You Knead to Look at the Best Gifts for Bakers
Food is a love language in many ways, the act of cooking for someone is sacred in some senses. The time it takes to gather all of the ingredients, set out the stage, prepare by taking specific steps to ensure each part of the process is made to perfection, and sharing all of that hard work with them is just part of the reason making food is an expression of love. You’re also giving a piece of yourself, your culture, over to them if you have a family recipe that’s been passed down to you. We need food to survive and food comes with a lot of joy wrapped up in it, especially when it’s something like a baked good.
Baking is exact, you’ll sometimes see people say that cooking is an art and baking is a science and that’s true to some extent. Most of the time, if not all, you’ll need to follow the exact guidelines of the recipe in order for your treat(s) to come out just right because every little bit counts in baking. In our experience we’ve found that adjusting sometimes even in baking makes the dish come out more suited to our tastes so you’ll have to let us know what you believe when it comes to this age old adage. In the past we made our own Gift Guide for Cooks, so we thought we’d take a look at the other side of the kitchen and find the best gifts for bakers.
Treat Them To Bakeware They Wouldn’t Get Themselves 🥣
When it comes to baking one of the biggest things we rely on besides our prayers and good vibes to the baking gods that our food comes out how it’s supposed to is our equipment. Specifically our tools we use daily that help us perfect our treats. Usually when we find a product or brand we like we tend to stick to it and run that sucker into the ground until we absolutely need a new one.
There are, of course, our magnus-opus of products, ones that we want but can’t necessarily afford, so we keep them in our baking dreams. Or the products we didn’t know we needed! Here are a few items that would be an absolute dream come true to get for any baker:
THE stand-mixers of all stand-mixers. Image courtesy of: KitchenAid.
When you ask bakers what their dream mixer is nine-times-out-of-ten they will say the Artisan® Series 5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer from KitchenAid for $499.99. And it’s not just what casual and professional bakers are saying, KitchenAid is “#1 Mixer Brand in the World” according to multiple publications. With thousands of five-star reviews, the Series 5 Stand Mixer is one that’s more than worth the splurge because this thing will last you not just for a few years but decades even.
Its construction is made to withstand whatever kind of dough or mix you throw at it. This model comes in over 20 different color options as well as a 1-Piece Pouring Shield, 6 Wire Whip, C - Coated Dough Hook, Coated Flat Beater, Dough Hook, and Flat Beater. There’s ten different speeds so whatever you need to make, this mixer can mix it!
No more messy sugary spills. Image courtesy of: Oxo.
OXO is the brand where you can get just about anything and everything in the kitchen including kitchen tools you might not have thought of in the first place. If you know that your star baker works a lot with powdered sugar or sprinkling toppings on their goodies then their world is about to be changed with the Baker’s Dusting Wand for $11.99. The spherical design is perfect to use as a scooper for powdered sugar, other spices, flours, and more. You can scoop exactly what you need and dust everything without getting powdered sugar everywhere- (as it tends to do). No more wet clumps and trying to hand-brush the powder back in the back and get it on the floor. And especially no uneven distributions. An inexpensive kitchen gadget that’s more than worth it.
Recommended by many and used frequently makes this a best gift for a baker. Image courtesy of: Nordic Ware.
When you type in “best baking sheets” there is one brand that’s most commonly brought up and that’s Nordic Ware. Nordic Ware is beloved by many bakers as they are “made of pure aluminum for superior heat conductivity and produce consistently evenly browned baked goods every time.” The Naturals® Baker's Half Sheet 3 Pack for $55.00 is a great option for anyone whose baking sheets have seen better days and/or those who are in need of some more as they have been expanding their baking-time by a few more trays of cookies. Baking sheets can be a real hit-or-miss for some people and it looks like these ones have been more of a home-run than a strike.
On your feet all day? No worries! Not with these bad boys. Image courtesy of: Vessi.
Now at first glance you may be confused on why we have a pair of shoes recommended for a list of “best gifts for bakers” but real bakers already are starting to figure out where we’re going with this gift. When you’re baking you are on your feet all. day. long. And that comes with your fair share of aches and pains both in your feet and on your legs. We need a shoe that’s both durable but comfortable and maybe most importantly: waterproof.
(How many times have you accidentally spilled something when cooking or baking? It’s bound to happen eventually so get shoes that resist even the toughest of spills).
These are the 100% Waterproof “Weekend Sneakers” from Vessi for $140. A brand best known for their ultra-comfortable shoes and waterproof technology. They’re lightweight and breathable which makes for the perfect “all day” shoe to wear while you’re in a hot kitchen. They come in thirteen different colors for both Men’s and Women’s and have sizes from 5 - 13.
High Quality Ingredients For High Quality Treats 🥯
Consumables are usually a gift people tend to lean one way or the other on, some really like them, while others prefer something of the physical variety. Bakers however lean towards the latter as most of the time they already have the equipment they need, but not necessarily the ingredients they need to make their recipes. Here are a few must-haves for their time in the kitchen:
Add a special kick to your favorite stuff! Image courtesy of: Uncommon Goods.
When you’re baking one of the best parts of the process is putting final touches on your treats and the Dessert and Baking Salts by Julie Pedersen from Uncommon Goods for $24.00 is a great gift to those bakers who are looking to experiment with said “final touches.” We know a lot of chefs and cooks will use salt or spices to add a little something extra to their dishes but bakers can do that too with their desserts! This box contains: “sea salt, vanilla, cardamom, espresso, rose peppercorn, hibiscus, lavender, orange, ginger, and powdered sugar.”
Maybe the most important ingredient for your baked goods. Image courtesy of: Slo Food Group.
Almost all baking recipes will have you add vanilla extract, paste, or vanilla by itself to the bowel. It can be argued that vanilla is the most important ingredient when it comes to baking because when you add it, you are adding an essential ingredient that balances out all of the ingredients you’ve painstakingly put together.
You might think to yourself that the vanilla you can get at the grocery store is fine, and it is, but there is a better option out there for you. The better the quality the vanilla, the better your treats will come out. There are of course a lot of options out there but Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste (16oz) from Slo Food Group for $55.00 is one that’s been recommended by a ton of bakers for being the best of the best.
Fall is coming and that means it’s time for baking season! Image courtesy of: Williams Sonoma.
While most lament summer’s end, a lot of bakers will sneakily squeeze as their time to shine is high. Fall is the time for baking and by baking we mean, ba-king. You’ll see so many fall-centric treats out and so many fun flavors to experience including these wonderful Quick Bread Mixes from our favorite: Williams Sonoma. They have:
All homemade and all ranging from $14.95 to $16.95 for one pack.
Let’s Add A Little More Powdered Sugar To These Gifts 🧁
So far we have had so much fun finding the best gifts for bakers but we thought we’d add a few of our own into the baking mix because there’s nothing like finding the tools you need in your kitchen yourself. Here are a few gift cards bakers absolutely love to get:
🛍️Instacart: Baking a ton of batches and realize you don’t have an ingredient you need but can’t leave things sitting for too long? No worries. With Instacart you can have exactly what you need delivered to your door from local grocery stores so you can continue baking your delicious goodies.
🥩Ruth’s Chris Steak House: You know how if you’re a painter and that’s all you do all day- the last thing you want to do when you get home is paint. Well that’s kinda the same for bakers. The last thing we want is sweet treats. That’s why we’re going to Ruth’s Chris Steak House where you can get New York Strip, Ribeye, Filet, Porterhouse for Two, Wagyu- whatever steak you love you can get at this upmarket steakhouse chain.
🔪Crate & Barrel: Some bakers are particular about the type of appliances and tools they want in their kitchen which means they want to shop for things themselves. With a Crate & Barrel gift card they can go and buy what they want from a store that has it all.
☕Dunkin’: If there’s one thing we know about bakers is that they’re sleeping schedule is wacky. They are often up early in the morning or working late into the night in order to wait for things to proof or bake; or they are having to decorate at specific times. With a Dunkin’ gift card they can get the fuel they need from the caffeinated drinks they love.
💸Visa: Instead of being limited to only one store, you can use this gift card at any store that accepts Visa- (which is pretty much any registrar).
We pride ourselves on our Visa gift card experience as you can add a photo to create a custom Visa gift card and get it to you fast. PerfectGift prints and ships our own Visa gift cards, so we can guarantee same day printing & shipping (if ordered by 4:00pm ET Monday through Saturday). Since we are all in-house, no one else can beat our turnaround time because a lot of other spaces use third-parties to get their stuff ready.
PerfectGift.com is all about finding, well, the perfect gift! With hundreds of popular eGift card brands available, you can personalize and send someone a gift in just a few minutes. Pick between multiple restaurants, famous retailers, online subscription services, and more for your first PerfectGift today.
Become the perfect gift giver.
Well our sweet-tooth is certainly satisfied, we’ve found some of the best gifts for bakers on the market and we still have room for more baking to do in the future; that’s what we call a great list!
