A Gift Guide for Bakers
Gifts for bakers, gifts from bakers, and also some stuff that I just want
Merry Holiday Season to you all. Here’s my Christmas music playlist. And also on Spotify.
I know the people reading this likely are the baker in their lives, but you can use these as ideas for aspiring bakers you love, inspiration for your wish list — or just go shopping for yourself like everyone else reading gift guides this time of year.
It’s tough trying to buy stuff for hobbyists. Because they are the expert on their *thing* they really know what they want, what they don’t want, and what they already have. So try to do some recon or think about what they might already have based on where they are in their baking journey.
Most of these items are very practical (my favorite type of gift) and things I use in my kitchen all the time. But there are also some non-baking ideas toward the end. Some of these are affiliate links and some aren’t!
Kitchen Stuff
A Chic Olive Oil Cruet
Holcomb Studios sent me this one this year. I love the Space-Age-y design and and chrome finish.
Accessories for Souping Up a Stand Mixer
A beater blade for their Kitchen-Aid is the easiest way to say, please keep baking for me. These scrape the sides of the bowls to make sure everything gets incorporated. For bowl-lift models (check to make sure it’s the right compatibility with the model) and tilt-head models.
Or help them upgrade their entire mixer with this set, including a tilt-head lift handle, work surface mat, and ingredients chute.
A Kitchen Torch
Here’s the thing. I use the big torch you can find at Home Depot for roasting meringue and melting the crackly tops of creme brûlée, but I probably only need a small one like this.
A Cadillac of a Cutting Board
I’m planning on riding my IKEA cutting board I got 10 years ago until the wheels fall off. Until then, I’ll be looking at this one from John Boos (or this one, in end-grain, which absorbs more water but is supposed to be easier on your knives’ edges).
A Very Fun Whisk
From Material Kitchen.
A Rolling Pin for Every Task
I firmly believe you need two pins. A french, tapered style for wrestling pie crust and pastry, and a dowel style with guides for evenly rolling out sheets of cookie and tart dough. Find out which pin they don’t have.
A Cover for Their Half-Sheet Pans
It took me too long into my baking career to realize these exist. Buying two for my various half-sheet trays has saved me a lot of grief (and aluminum foil) trying to keep cookies, cake, etc fresh. Nordic Ware also makes my favorite pans across the board. Get them in the half sheet or quarter sheet sizes.
An Easy Way to Decorate Cakes and Cookies
I use pastry bags now but when I was a kid, we’d use squeeze bottles like these to frost holiday cookies. They’d be especially good for beginners, or kids.
A Great Spatula
If I had to choose one spatula forever; for transferring delicate cookies, flipping burgers, even lifting cakes, it would be the super-thin, flexible, slotted fish spatula. Here’s one from OXO, or a fancier one from Material Kitchen.
Good Chocolate
Get them some nice semisweet, dark, (strawberry?) white, or milk chocolate from Valrhona or Callebaut.
Good Vanilla
I have gotten vanilla beans and vanilla bean paste as a gift and it’s the perfect balance between stuff you’d get for yourself but never do because they are pricey. Vanilla bean sugar and powder would also be welcome in my stocking.
Stuff I Want
So, like, why wouldn’t other people want it too?
An Amazing Candle I Found in a Restaurant Bathroom — “Wood Cabin”
A Cute Matcha Set — I like this one, this one, and this one, all from Etsy.
A Real Alarm Clock — by Loftie
A Way to Fight Phone Addiction — called “Brick”
Subscriptions
Don’t know what to get them? Since the mainstream media landscape is on fire, how about a subscription to some great independent news outlets!
Or a great food creator! Substack lets you gift subscriptions, by the way! Here are some that I personally would pay to subscribe to!
Kitchen Projects — Nicola Lamb
Playing with Food — Paris Starn
Have a Little Something — Yossy Arefi
The Boy Who Bakes — Edd Kimber
All Day Cake — Sophie Bamford
How I Cook — Ben Lippett
Tasting Notes — Erika Kwee
easygayoven — Eric King :)
omg the torch.