Hello strangers!
Uni has gone mad, I swear I’m spending half of my life on AutoCAD staring at lines and drawings at the moment. My eyes are going square!!
So I apologise, but I don’t have a recipe to share with you today… I haven’t baked in over a month. I just do not have the time and it’s driving me mad!
However, it’s Christmas soon and I thought I’d do a guide of things (I absolutely love) for anyone who is completely stuck on what to get the foodie in their life for Christmas!
Believe me, there are so many more things I could add to this guide, but I’ve kept it short (ish) – hopefully just to give you some ideas for gifts – maybe seeing something here will suddenly give you a great idea for a present!
I hope to be able to update again before Christmas, maybe a recipe post especially for Christmas. I’m definitely having a break over Christmas – I do have some work to do, but I want to eat and be merry with my friends and family too!
In case I don’t update before, I want to wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you so much for all of the support you’ve given me this year!
- This has to be my most treasured cookbook. I have almost 100 and I just keep coming back to this one, amazing:
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
- If you ever want to know if a certain flavour combination goes together, then this book is just fabulous! There are combinations I would never have thought of and when I try them, they’re bliss!
- I’ve been through many a hand mixer, most just can’t cope with a good, stiff cookie dough. I’ve had them snap, burn out, all sorts. (I have a stand mixer now, so that does the really hard jobs) but this hand mixer is without doubt the best I’ve ever used. It’s super powerful and really well made, it’s all metal – heavy, but it feels sturdy in your hands!
- I have a small kitchen, made smaller by the insane amount of kitchen appliances I own. So, when baking up batches of cookies, I need to go up, rather than across when cooling them – this 3 tier cooling rack comes in very handy!
- If you’re only going to buy one thing for your kitchen, I really recommend this – it has made pastry rolling soooooooooo much easier!! I’ve seen these things being sold for £50 and them trying to make out it’s something fancy, it’s not – it’s just a large silicone sheet with diameters on for pie crusts, they don’t have to be expensive, but they are amazing! Since getting mine, I’ve made pastry a whole lot more and never had anything stick/break/crack!
WellBake Rolling Mat for Pastry
- I have a thing about spatulas. I kind of collect them. I have good ones and not so good ones. The ones where the top pops off when you try and mix a cookie dough are not so good, these Joseph Joseph ones are quite expensive, but they’re amazing. They’re one molded piece and they have a lip so you can rest them on the worktop without wiping your cake batter all over it!
Joseph Joseph Elevate Spatula Set
- Another absolute classic – The Fannie Farmer Cookbook may be old, but I could honestly just read it for hours. It’s full of brilliant recipes and instructions – how to cook ingredients in a variety of way, how to bone chickens and whole chapters on kitchen equipment! I managed to get mine fairly cheap and had it shipped from the States, prices vary, I’m normally a sucker for brand new cookbooks, but my old copy of this book has character and has that amazing old book smell!
- Having spent the last 3 years with a Chinese man, I’m totally converted to the fact that a Wok can be used for anything and everything!! 95% of the time when we cook, we use a Wok instead of a saucepan, perfect size and shape for everything!
- Staying with cookware and the exception to my “always using a wok rule” is casseroles. There’s just nothing like a big cast iron enameled pot which you can use on the hob, in the oven and then put straight on the table. Less washing up, which makes me very happy! Le Creuset has to be the favourite – they’re an investment, but you’ll use it again and again!
Le Creuset 28 cm Cast Iron Round Casserole, Coastal Blue
- I am a complete klutz. I am that person who can trip over my own feet and trip up the stairs. My boyfriend bought me a laptop with a military grade metal frame so that when (not if) I drop it, it won’t break! So, to make sure I end up with a lovely cake to present, instead of a crumbled mess on the floor, I swear by cake lifters!
Kitchencraft Professional Cake Lifter
So there we have it! My top 10 favourite kitchen items! Right, off to do more CAD! When will it end…?
Merry Christmas!
