this is my curated gift guide for the people in your life who love to cook/bake at home. if you are unsure what to get them this holiday season, you have come to the right place.
all of the items in this list are my tried and true kitchen essentials i have been using and loving all of these items for at least a few months, many of them for years (except for the items tagged “my gift list” – these are things i would like to be receiving this year…if you happen to be reading this, théo…). some are cuter than others but all are super functional gifts for any baker/chef!
the gift guide is separated into different sections. one section on kitchen-wear, another on kitchen tools, and one on cookbooks. if i have forgotten a genre of gift you would like a recommendation for, please ask in the comments and i will happily share some ideas with you!
ps. a lot of these items are on sale today (but not sure how much longer they will be)!
kitchen-wear
the glacé apron by paris starn x semaine
i have been keeping this collaboration a secret for many many months, but… i am semaine’s december tastemaker, and together we launched an apron to celebrate! it has been so fun getting to dip my toes back into designing - i am biased, but i think it’s really cute. the glacé apron is vinyl, meaning when done cooking you can just spritz it with your cleaner of choice to remove any food - no need to wash, hang dry, and iron like the rest of the aprons in my closet. all the aprons were manufactured in nyc, and the vinyl was made with deadstock fabric. i’ve worn it while baking four times now and i love it.
the 4” claw clip by undo hairware at outline brooklyn
this is the cutest and most comfortable hair clip i have ever worn. i can wear it for hours while baking without it hurting my noggin. i’m waiting for outline to get more colors, however, the red does look great with the apron ;) - photographic evidence is provided above.
the left is a photo of me in my simone rocha crocs that i wear when working catering events, and the photo on the right is of the crocs i wear in the kitchen daily, just in a cuter color.
i read an article recently that said crocs are actually bad for your feet, but i swear i have less back pain if i wear them versus going shoeless. i also think they make great kitchen shoes because i can throw them in the washing machine whenever i drop food on them. i have multiple pairs, some for my house and others for when i’m cooking outside of the home.
heattech ribbed pile lined socks by uniqlo
yes, i wear crocs with socks. that’s why my videos cut off at knee height (that and my kitchen is compact so that’s physically as far back as my phone can go). as someone who is perpetually cold, i need socks. for the longest time, i wore fuzzy socks, but crocs and fuzzy socks are a bit too much of a vibe. i was so happy to find these pile lined socks, which are much cuter and comfier. although uniqlo, if you’re reading this, they’re a bit too big for those of us with tiny feet.
i often find myself leaving the farmers market with 4+ bags of produce (salads for lunch, fruits for snacks, it adds up). this has been absolutely terrible for my shoulders and upper back, so i think it’s time to get a hulken. they’re cute, they fold up, and they have rolling wheels and shoulder straps meaning it can go from sidewalk to stairwell with ease.
kitchen tools
i’m imagining if you are a subscriber then you already have a kitchen scale (since that’s all i use in my recipes), but if not - or if your baking-loving friends have yet to make the jump, i think this is a great gift. i was so resistant to switching from measuring cups to scales at first – the extra expense, the worry it would be difficult – but as soon as i got one i realized i should have made the switch ages before. for the amount of time saved on washing all those measuring spoons alone, the price was well worth it. it also leads to much more consistent results. over the years i have used many different kitchen scales, but the one linked above is nice and waterproof (which is a huge plus). i purchased this one a few months ago, i like it, but it’s not spill proof so you have to be very careful with it.
graduated bowl set by anchor hocking
growing up, my family had a whole bunch of mismatched bowls that, albeit eclectic, took up a bunch of space in the drawers. when i moved out, one of the first things i purchased was a bowl set. they take up far less space, and i love that these ones are clear so that you can see if an ingredient hasn’t been properly incorporated.
blender by vitamix
i feel so silly putting a blender on a gift guide, but a great blender can make a huge difference. getting things nice and smooth is a real gift for bakers and cooks. a few years ago, i splurged on this vitamix (it was on sale then and is again now) and it’s great. however, if it’s out of your budget, a ninja is a fantastic option (it’s what my parents have).
stand mixer by kitchenaid
this item is the most expensive on the list, but i swear it is the workhorse that powers my kitchen. i cannot begin to express how much easier it is to cream butter and sugar (the arm strength needed to properly cream butter and sugar with a hand mixer is more than you think), knead dough, roll out pasta, etc. it is also very useful for things that take a long time with a hand mixer, or tasks you would like spare hands for (think french and italian meringues and buttercreams). getting one of these also means it will be easier to break out of your comfort zone in the kitchen, it makes trying new pastry techniques easier and less time-consuming.
these kitchenaid stand mixers are famous for not breaking for decades. although i cannot personally attest to decades, i’ve had mine for 15 years and it still works like new, making me a loyal customer.
i love their mixers so much, i have two: the one linked above, and an even larger one. the 7qt stand mixer makes baking even faster (it whips my egg whites and kneads dough shockingly fast), but it also takes up a lot more space and costs more money. i’d say it’s only worth it if you regularly bake for large crowds. if you are just baking for fun, a 5qt will be more than sufficient!
hand mixer by hamilton beach
this is probably the cheapest hand mixer you can find and it’s also a great one. théo brought this hand mixer into our relationship. he thinks he had it for about five years before we started dating, which means it’s coming up on its 10th birthday. for something that costs less than a plate of pasta in manhattan, i would consider this gadget a great buy.
if you want to start baking more and don’t want to shell out for a stand mixer, get this hand mixer. i also prefer using a hand mixer over my stand mixer for a few things: egg whites (see the above picture), cake batters, and whipped cream.
for good baking results, you have to bake things at the right temperature. a lot of ovens are not properly calibrated, like my home oven, which is always 75-100f hotter than it says it is.
all of this to say, if your loved one doesn’t have one yet, an oven thermometer could greatly increase the quality of your baked goods.it is really a great investment.
12 gauge rimmed baking sheet and 10 gauge rimless baking sheet
these baking sheets are thicker than the standard ones you will find in homeware stores which means they 1. cook food more evenly and 2. don’t bend out of shape.
i have been using this exact set of pans for four years (says my order history). that’s thousands of uses. if you have these, i predict you may never need to purchase another baking sheet again.
as an aside, the rimless baking sheets are great for cookie baking, or anything else you may want to just slide off the sheet after baking. they are not, however, so good for something like roasting a chicken (because of juices), so i’d get the rimmed trays for the chefs in your life.
i have saved the best for last: bench scrapers. this tool was introduced to me when i started making sourdough bread, and it was a total revelation. not only are they great for all kinds of bread needs, but i use them all the time in other baking.
because of the way you grip them, bench scrapers are kinda like an extension of your hand, allowing you to easily slice, scrape, and smooth. they are great for cutting up things that don’t need the strength/precision of a knife (think of portioning dough for donuts and rolls). they are also great for scraping food off your kitchen counter (like flour from making pasta), and they are fantastic for smoothing things: i use them to smooth out cake batter in a pan and to frost my cakes. i love the bench scraper for cake decorating so much that if i had to pick between a bench scraper and an offset spatula, i would pick the bench scraper.
considering their price at around$1 for plastic ones (i’ve found them sold individually at dollar stores and baking supply stores) and$5 for metal ones (the one i use and love i can no longer find online, but i have heard good things about the one i linked), they are a cheap way to really elevate one’s baking!
my gift list mill food recycler
this is not a composter, but a food recycler. meaning you put your food scraps in here and it breaks them down and removes the moisture. the food stuff thus takes up less volume and doesn’t smell as bad before you make it over to the compost drop off. it sounds really great.
cookbooks
playing with food by paris starn subscription
this is not a cookbook but a shameless plug for my substack, which you can give as a gift. if you’ve been enjoying it, maybe a loved ones will too!
tartine by liz prueitt
this is the baking book that really got me into pastry. it was just the right level for a semi-novice to expand into more difficult techniques and extensive recipes. liz (who also has a gluten-free baking substack) is a genius and every recipe is fantastic. i’ve learned so much from her and this book, like what a chiffon cake is, that pastry cream can and should be made with whole eggs, and how to neatly assemble a cake.
french patisserie by ferandi
if your loved one is a pastry nerd who wants to learn more about technique but doesn’t know where to start, get them this book. the recipes cover the fundamentals and show you how to apply them to composed desserts. for example, it shows you how to make a ladyfinger sponge that you will assemble into a charlotte cake. plus, each recipe has a whole bunch of step-by-step photos. the number of fundamental recipes here is unparalleled in any other book i own, and they are so nice and simple that you have a lot of flexibility to make them your own.
bakewise by shirley corriher
speaking of altering baking recipes, this is a great book for learning how to do just that. it’s basically a handbook on how to write your own baking recipes. you’ll learn how much leavener is needed for different quantities of flour, how different leaveners and flours affect how a cookie bakes, etc. if you’ve ever wanted to develop baking recipes, start with this book. ps. it is incredibly affordable as a download, which is how i read it - making it super easy to take notes.
the flavor bible by andrew dornenburg and karen a. page
if you know someone who likes to be creative in the kitchen, this is the book for them. the book is an encyclopaedia, featuring different ingredients and listing other ingredients they pair nicely with and some pretty cool sounding dishes from some pretty cool chefs to show you how they put all these ingredients together. super inspiring if you want to create your own yummy experiments.
the pie room by calum franklin
as you have likely noticed, i have been big on everything en croute this year. of all the pie books i own, this one is my favorite. it has also been my most used book of the year. the recipes are all fantastic and there are a lot of cool tips and tricks that i had never known before reading this.