My mother has always been the cook in the family. I’m not just saying this because she’s my mom — but she really is a fabulous cook. So for most of my life I had the “why bother” mentality when it came to cooking. My mom had it covered…so I didn’t need to.
With the help of Food Network, my husband and I have slowly become foodies! Now we love trying to make new dishes — even if they don’t always turn out right. But baking is something that my mother doesn’t do and still I haven’t jumped into that arena quite yet. Baking is a skill that even the best cooks can’t master a lot of the time, but can be a fantastic hobby to get into. But it’s on my “to-learn” list so I’ve reached out to pastry chef Marnely Rodriguez for some help on what tools I might need before I start.
Must-Have Baking Tool List
by Marnely Rodriguez
Tools of the trade are thousands, but the following list is of the top 5 baking tools every person that bakes or wants to start baking should have. They are great tools that, when used correctly, will have you baking cakes and cookies on a weekly basis!
1. Digital Scale
Nothing is more important to a baker than their scale. Baking is a science and differentiates from cooking because you can’t really throw in random, unmeasured ingredients in a pan and magically have a chocolate cake.
A scale will let you precisely weigh your ingredients and develop a sense of awareness when baking. Just be sure to never convert volume measures (cups) to metric measures (ounces/grams). Stick to the metric system and you’ll be a step ahead of the crowd. Read more
As we head into the weekend I’m reminded of one of my favorite things to do – get together with friends. Once a week my closest friends and I try to make time to get together for dinner and catch up. We’re all professionals in New York City with hectic schedules so some weeks are easier than others. But we always make an effort to meet up to enjoy some good conversation, delicious food and wine. (You guessed it – this is a Pinot Grigio crowd.)
