out consistently sized doughs, and they roll up for easy storage. www.surlatable.com Bake a handy take-along treat with one of Norpro’s “cakesicle” pans that come with a set of wooden sticks. www.sears.com
For bakers in tight working spaces, without room for big stand mixers and other countertop gear, consider giving Kitchenaid’s powerful, all-in-one, nine-speed hand mixer. Available in silver, black, white or red, it comes with beaters, dough hooks, whisk and blending rod, so you can mix, knead, whip and blend using one appliance. A storage bag keeps everything corralled. www.kitchenaid.com
Fancy Flours has an array of cupcake wrappers made of lasercut paper, in poinsettia, snowflake, animal and crown patterns. There’s also a smart red and chrome shaker/dispenser for sifting out cocoa, sugar or flour. And for adding flavour or flair to baked treats, there are six-ounce containers of crystallized rose and hibiscus flowers. www.fancyflours.com
Present the sweet treats on a fun cake stand painted to look like a peppermint candy (pictured above); Homegoods has them in three sizes in festive red and white. www.homegoods.com