Average Jane’s Kitchen Tools

After all of yesterday's cooking, I started thinking about my ridiculously comprehensive collection of kitchen tools and appliances. Thanks to a generous stepmother with gourmet cooking skills and a lot of friends who keep inviting me to Pampered Chef parties, I am not lacking for high-quality cooking accessories.

So what are my favorites? Here are five, in no particular order:

Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Okay, I lied. This is definitely #1 on the list for a reason. Mine isn't exactly like this one (I got mine in 1994 as a wedding gift), but it's pretty similar. I use it all the time and I haven't even really taken advantage of the attachments I have, including the vegetable slicer and food grinder. It's perfect for making yeast doughs, and I frequently use the pizza crust and French bread recipes that came with the mixer.

Garlic Press. Mine is from The Pampered Chef. I probably use my garlic press for 90% of the meals I make. It works so well that you don't even have to peel the cloves before you press them.

Norpro Pastryframe. I grew up using one of these and I think it's by far the best tool for rolling out dough. It's a canvas cloth stretched over a frame and it comes with a cloth cover for your rolling pin. Just dust the cloth and rolling pin cover with flour and you can roll out any dough without worrying about sticking. The raised part of the frame hooks over the front edge of the counter to keep it in place while you're rolling the dough.

Scraper/Chopper Tool. Before all the print on mine wore off, you could see that it was branded "Graham Kerr." Now there's a celebrity chef blast from the past. I don't really use mine for chopping, nor do I take advantage of the fact that you can core an apple with the hollow part. However, it's great for picking up chopped veggies to transfer them from the cutting board to the pan. It's also useful for transferring delicate cut-out cookies onto the cookie sheet for baking.

"Shot Glass" Measuring Cup. The first time I bought one of these, it was a complete impulse purchase. Now I have two of them because they're so useful. They're great compared to measuring spoons when you need to measure out multiple tablespoons of something potentially messy such as oil, molasses or honey. They also come in handy during cold season for measuring medicine doses.

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I could have kept going on and on and I imagine I'll think of something later today that I can't believe I didn't think to list. (Yep, I just did.)

Also, it may go without saying, but this post is not sponsored in any way and I put links merely so you could find the items if you're so inclined.

What are your favorite kitchen tools?