25+ Amazing Gift Ideas for Cooks

Whether you’re looking for ideas to put on your wishlist or looking for gifts for someone who loves cooking and baking, my kitchen gift guide has all of my kitchen favorites. These high-quality (but not necessarily high-priced) items will be perfect under your tree this year. 

While I love snagging great Black Friday deals, I hate the crazy crowds. I end up doing most of my shopping online, and I love having the gifts appear on my doorstep. Therefore, I’ve included links to my very favorite things in my kitchen so you can make your shopping easier this year. 

Gift Ideas for Cooks: Appliances

If you’re looking for a knock-out impressive gift for a cook this year, these six appliances are a MUST in my kitchen. I’m not exaggerating when I say I use at least one of these every single day.

The Breville Convection Toaster Oven is a little pricey, but I use this little oven at least twice as much as my full-size oven. It makes perfect toast—six slices at a time—and even has a separate setting for bagels that doesn’t burn the backside. It also preheats quickly, so it’s fun to keep cookie dough in the freezer and bake just one or two cookies when a craving hits.

I’m in love with my Breville Stand Mixer. The glass bowl makes it easy to see when everything is mixed properly. I love that the beater blade is included as part of the package, which makes it zero work to scrape everything off of the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.

My Cuisinart Food Processor makes quick work of big jobs like shredding potatoes and cheese as well as making nut butters. While I don’t use it every day, I sure am glad to have it when big jobs come along.

I still love my Blendtec Blender for morning smoothies and for big jobs. I also love my Breville Immersion Blender for blending soups and sauces right in the pot. The guard on the bottom doesn’t scratch nonstick pots, and the bell shape makes for less suction than other brands I’ve used.

And, of course, this roundup wouldn’t be complete without mentioning my favorite pressure cooker: the Instant Pot. These machines have made dinnertime so much easier at my house. If you haven’t jumped on board with pressure cooking, there will be some great prices this Black Friday. (Watch my Pressure Cooking Today post for a full list of Black Friday specials.)

(If you’re getting an Instant Pot, be sure to grab a copy of my pressure cookbook, The Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook. It has a great step-by-step to walk help beginners feel more comfortable cooking in the pressure cooker, as well as awesome, family-approved recipes.

Gift Ideas for Cooks: Kitchen Accessories & Tools Under $25

Even if you’re on a limited budget, there are still so many kitchen accessories and tools that will delight the cook in your life. Here are my favorites: 

Scoops and Spoons

I have two different-sized Vollrath scoops that are essential in my kitchen. I love this particular brand for the smooth, easy-action release and the easy-to-clean bowl.

The purple Size 40 scoop is perfect for making cookies. All your cookies will be round and the same size when you use a scoop. Plus, it’s so much quicker than using a baking spoon.

I love the larger dark blue Size 16 scoop for portioning out batter for muffins and dividing batter evenly in my Bundt pans. I even use this scoop to dish up a pretty servings of rice or mashed potatoes.

Knives

A few good, sharp knives make a huge difference in the kitchen. While there are expensive, high-end knife options out there, I’ve been amazed at the quality knives available for under $25:

I think the 5-inch Victorinox Mini Chef’s Knife is the perfect all-purpose kitchen knife. The size makes it just right for both my husband and I to handle in the kitchen. (We also have the 8-inch Chef’s Knife, which my husband loves, but is just a tad big for my hands.)

I love my small paring knives from Victorinox, both smooth and serrated, for dicing strawberries and slicing tomatoes, along with other fruit and vegetable prep.

While this Kuhn Rikon Watermelon Knife looks like a single-purpose knife, it’s really convenient to have in the kitchen. It’s quite long—16 inches—and sturdy enough to cut through watermelon, crusty breads, or any other large foods.

Measuring

It’s hard to cook much without these essentials, and these measuring cups and spoons make things so much easier in the kitchen. I have two sets of each.

This 6-Piece Stainless Steel Nesting Measuring Cup Set is my favorite because it’s got measuring cups for 2/3 cup and a 3/4 cup. I know you could just use the 1/4 cup three times, but having a 3/4 cup just makes me happy.

This 6-Piece Measuring Spoon Set also includes a 1/8 teaspoon and a 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon, which can be especially nice if you’re halving a recipe. I also love how long and thin these spoons are; they’re perfect for reaching the bottom of the spice jar.

OXO Angled Measuring Cup Set is so convenient for measuring liquids. The measuring cups have measurements that are visible from the top, so you don’t have to bend over to see the side to know what you’ve measured.

Baking Pans

A high-quality pan is essential to take baked goods from good to great. 

For baking cakes, I absolutely love my USA bakeware pans. These pans have perfectly straight edges (not angled) and a quick release bottom. I have them in both 8-inch square, 9×13-inch rectangle, and 8-inch and 9-inch rounds.

I have loved making madeleines this year with my Nonstick Madeleine Pans.

Our family loves making roast and Yorkshire pudding. While you can make Yorkshire in muffin cups, they come out big, fluffy, and delicious in these popover pans.

This year I’ve also been obsessed with all kinds of mini pans. I love my mini-muffin pans for making bite-size breakfasts that are perfect for brunch. 

My mini-loaf pans are great for quick breads! They cook up faster than a traditional loaf pan, and they’re sized so I can get two loaves to eat now and two to freeze for later. I use mini-Bundt pans in the same eat-one-freeze-one way. A regular Bundt-pan recipe fills two half-size Bundts, and one half-size Bundt fits perfectly in a gallon-sized ziplock.

Finally, if you’re hosting a baby shower or fancy get-together, a mini-cheesecake pan makes beautiful and nicely-portioned desserts.

Odds & Ends

While you may not use a Kitchen Torch every day, it really is a blast to pull it out and light it up. It’s a must for the perfect carmelized sugar coating in crème brulee.

For most recipes, I’m too impatient to carefully mince my garlic. A Garlic Press makes quick work of mincing.

A Silpat was my first silicone baking mat. These reusable mats are great to have on-hand for baking cookies or reheating leftovers in your oven. (I have a tiny Silpat that fits perfectly in my Breville.)

A digital scale is a must-have in the kitchen. It’s inexpensive and making baking so much easier for recipes where I need an exact weight, like weighing chocolate candies for ganache.

Cookbooks

Last, but not least, is my new pressure cooking dessert cookbook, Instantly Sweet. There are some truly awesome sweets in this cookbook; if you have a sweet tooth like me, it’ll be your new favorite!

Also, if you haven’t gotten a copy yet, my Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook is a great introduction to pressure cooking.

For top-tier holiday desserts, my eBook, Simply Sweet Dream Puffs, will show you how to bake easy-to-make but so-impressive holiday cream puffs and eclairs.

I love learning about the science behind baking, and Cook’s Illustrated’s Science of Good Cooking cookbook explains kitchen science concepts and includes 400 recipes that use the principles they teach.