Kitchen Toys

I am a big, BIG fan of s'mores. I've been known to make them on my electric stovetop in the dead of winter. This is why I was so delighted about what I like to call the S'mores Revolution. Several years ago it seemed that major food manufacturers had discovered what I'd known all along--s'mores are delicious. Henceforth came a deluge of s'mores-flavored baked goods, candy bars, ice creams, and whatnot. And, of course everyone wanted to make more s'mores at home, so there came various sorts of s'mores makers, so that one may enjoy the deliciousness of s'mores without having to fire up the grill, or, heaven forbid, leave the kitchen and go camping.

The latest product in the S'mores Revolution is the microwave s'mores maker by Progressive. Making s'mores has truly never been easier. Now, while it is certainly true that you can't get that great charred flavor so essential to a classic s'more, this gadget does somehow achieve a perfectly melted marshmallow (not too much, not too little, just right), gooey chocolate, all the while retaining the crispness of the graham crackers. "Just add water," says the manufacturer. The gadget has this little reservoir you fill up with approximately a cup of water. Then you assemble the s'mores ingredients under the "hands," pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and voila! Gooey happiness.

I can't say I'd ever give up a real, over-the-grill s'more for a microwave s'more, but when it comes right down to it, I'll take my s'mores where I can get them. Plus, I'm thinking this little gadget will be a safe and fun way to make snacktime special for my son. And maybe that's really who the microwave s'mores maker is for--kids. Or, kids at heart.

--KitchenMaus

There seems to be a rather large market for kitchen products I didn't know I needed. Back in June I finally caved and bought myself an ebelskiver pan, a product apparently popular with a lot of our readers, and a cookware item that has set forth a breakfast revolution amongst my family and friends. It never fails--invite friends over, serve them ebelskivers (chocolate-filled!), listen to their happy sighs, and every time, before the last 'skiver is devoured, they're all dreamily saying, "I must have one of these pans."

My latest find is the presliced brownie pan from Slice Solutions. Now, I have to tell you, when I first saw it I scoffed at the concept. I said, "How hard is it to slice your own brownies? Really!" But, the box enticed me with the idea of making a whole pan full of different types of brownies--at once! So, again, I indulged my need for interesting kitchenware and was soon baking up my first round of presliced brownies.

As you can see from the photos on the right, I created a selection of brownies with different candy toppings. After pouring in the batter and inserting the divider, I topped each brownie with Reese's Pieces, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Skor, Twix, Caramello, or Junior Mints. After they baked and cooled, I followed the instructions to remove the divider (slid out like a charm!) and then set the pan on the small side of the cooling rack, which lifts the removable bottom up from the pan, making it impossibly easy to get right at your brownies.

I did love the brownie variety I produced with just the one recipe. But, as it turns out, it was the slice aspect of the pan that really wowed me. Let me tell you--I am now obsessed with this pan, intensely in love with those perfect little slices and exact right angles. I am probably the manufacturer's ideal demographic--a baker and an editor. I like everything just so, and this pan caters to my perfectionist nature. I now spend idyll moments fantasizing about my next round of perfectly-sliced brownies, snack cakes, cornbread, and quick breads. (I also baked some zucchini bread in the pan, to equal perfectionista delight.)

In addition to the brownie pan, Slice Solutions also makes the following presliced wonders:

• 9-inch loaf pan
• 9-inch cake pan
• 9-inch pie pan

And, by the way, it's worth mentioning that you can use the pans without the dividers, just as regular old baking pans. The cool thing about them is that they have removable bottoms, so it's super easy to release the baked goods from their pan imprisonment. And, with the dividers, I keep thinking how great the pans would be for kids' birthday parties, get-togethers, and picnics. Just take along the whole thing, and remove the divider on site--no worrying about ruining your baking masterpiece en route. Plus, they'd be quite the conversation starter with your family and friends.

--KitchenMaus

Something about the encroaching fall is making me think of homemade bread, which is then made into homemade toast, with a little butter on it. The toasty homemade bread and melted butter makes those chilly morning a little bit easier to handle. But who really has time to make homemade bread (I tend to ask myself)? Which is why I was excited recently to test out Panasonic’s SD-YD250 bread maker. And, you know, it fit the bill perfectly, because of its 13-hour timer, which lets the bread be fresh in the morning, waiting to take the edge off waking up. It has a host of other features (including giving you the ability to make white, whole wheat, multigrain, French, and other breads, and giving you 3 loaf sizes to choose from), which are nice, too, but really, having homemade bread in the morning is the best. As long as it’s great bread--which it is.

“Of course,” you’re thinking, “he’s going to say that, he works for Amazon.com, where this very bread maker is sold.” But, for another view, check out the image of the bread on the left, which was uploaded by “JR Mommy ‘Super mommy’” a customer that bought the SD-YD250. That’s a good-looking loaf. Waking up to a piece of toast from that would make any morning better (and think of lunch, too--a good grilled cheese with homemade bread is tasty). Really, it’s not all the fancy features (though they’re a kick, too) that matter with a bread maker, it’s how good the bread is. And the Panasonic SD-YD250 passes the bread test with flying colors.

--A.J. Rathbun

While I did see the Dark Knight twice in theaters this summer (once on IMAX), my favorite movie of Summer 08 will go on record as being WALL-E. Seriously, I don't know how those folks at Pixar do it--they're geniuses! Whoever came up with that spork bit, well, give him or her a raise!

I've got a 15-month-old son, and as I gather up ideas for future birthday parties or fun days in the kitchen, I often look to Wilton for inspiration. Their website has so many fun ideas for baking! I was excited to find out that they actually make a WALL-E cake pan. My son was too young to see WALL-E this summer (and definitely too young to appreciate it), but I have hopes for a future WALL-E-themed birthday party--and this cake will definitely be the centerpiece! I also just noticed that they make the most adorable WALL-E icing decorations. They would be SO cute on cupcakes! I'm going to have to have them.

Now, I know that making this cake look as beautiful as pictured will be an endeavor. One thing that's really great about Wilton is that they give you all the instructions needed to reproduce their detailed decorating. Unfortunately they don't also give you the steady hand necessary for all that fine icing work, but I'm working on that...

--KitchenMaus

Now, I want to make one thing clear--I am not into unicorns. It's not that I have anything against them, it's just that I haven't really given much thought to them since I was 8 or 9. But, when the opportunity came along to test a unicorn-themed cake pan, I said, "Bring it on!" You see this pan, by Zanda Panda, is unlike anything else out there, and not because of the unicorns.

Zanda Panda's specialty molds are made of heavy-duty silicone and feature extremely detailed artwork that you can showcase on cakes, candies, Jell-O, crafts, and more. In fact, there's so much you can do with the molds, it's hard to choose where to start! First off, I went the easiest route, and just made a basic bundt cake in the unicorn mold.

Let me tell you, the unicorn pan is one big mold. It takes two boxes of cake mix to fill it up, making it terrific for parties, where you want to have more than enough cake to go around, but maybe don't want to make two whole cakes. The cake I made baked for 1 hour 20 minutes and came out evenly browned and lovely. I didn't decorate it, except with powdered sugar, and decided there were probably better ways to make use of the decorative nature of this pan.

Next, I decided I wanted to make an ice-cream cake, featuring a chocolate outer shell that would really show off the unicorn design. I didn't want to go to the trouble of actual tempering, or use the chocolatey-coating recipe on their website, so I did what's called a quick temper, and it worked out great. After painting on the chocolate and chilling the mold briefly, I filled it with layers of ice cream (coffee and vanilla-caramel in this case) and brownies. I then froze it until solid.

The real adventure began when it was time to unmold my unicorn creation! I will admit to it being pretty scary--I was afraid of cracking the chocolate or just generally destroying the whole thing. Turns out that if you slowly pull away the mold all the way around, just to loosen it, and then pull it off, inverting the mold in the process, then...voila! Beautiful cake! To make the presentation extra magical (we're talking unicorns, after all), I painted the chocolate with several shades of lustre dust. Seriously, by this time, I was pretty darn impressed with myself! Check out the photos on the right to see the different stages. Top-to-bottom: 1) unmolded, undecorated cake; 2) decorated cake; 3) unicorn closeup; 4) cut cake; 5) delicious slice of cake.

Now we have lots of dessert to eat at home, but I'm still interested in trying the mold again and doing a marzipan outer layer and filling it with cake and frosting, as Zanda Panda suggests with their no-bake-backwards-cake concept. It would be really beautiful to do this and paint it with bright, carousel colors! I'm also interested in their idea to make cookies with a cake mold. And, how about a mammoth dome of glistening Jell-O?!

If you're interested in making your own unicorn cake, here are a few tips:

• If you're going to make an ice-cream cake with a chocolate shell, keep the decorating to a minimum. The lustre dust will bead up on the chocolate since it will perspire once out of the freezer.
• The chocolate coating should be fairly thin. Mine was quite thick, and you can see how much it cracked when I cut it.
• If you want a cake that will cut smoothly, skip the chocolate and try rolled fondant or marzipan instead. Plus, you can make the fondant and marzipan fun colors.
• Make sure to loosen the mold all around before pulling it off. Just pull the silicone straight out, and work your way around. Then slowly invert the pan, revealing the cake. You may want a second pair of hands, or at least some moral support.

If you've used this pan, or purchase it and make something amazing, add your photos to our flickr pool so we can admire your creation and be impressed with your baking skill! And, if you have any tips, add a comment!

--KitchenMaus

I have been known to indulge in hot, buttered, salty corn on the cob as a late-night snack. Or, just microwave a bowl of frozen kernels for a quick fix any time of day. And, while I know the norm may be one, three ears of corn seems to me a reasonable single serving size at dinner. Corn even makes it into my top five favorite foods. That's why I love this time of year--not only are grocery shelves piled high with ears of corn, but food magazines and websites are loaded with recipes. Here's a round-up of a few to try:

• Sweet Corn Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting (Serious Eats): Corn and cupcakes, together as one? You know you want to try one!
• Corn with Bacon and Miso Butter (Gourmet): This recipe, adapted from NYC's Momofuku restaurant, sounds (and looks--see above right) pretty much perfect.
• Sweet Corn Flan with Tomato-Corn Relish (Epicurious): Double the corn!
• Summer Corn Soup (Bon Appétit): Another recipe with the classic corn-bacon combo.
• Fried Corn and Onions (Allrecipes): Really more of a sauté, but let's not quibble with a good corn recipe.
• Corn Silk Tea (Gourmet): Why just throw out all that lovely silk?

Add a comment if you have a favorite corn recipe to share! Also, if you're a seriously corny person like me, you might require a corn gadget to speed up all that shucking. Check these out:

• Kuhn Rikon Corn Zipper
• Oxo Corn Stripper

--KitchenMaus

As every foodie knows, it's hard to measure a pinch of salt with a salt shaker. That's why everyone who measures with their eyes and fingers needs a salt pig. We Italians are big on those particular measuring methods.

Salt pigs found their way into kitchens at the end of the 18th century. Aside from the aesthetics, salt pigs provide easy salt access, keep dust out, and help prevent clumping. And, yes, you can store kosher salt in them.

Amazon.com has a decent selection of standard, classy salt pigs. You can also find artistic salt pigs around the net. Here are a few of my favorites.

Typhoon salt pig from John Lewis.

Ceramic salt pig from Liz Riley.

Tuscan salt pig from Monique Duclos.

Terra Cotta salt pig from Richard Baxter.

Ceramic salt pig from Bunny Safari.

Stoneware salt pig from Canyon Creek Pottery.

--Spanno   

A few months ago I posted about one of Amazon's most popular baking products, the cakesicle pan by Norpro. A super-fun idea for kids' birthday parties, weekend baking jaunts, and more adventures in the kitchen. G&S Design just came out with their own version of this pan, and let me tell you, the instant I saw it, I knew this was the one! The pan makes eight cookies or cakelets (or candy, Jell-O, or what have you) in shapes of daisies, tulips, and butterflies. So cute for garden parties, gal brunches, gift baskets, and just everyday fun.

I tested out the pan with sugar cookies and pancake batter. For my cookie round I just pressed sugar cookie dough right into the pan. I topped a few with sprinkles before baking and left the rest plain for decorating with icing later on. I also wanted to test out the sticks/handles, which you can insert either before baking or after. I put two in and left the rest for later. The cookies turned out adorable! Though, I advise you, learn from my mistakes. Tips:

• Even though the pan is nonstick, you MUST spray or butter it before adding your dough/batter. If you don't, it will be difficult to remove the final product, which is somewhat delicate.
• It's a draw on when to insert your sticks. On the one hand, they bake into the dough when you insert them before, making for a more stable handle. On the other hand, it is difficult to maneuver the pan into the oven--and in fact, it may make your pan too big for your oven. And, if you're using a thinner batter, you probably won't get them to stay very well. I might recommend cutting the sticks (24 come with the pan) in half. You'll have more, and they'll be a better length to deal with. Of course, you don't have to insert sticks at all, but that's another subject.
• Place the pan on a large, rimmed baking sheet before placing in the oven. The pan is very slim and a bit difficult to get off the oven rack safely. The extra sheet does the trick.
• Do not overfill the indentations. I made a big mistake with this. They should not be more than half full, otherwise the dough/batter will rise all over the place.
• Use a batter-based dough for cookies, if you can. It's much easier than pressing in the dough. Plus, they come out looking nicer.

For my second round I decided to have fun with pancake batter and make flower-shaped baked pancakes (no sticks). You could also just use cake batter, but I happen to love pancakes, day or night. I filled the indentations each half-way with batter and they baked up so cute I almost didn't want to eat them (almost..). I decorated a few of them with piped frosting and a fun decorating spray from Betty Crocker. I love the idea of this spray! It would be fun to get a few colors and do a bouquet of pancake flowers for brunch sometime.

Next up I'd like to try using it as a mold for chocolate lollipop flowers. Adorable!

--KitchenMaus

Do you ever create something and think, "Nobody in the history of the world has ever even conceived of making this, much less actually made it?" I had one of those moments recently. After picking up a selection of Looney Tunes silicone bakeware, I set out to find something to make with it. First thing I made? Flan in the shape of Tweety Bird. Yep. In fact, it turned out terrific, and I would like to recommend that you all go home right now and make flan in fun shapes, using silicone molds.

I've played with silicone bakeware a lot, and in most cases I prefer traditional bakeware. However, silicone does have one thing going for it--unique shapes. There are an amazing number of fun silicone molds out there. And, if you're looney for Looney Tunes, check out these fun character pans--they come in small and large sizes:

• Sylvester
• Bugs Bunny
• Daffy Duck
• Tweety Bird

I made a variety of things in my pans. The box recommends molding gelatin, ice, ice cream, cake, and even plaster for crafting (no, you won't want to eat that). I started out with the flan, then moved onto Jell-O. If you do Jell-O, I recommend using the recipe for the firmer version. And make sure to dip the outside in hot water briefly before trying to unmold. Otherwise you'll just end up with Looney Tunes roadkill. It'll be sad. Really.

I also made some snack cakes with a basic cake mix. I just coated the molds lightly with nonstick spray before baking, and they unmolded beautifully. I didn't go to the trouble of decorating them elaborately with multiple colors of frosting, but that would have been even better, and cuter, I'm sure.

Now, I should tell you--I'm no Looney Tunes fan. To which my husband recently exclaimed, "What?! Who doesn't like Looney Tunes?!" It's not that I don't like the cartoon, it's just that I don't particularly go for it, in general, over other cartoons. But, I have to say--I LOVE the small Looney Tunes silicone pans! They're a terrific idea for baking with and for kids. They make cakes about the size of your hand. And if you do a bunch of them, you'll have several characters to make dessert that much more merry. So, what looked initially like a novelty bakeware jaunt has turned into a fun baking idea for years to come.

--KitchenMaus