Articles
15 Essential Kitchen Tools
Are you just starting out and ready to equip you first kitchen? Or maybe this time at home has you thinking it might be time to pare down an overload of gadgets? Whatever your motivation, check out our list of must-have kitchen essentials for tools you’ll actually use.
Tips
DIY Nonstick Pizza Cutter
When you cut pizza with a pizza cutter, do you lose half the cheese and toppings to your cutter? Here's a simple tip to make it nonstick so your toppings stay put.
DIY Jar Grip
Some jars are tough to open. Save your money and don't purchase those rubber jar grips! You can make a DIY version at home with a rubberband.
Use Dowels for Even Dough Rolling
Rolling dough and pastry to an even, accurate thickness is hard with just a rolling pin. Here's a simple way to create guides to ensure even rolling of your pastry and pie doughs.
An Easy Way to Line a Springform Pan
Instead of carefully tracing and cutting your parchment to fit into the bottom of your pan, here's a quick way to line torte and springform pans.
Griddle Grilling
Expand the possibilities of your grilling by using a cast-iron griddle as another cooking surface for your grill. You can cook just about anything you would make in your cast-iron pan or griddle indoors and it takes the fun outside.
Why You Need a Pair of Kitchen Tweezers
Kitchen tweezers may seem like an unnecessary, restaurant-only kitchen tool for placing and removing the smallest or most delicate ingredients. But they are incredibly useful in the home kitchen as well. Here are some of the best uses for tweezers in your kitchen.
The Many Uses for a Bench Scraper
One of the best kitchen tools is the bench knife (also known as a pastry or dough scraper). It’s a baker’s best friend and performs many tasks. Here are a few ways to use one in your kitchen.
Multi-Purpose Pasta Insert for Soup & Broth
Make soup, stock and broth-making a breeze by putting your pasta insert to use! Clean up is a breeze and yet another unitasker becomes a multi-purpose kitchen tool.
An Easy Way to Sharpen Kitchen Shears
Your kitchen shears probably get a good amount of use—but they are the last kitchen tool you might think to sharpen! Here's an easy way to sharpen your kitchen shears.
How to Test the Accuracy of Your Thermometer
An accurate thermometer is crucial to your cooking and baking success! Thermometers come in handy for all types of recipes, from frying and testing meat for doneness to baking bread and making candy. Here's an easy way to test your thermometer for accuracy—no special equipment required!
How to Cut Perfect, Bakery-Quality Brownies and Cake Slices
Want those crisp, clean edges on your perfectly square brownies? Turn to your pizza wheel to make your brownies and cakes look like they came straight out of the bakery.
How to Freshen Your Cutting Boards—and Remove Odors
Even after cleaning with hot, soapy water, wooden cutting boards can still have a pungent odor. Here's a simple tip to freshen your cutting boards and reduce lingering odors.
How-To's
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Recipes
Spiced Apple Butter
Spiced Apple Butter is a tasty way to put fresh fall apples to good use and this one shouldn’t be missed. Sugar and spices make it sweet and homespun, but cider vinegar, thyme, and bay leaf add depth. Then, slather this flavorful butter on biscuits for the perfect fall breakfast.
Tomato Jam
Once you try Marisa McClellan’s Tomato Jam you’ll understand why we’re highlighting this preserve. It’s savory and sweet, with a punch of heat, and has a variety of clever uses. So head to your garden, pick some tomatoes, and get jammin’.
Cantaloupe Agua Fresca with Fresh Basil
This non-alcoholic fruit drink is perfect for sipping on a summer afternoon. Savor the sweet flavor of ripe cantaloupe in this refreshing agua fresca. Not a fan of having pieces of basil in your drink? Strain the agua fresca before serving.
Coconut Rice with Lemon Grass
Since rice is eaten at nearly every Indonesian meal, don’t pass on this one. Lemon grass and coconut milk make for a fragrant, ultra-creamy side dish. Serve with Grilled Chicken Thighs with sambal marinade.
Three Peas Salad
Just-picked produce makes for ultimate summer side dishes. With fresh sugar snap peas, green peas, and pea shoots, this brilliantly flavored green salad is perfect on any dinner table.
Puff Pastry Pinwheels with Boursin Cheese
Puff pastry is a French delicacy made by rolling cold butter into multiple layers of dough. When baked, the butter melts and creates steam, causing the dough to puff. While all that buttery, crispy goodness sounds great on its own, if you spread Boursin cheese all over it before baking and roll it up into pinwheels, it's even better.
Beef Stroganoff Soup with Fresh Dill
Beef stroganoff is the ultimate comfort food. Full of tender strips of flavorful steak, mushrooms sautéed in butter for a rich sauce, and egg noodles topped with sour cream, it just doesn’t get much better than that. Unless of course the classic dish is rearranged into a quick-to-make, satisfying soup — now that’s something everyone is sure to get on board with!
For the best flavor and texture in this soup, rib-eye steak can’t be beat — its marbling keeps the meat moist even if it’s c…
Cranberry Sauce with Crème de Cassis & Currants
What’s Thanksgiving without the sides, especially the iconic jewel-red cranberry sauce? Cranberries simmered in crème de cassis makes a wonderful tart foil to the richness of the rest of your Thanksgiving meal.
Honeydew Mojito with Cucumber Simple Syrup
Cool off with these ice cold mojito cocktails made with refreshing cucumber, honeydew melon, mint and lime. Top off with rum and club soda and you have reason enough to raise a glass and celebrate.
Bloody Mary Pops
For a savory, boozy popsicle, give these Bloody Mary Pops a try — they’re perfect for a brunch on the patio. Inspired by the classic brunch cocktail, these alcohol-infused pops have all the traditional flavors of a Bloody Mary, but in a refreshing, conveniently packed form.
Cucumber-Soju Coolers
These vibrant Cucumber Soju-Coolers are the perfect refreshing accompaniment to a spicy meal. Fresh mint, cucumber, lime, and just a touch of sweetness come together for the perfect summer drink. Word to the wise, it’s nearly impossible to have just one.
Considered Korea’s national alcohol, Soju, at its most basic, is a colorless, 20–24 percent alcohol-by-volume spirit. It’s neutral-tasting, like vodka, and is traditionally made from rice. But modern producers often use other starch…
Homemade Yogurt
Creamy Homemade Yogurt is so luscious in taste and texture, and so simple to make, once you try it, you may never purchase it again. When you make yogurt at home, you control everything about it — quality of ingredients, thickness, and tartness of the finished product. Incubate your yogurt based on your taste preferences; more time for more tartness. For thinner yogurt, skip the nonfat dry milk.