CONTEST! Favorite Kitchen tools!

I love cooking and baking, and over time have discovered some neat tools to use that make the job easier. The first tool to talk about is the handy cookie dough ball scoop. You can get these inexpensively at Bed, Bath and Beyond (under $5) and other stores that carry kitchen utensils. The cool thing about the dough scoop is that you get a uniform cookie every time. It was tough getting these pictures, because I'm right handed, so if it looks a bit funny...sorry! You scoop the dough into the scooper, level it off on the bottom, then push the top outside of the scoop (it is flexible which enables the dough to come out easily) with your thumb. Here is the finished product, yummy chocolate swirl cookies. See how nice they look?

My next favorite product is the silicon muffin baking cup. I love these....so easy to use and to clean. Gone are the days when you have to grease and flour muffin tins, or hope you have paper cupcake liners in your cupboard.

I made some oatmeal muffins (after I finished baking the cookies) to demonstrate. Above the dough is in the cups. Notice you don't have to have these in a muffin tin. They stand up on their own without the need of a tin.

Here is the finished product.....so good......so easy.....everyone needs some of these if you bake your own muffins. I just pushed the muffin out after they came out of the oven. They come out nicely with little stuck to the sides when hot or cooled. They wash easily. I just put them upside down on a dish towel to dry. Stack to store. You can get the silicon muffin cups in a variety of sizes and shapes. I got these particular ones in Target. They were $1 for a container of 6, which is a great deal. I have seen them in TJ Maxx for about $5 for 6. They had larger cups and some square ones, too.

OK, the contest is this.......leave me a comment on my blog...this thread (yes, please do tell your friends to share!) telling me a favorite kitchen tool that you like to use, or a recipe for a favorite muffin recipe. I will send you 12 silicon muffin cups! If I get more than 15 comments, I will include a cookie dough scoop! How fun! Yes, if you are from outside of the US, I will try and ship to you also, or send you a Betty Crocker recipe pamphlet! Contest ends on Tuesday Oct.14th, 2008 at 12 noon MST.

Tomorrow I will post the oatmeal muffin recipe. It uses yogurt!