Two Things Wednesday?

Since I was baking a ton, in preparation for out-of-town guests, my two things today come from the kitchen.  If you can't tell already, it's one of my favorite places.  Both of my grandmothers loved being in the kitchen, as do my mother and sister.  Come to think of it, most all of the women in my family enjoy creating meals and sweets for their families.  And as with any other hobby, the tools are important.  The affinity I feel for certain cooking gadgets is intense.  My mixer is a treasure to me, and I actually adore some of my bowls.  We'll get into that more in a future post, but just get the idea that I like kitchen stuff.  A lot.

The first thing I'd like to share today, is this package of PaperChef Parchment Baking Cups.  These are unreal!  I never really gave baking cups much thought.  I mean, have you?  I, typically, grab the basic multi-colored pack and move on with my life.  Though, looking back, those are a flawed product compared to these beauties.  First of all, and the reason that I bought them, was that I thought they looked nice.  A plain, brown piece of parchment paper seemed like it would pair nicely with most any color cupcake or muffin I might concoct.  Secondly, and most importantly, the baked goods do not stick or attach themselves in any way to these cups.  I never knew I wanted that in a baking cup, but good golly do I ever!  It is so nice to serve a warm muffin that just pops right out of the paper.  I found them at Target, and you need them.

The second thing I'd like to share is this Pampered Chef Large Scoop.  I have both the large and the small scoop, and I use them for everything.  Cupcake or muffin batter is one of my favorite uses, because it makes the process of filling baking cups fast and clean.  I also use this with ice cream, cottage cheese, rice pudding, cole slaw, pancake batter and so on.  When you use this scoop with batters, your baked goods have a perfect shape and are all uniform in size.  Other foods, just plain look better when served by the scoopful.  This is worth every penny and has paid for itself over and over again!  Love it!  Mean it!