KNHR's Top Drawer

Homemade Cookie Fun

Every once in awhile I like to go on what I call a baking frenzy. It started a couple years ago when a good friend and I would find ourselves with nothing to do, so we would just bake. Cookies, cakes, brownies, two or three different things all in one night. It was quite the scene. (I can be one of those cooks whose ingredients and creations explodes all over the kitchen.) We probably weren’t the most exciting 20-somethings, but our friends definitely appreciated our baking frenzies. And as the holidays approach, I can feel that baking frenzy itch coming on. I’m planning on throwing a couple holiday parties this season, and no holiday party is complete without a plate of cookies, right? And I’m thinking a cookie press is just the tool to help me bake those plates of cookies.

Here’s an option from R.S.V.P. International. The Cookie Press Plus includes 12 different cookie discs and eight decorating tips. So now instead of dropping spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking sheet, I can squeeze them out in pretty designs. Just the right look for a festive holiday party. And, as an added bonus, the discs and tips store conveniently in the press’ attached cap. (It’s too easy to lose things in my kitchen.) Suggested retail price is $24.

Satisfy Everyone with the Lasagna Trio Pan

If you’ve ever hosted a dinner party, you know how complicated it can be these days. When it comes to food, people are allergic, picky, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, no red meats, etc. Whatever the reason, it never makes your life any easier. In order to accommodate my various guests, I try to come up with recipes that I can easily adapt. For example, lasagna is a recipe that tastes delicious every way you make it—cheese lasagna, meat lasagna, vegetable lasagna. And there’s the problem. What type of lasagna to make? You don’t want or need three pans of lasagna, but that person doesn’t eat meat, and those two refuse to eat half the veggies in your vegetable lasagna. Maybe you used to have to compromise on which lasagna to make, or just bake three pans of lasagna. It doesn’t have to be that way any longer, thanks to Chicago Metallic’s Lasagna Trio pan.

Shelley Potaniec, Product Manager for Chicago Metallic, mentioned this pan in our chat yesterday about bakeware. (To learn more about bakeware, see our July issue.) The pan has three channels, making it easy to prepare and bake multiple types of lasagna, all in one pan. It has a nonstick coating and each channel is the width and length of a standard lasagna noodle. It also comes with a custom-fit spatula to easily remove and serve your lasagna. Suggested retail price is $30 and is available at cookware and bakeware retailers nationwide.

Cake Decorating Fun with Kuhn Rikon

I’ve started to bake a little bit more. It used to be one of those things I did very rarely because it always seems like it should require this intense amount of effort, and I don’t even have a sweet tooth. But I’m slowly discovering a real fondness for baking with the help of some excellent food bloggers. Also, I may not have a sweet tooth, but plenty of my friends do. Therefore, I’ve decided I’m going to have more fun baking, and let other people enjoy the baked goods (and the calories!).

Embracing baking for me obviously means embracing more kitchenware. (I can hear my sister groaning about lack of space in our house already.) But, she just doesn’t understand...how else am I going to decorate cakes for her without the Kuhn Rikon Decorating Pen? Here’s how the pen works. It’s battery operated and works just like a pen, giving you (and me!) more control over the frosting. You fill a cartridge with frosting, insert it into the pen and then push down on the yellow lever to dispense your frosting. The pen has two speeds and three cartridges. Sounds easy as cake to me! The Frosting Deco Pen includes the pen, six decorating tips, three frosting cartridges, three filler plates, one color mixer, and instruction and recipe booklet. Suggested retail price is $29.95.