Having the right tools for your Christmas cooking...equals tasty results!

'Tis the season for Christmas goodies! This time of year, I seem to find myself in my kitchen much of the time. Having the right tools in my kitchen just help me create more wonderfully festive and tasty treats for my family. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, gifts and Christmas itself, food seems to be a huge focus this time of year.

Anyone who has done any gluten-free cooking knows that bread, cookie and pie dough just does not behave the same as its wheat-filled cousin. In the years that I have been cooking with gluten-free flours, I have learned that there are some tools that just make it easier and less stressful. Lets face it, we have enough stress this time of year, why add more when we are in the kitchen?

Food makes such a wonderful gift, everyone eats and everyone loves good food. My kids have always given baked goodies to their teachers at school, friends and family as well. It is just the perfect gift and you rarely go wrong with a tasty sugar cookie, candy or cake.

So, do you have a kitchen filled with all of the fun gadgets that our favorite TV chef has? I know that my kitchen is sorely lacking in comparison. This does not mean that I let that hold me back. Lets face it, none of us can afford to have a kitchen filled with all of the latest toys and tools. However, there are a few items that have become must haves.

One thing I feel every gluten-free cook needs is a good mixer. A stand mixer is best, but I have made some perfectly wonderful foods with my hand mixer. Stand mixers will hold up better to the longer mixing times that many gluten-free breads and even some cookies and cakes need. You would be in the kitchen all day mixing things by hand, even then you would not be able to mix them as well as a stand mixer could.

What do you bake your holiday goodies on or in? In my kitchen, I use a lot of stoneware. My baked goods just seem to bake more evenly and come out beautifully. I do also have glass baking dishes as well as a few metal ones. My favorite, by far, is the stoneware. For cookies, muffins andbundt cakes, stoneware seems to work the best.

Another favorite baking pan is my mini muffin pan. I can press any pie crust dough into it and make bite sized versions of our favorite pies and cheese cakes. Savory bite sized appetizers are also a breeze to make for your holiday guests. The best part, they will look like you spent hours when you actually only spent minutes.

In my kitchen, I'd be lost without my spring form pans. I make cheese cakes often, for every holiday and family gathering. I have many recipes to choose from and having the right pan makes a huge difference in the finished product! My personal favorite has a glass bottom, but I also have another metal bottomed one that works just fine. Just make sure that your pan has a bit of weight to it, heavier metal pans seem to work best and cook more evenly. The cheapest spring form pan is not going to give you the award winning cheese cake you want to serve.

If pies are something you make often, having something to roll your dough out onto is a huge stress saver! I have a rubber pie mat, but there are many options out there. If you are in a pinch, plastic wrap works well also. If you have not tried a gluten-free pie crust because it just seemed too difficult, this will help you produce a pie that you can be proud of! Using the right recipe helps, my favorite is TanyaG's Best Ever Pie Crust. It rolls out beautifully and using a rolling mat or plastic wrap to roll it out onto makes for easy transfer to your pie plate.

Making a good pie crust does require a simple tool. Yes, making one in a food processor would be ideal, but if you are like me and are finding your kitchen lacking one you will want to invest in one of these. What is this wonderful tool? A pastry blender! Yes, you can use two butter knives or even a fork to blend your shortening or butter into your flour, but a pastry blender works so perfectly and is a time saver for me. They come in many different designs, choose one that you are comfortable using and go make a pie. You will be amazed at how easy it is to cut the butter into your flour for a wonderfully flaky crust.

Knives are a very important tool in your kitchen as well. I spent years with only a few knives that were worth using. My husband bought me a knife set several years ago and it amazed me how much I had been missing! I do have two favorites in that set, but having the right tool for the job makes my time in the kitchen so much more enjoyable! Having a huge knife set is not a must, but having a few that work well, are easy to sharpen and stay sharp is so important. A good sized knife to chop up nuts, onions, carrots, or anything else for that matter. For slicing bread, a bread knife is a must, this also works well when slicing refrigerator cookie dough or even some cakes. Last, but not least, is a good paring knife.

Keeping knives sharper longer requires a good cutting board. I have two favorites in my kitchen. One is a plastic cutting board, inexpensive and can be found just about anywhere. The other is a bamboo cutting board. Mine has a groove around the edge that catches juices from whatever I am cutting or carving.

Are you making sugar cookies this year with your kids? You will need a good rolling pin. The one that I use is over twenty years old and was not an expensive one to begin with. Nothing fancy and it works beautifully. Do not feel like you have to go out and invest in an expensive one. Your grandmother's rolling pin will work beautifully!

The cutters that you use to cut out your sugar cookies can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them to be. I have found that simple works best for me. In my opinion, the outline shapes made out of plastic or metal work best and allow me to be creative with the frosting and sprinkles rather than having the detail coming from the cutter. I also like the cutters that are about an inch or more tall, this gives you plenty of space to get a hold of the cutter and move it from place to place on your dough without getting your fingernails into the dough. Makes for a much nicer looking cookie in the end.

One very inexpensive tool that I could not live without in my kitchen is a sugar/flour shaker. I have three in my kitchen. One with powdered sugar, one with cinnamon sugar and one with flour. Why? My kids love to have powdered sugar sprinkled over their pancakes or waffles, plus I like to have it on hand to dust a cake before serving. The cinnamon and sugar makes for easy cinnamon toast or even a sprinkling on pancakes or waffles. Sprinkle a bit over your basic sugar cookie for a new flavor twist. The flour one makes short work of dusting a counter or board when you need to roll out some dough.

The last tool I use a lot this time of year is my zester. I have had many kids, but have found that my favorite is a hand held one that will do either small strips of zest or a larger string of zest. Orange zest is found in so many wonderful desserts this time of year. I would be lost without mine. Yes, you can buy dried zest in the spice aisle at the grocery store, but fresh is always better in my mind. You can also use the small hole side of your box grater, being careful not to get more than just the outer zest of the fruit.

So many fun tools, and so little time. This is just a sampling of the wonderful time saving tools you can find to fill your kitchen with. Every cook is different, everyone has their personal favorites. Much is dependent on the kind of foods you want to create in your kitchen. I am not a huge gadget person, but I do have a few of my favorites. Gluten-free cooking does present you with some interesting challenges, but with the right tools you can create mouth watering dishes AND make them gluten-free!

Have fun in your kitchen this holiday season. Create some wonderful foods to share with your friends and family. This can be the best tasting holiday season yet!

Looking for some really tasty holiday treats to create with all of these tools? Visit our Holiday Page for some extra special ideas!