Having the proper tools goes a long way when cooking or baking. I leave the savory stuff to my sweet husband for the most part but I really find a lot of joy in expanding my skills in the baking arena.

I have been baking my whole life, but it wasn’t until I met my chef husband and he insisted that I use professional equipment in our kitchen that I truly felt like I was getting consistent results when baking.

Here are some of latest tools to join the family:

Decorating comb I noticed cool, wavy details in some of the icing in the Bouchon cook book so when I noticed this tool at the restaurant supply store I snatched it up. It was super cheap and I think it will be fun to use. It turns out that at Bouchon they use a tile comb: literally, a tool used to smooth glue for tile floors. I’m most interested in the wavy part of the tool, I feel like if I need smoothing I will use the bench scraper (see below) or an offset spatula.

Chinois, great for all straining. It is narrow enough to fit in the mouth of even smaller jars and pitchers.

#16 Scoop, essential for making huge, perfectly round cookies.

Bench scraper, great for crushing, chopping and cleaning. (this picture is from Williams-Sonoma. Mine looks slightly different)

Ok, these aren’t from the restaurant supply store, they’re from Target but I love a good solid wooden spoon.

Sheet pans. We already had a few, but after my husband used them one too many times to roast pigs feet and other assorted bones I insisted that we get ‘baking only’ pans.

Aluminum bowls. I have a jillion of these, but they were all larger sizes so I needed a few smaller ones.

I use disposable gloves a lot as an esthetician but I had never used them for baking. I have to say…it’s kind of nice to not dig cookie dough or pie crust out of my wedding rings.

I really wanted bowl scrapers but didn’t get them. I wish I had have because I would use them every time I baked. Next time.

I do have a few other things on my wish list, I’ll get them later as my budget allows. In the meantime I have lots of other fun things to play with in our new kitchen. I’m sure I’ll be writing soon about my latest baking adventure.

What have you been up to in your kitchen?