I just saw this cookie stamp in an old Bon Appetit magazine. Of course, making cookies is fun, but stamping them with the words “Home Made” gives them one last flourish to really make them special. The stamp is made by Suck UK and retails for about $17 in the US.

Even though I love the design and look of this item, I have my doubts. Sure, kids would probably have fun stamping the dough, but I could also imagine a lot of squished cookies. I also wondered how well the message of “Home Made” would stand up to the baking process. I don’t bake that much, but it just seemed that the words wouldn’t appear that well in the cookies I am used to baking.

I found only a couple of reviews of this cookie stamp on the web, with the best one coming from the blog Dear Pigeon. The author actually tried it out on a batch of peanut butter cookies, and it definitely worked. You can check the photos in her blog post. With that said, the author concludes that the stamp would work best with cookies that don’t rise a lot during baking and have some color to them.

Another review on Amazon UK also thought the stamp was a bit too big for standard-sized cookies. The stamp part is made of silicon and measures 3 inches wide, so you can judge how well it would fit your cookie portions.

Here are some sources to buy the stamp in the United States: Spoon Sisters for $17 and Amazon for $21.25 with free shipping.

This boat-shaped Ahoi Citrus Juicer from Koziol is pretty cool. It comes in four different transparent colors, and I think it would be perfect for kids. The boat’s hold captures all the juice, and the pointed bow and stern act as a spout to easily pour juice without a mess.

I already have a very good citrus juicer that I like, but I think this one would be more fun for the kids. The handled squeezers can require a bit of coordination and strength to extract the juice.

There is a YouTube video of the Ahoi juicer if you want to see it in action. The price is around $12 on Amazon.

From Normann Copenhagen comes this round chop knife by Italian designers Paolo Lucidi and Luca Pevere. The chopper is similar in concept to a mezzaluna and would be good at chopping herbs, veggies, chocolate, cheese, and maybe even pizza. Mezzaluna-like knives can be safer to start kids on, and this round chopper has the added benefit that it can be used with only one hand. There is also a rubber cover for the blade that matches the handle, so when it isn’t in use, it has a nice clean look and is easy to store.

All in all, I think the colors, styling and rocking function would appeal to most kids. The Italian designers believe that products should create “joy and surprise” for their users, and I think this round kitchen tool will probably accomplish that for both adults and kids. If you want to start your child out on a round chopper, you can buy it for $48 at A+R. It comes in four colors: light blue, pink, grey, and black.

Garlic can be somewhat difficult for kids to manage. The thin skin can be hard to get off, cutting with a knife isn’t so wise, and even garlic presses can require a lot of force to squeeze. And this is only if they can handle the smell. A lot of adults don’t care for garlic smell on their hands, so I would imagine kids might be the same.

With that said, I think two products would be great for kids helping out with garlic duties in the kitchen. The first job is to peel the garlic and those rubber cannelloni-shaped garlic peelers made by Zak Designs work really well. The E-Z-Rol Garlic Peeler is perfect for kids and can be fun too. You just insert a garlic clove, roll it around a bit on the counter, and out pops a nice, clean clove. The Zak Garlic Peeler gets good reviews and costs $8 at Amazon.

The next step of making minced garlic is a bit trickier. At first I tried out the Chef’n Garlic Zoom, but I decided against it. Essentially, you insert the garlic and zoom it around like a toy car, which turns the tiny blades inside and chops the garlic. I do think a kid would like to zoom it around; however, extracting the garlic was not child friendly. The Chef’n Zoom actually wastes quite a bit of garlic, and there is the constant temptation to use your finger to sweep out garlic chunks stuck to the inside and on the blades. The last thing you need is a kid poking sharp blades. Admittedly, Chef’n did not design this product for kids, but it looked fun enough to give a try. I guess you could always let your child zoom it around and you do all of the loading and emptying of garlic.

The gadget that I think works better is the Garlic Twist by Nextrend. There are no sharp blades and it is simple to use. You just insert the garlic and twist the two chopping discs. Reviews on Amazon mention that the first couple twists can be difficult to start, so you may have to get it going for your child, but after that you can rely upon child-powered twisting to help out with garlic duty. You can purchase the Garlic Twist at Amazon for $17 and it comes in clear, green, and the purple color shown above.

The garlic twist is in its 3rd generation, and the picture above is the newest version. The original did not have grooves along the edge, but they have since added notches for better gripping. Some reviewers said that the non-grooved Garlic Twist was difficult to use with wet hands because of slipping. The third generation adds even more pronounced grooves, so I imagine it is even easier to use. I would definitely go for the the third generation garlic twist.

So if you want to put your kid on garlic duty, I think the garlic peeler by Zak and the Garlic Twist would be a great combination. Keep it fun and safe with these two gadgets.

A few years back I planted a garden, and my daughter loved to pluck all of the pretty blooms off of the flowers. At first I tried discouraging this practice, but after a week or so I gave up. Instead, I bought some flowers that had lots of blooms and would bloom a long time. Essentially, I planted enough flowers for both my daughter and my garden. After that, I even started picking them myself, and most days I would make a tiny bouquet for her. She loved it and I actually enjoyed my garden more too. Lesson learned.

Anyhow, I think the same thing goes for kids in the kitchen. Cooking gourmet meals is wonderful, but cooking with children and all the wonder that they bring to the cooking process is also great fun. You just have to let go, relax a bit, and most of all: embrace the mess.

With that in mind, one of the next items I want to get for the kitchen is a honey pot and dripper. I figure that honey is the granddaddy of messy products and there is no better way to let go than with honey. I personally like this Le Creuset Honey Pot and Dripper for $25. It has a nice minimalist yet traditional style and comes in white and yellow. My daughter likes to eat waffles in the morning, so I have the perfect platform to start her on her own sticky mess.

If you get a honey pot though, I would also recommend not buying one with metal parts. It’s nice to be able to put the container in the microwave if the honey hardens or crystalizes. Hard honey might be a bit frustrating for kids, and if you buy yours from farmers’ markets as I do, this often can be an issue.

Good luck with the mess.

Mastrad specializes in innovative silicone kitchenwares, and this year they came out with what could prove to be a useful kitchen gadget. The Apple Steam Cooker is meant to cook any fruit that fits in it really, but pears and apples seem the likely choices. The silicone cooker can be used in a microwave and a traditional oven, and comes in three colors (red, green, and black). Of course it is appropriately shaped like an apple.

According to the product description, the fruit cooks evenly in its own juices and only takes minutes. With that said, there is no place that currently sells this product online in the US, so it is a bit difficult to test out. I’m hoping that vendors will start to carry it in the coming months. Even in Europe the product is new and hard to find.

I really think this is going to be a fun gadget for the kitchen. Not only would the apple cooker help make tasty, healthy desserts for the kids, but it would also be useful for making cooked fruit for some quick baby food. Just microwave the fruit and then put it through a mini-food processor or chopper.

I’m not sure of the retail price at this point, but on Amazon France, one apple roaster is selling for 12 Euros, so I would imagine the price to be around $15. Also, if they follow the French packaging, they might offer a case containing four apple roasters, a recipe book, and a spoon all together as a special set. That is selling for 42 Euros from online vendors in France.

All in all, this is an intriguing product, and I can’t wait to try it out.

I’ve looked into a few step stool options to help children reach the counter top when preparing food. My child is six years old and doesn’t need that much help, and her inexpensive plastic stool is working fine, but for smaller kids, a 12-inch step-up may not be enough. If this is the case, then the Learning Tower from Little Partners might be a good investment. Admittedly, it is rather expensive at $200, but the tower is adjustable and can grow with your kid, which means the investment can be spread out over several years.

Unlike other ‘helper’ stands, this one gets good reviews on stability and craftsmanship. The last thing one needs when preparing food is a wobbly stool. I wouldn’t cook on something that wobbles, so neither would I want my child to.

I do see some drawbacks to these platforms though. First of all, there is the expense — it is not cheap. Secondly, they are a bit bulky and might not fit well in smaller kitchens. Lastly, the learning tower does weigh 35 pounds, so kids might have a difficult time moving the stool around. My child can easily move her lightweight plastic step stool, and it constantly gets transferred around the house with little effort, but this item will probably require a parent for transport. Also of note, some reviewers have mentioned that the pronged feet get in the way and kids often trip over them, but the the feet that stick out to the side (see picture) are optional and only necessary if you feel that you need additional stability.

The learning tower comes in a variety of colors, including natural wood, and it is made for kids 18 months to 6 years old. You can purchase it at Amazon or directly through Little Partners. Both have free shipping. If your kid is six years and older, I would recommend the folding step stool by B&R Plastics. It costs around $14 and is very portable and sturdy.

When I was at Williams-Sonoma the other day, I purchased a (new) old-fashioned chrome egg beater for my daughter to use while cooking. I think this piece of equipment will be a fun item to have in the kitchen. Of course, after researching these hand-cranked beaters on the internet, it seems that the newer versions have some pitfalls. Some people complain that the gears are made out of nylon and not metal, causing some concern that they may not last a long time. With that said, I didn’t find many buyers complaining that the gears have actually broken.

It also appears as if one company is China is putting out a lot of these under different names. The Norpro and Kuhn Rikon egg beaters look almost exactly the same except for the handle, and the Kuhn Rikon is identical to the one I purchased at Williams-Sonoma for $20. Other people complain about the items not working that well and jamming up, and I can definitely see this happening. When I was at W-S I tried all of the egg beaters in the store (and of the same model) and some worked more smoothly than others, and one tended to seize up quite frequently. If you want a new product, I would recommend going to a store and trying them out before buying one.

There are some other concerns too. One is that the whisk blades are rounded and not flat. Apparently flat blades cut eggs and ingredients better than rounded ones as the eggs tend to slip off the rounded surface more. Also, on the newer versions there is a metal center piece on the frame that extends too far past the whisk blades, so it can be hard to mix ingredients at the very bottom of the bowl. Looking at the original patent schematic above, the blades are flat and the metal frame hardly protrudes past the blades. This is probably a better design.

In the end, I wish I hadn’t purchased this item and will likely return it. In my opinion, I would not recommend buying a new hand-rotary egg beater from a kitchen store. The new ones are likely made with inferior parts and not assembled as well, thus causing them to run less smoothly.

With that said, many of these newer products appear to be based upon the old Ekco hand beaters. If you look on eBay you can find tons of vintage hand mixers for less than you can buy them new from a kitchen store. You might as well purchase a good working vintage Ekco (or other brand) that was made in the USA. They will add some character to your kitchen and probably work better.

Another stop I made yesterday was at Crate&Barrel, and they had some neat cookware for kids. With that said, it was more expensive than IKEA, but that is to be expected I guess.

The first item was this set of mini cupcake spatulas. You can find similar items from Le Creuset and Williams-Sonoma, but they are more expensive. I paid $9.95 for the two (a bit spendy), but even at Amazon the cheapest set will cost you around $9 once shipping is factored in. I wouldn’t use these for heavy duty, but they would be perfect for little hands and small jobs.

I also picked up a strawberry huller for $7.95. It is a cute little gadget from Chef’n that gets very good reviews. It is actually cheaper at Crate&Barrel than at Amazon where it costs $9.

Another handy gadget I picked up was the Oxo Mini Angled Measuring Cup for $3.95. It’s useful because it allows for kids to measure tablespoons without the mess of a spoon measure. Just pour the liquid in with the cup on the counter. This item is also available from Amazon for $4 with free shipping.

As I have a kids-sized knife coming in from Korin, I also picked up a small, non-slip cutting board for $7.95. It is 7×10 inches, which is a nice size for kids, and it is also reversible. The end rubber grips are also very sticky to prevent sliding. I looked at specially made kids cutting boards too, but I didn’t like the cutesy shapes. They seem less functional and have a lot of wasted board space. This board, however, can be used long after your kid grows up.

The last couple of items I purchased were a mini silicone cookie spatula for $7.95 and some non-slip mini prep bowls for $2.95 a piece. Those last items were probably not necessary, but they were rather neat looking and matched my larger mixing bowls.

The picture above is of all the equipment from Crate&Barrel. I think if I were going to narrow my purchases down, I would go for the cutting board, Oxo measuring cup, and possibly the strawberry huller. Total cost would be $20.

These matryoshka nesting dolls from the whimsical company, Fred, also serve as handy measuring cups and would be a fun set for kids to use. My daughter received a real set of matryoshka dolls when she was younger, and she was fascinated by them for years. The M Cups — as they are called — are made out of durable white plastic, and even though they aren’t as colorful as the real hand-painted nesting dolls, I am sure they will still capture your kid’s attention.

There are six different dry measuring sizes: 1/4 , 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 full cup. A lot of measuring cup sets don’t come with the 2/3 or 3/4 cup sizes, so on top of being fun, they are also quite functional. Just be aware that the measure markings are noted inside the cup, so look at the size before filling. Another nice feature is that they save space because they are both stackable and nesting, thus reducing clutter in your kitchen drawers.

The cups were featured last year in Real Simple magazine, and they quickly flew off the shelves — so get them while they last. The cost for the Fred M Cups is around $10 from Amazon, which is actually quite reasonable. I am definitely adding this item to my daughter’s cooking gear.

Note: The photo above is from Real Simple magazine and taken by James Wojcik. He has some rather fascinating food photography on his site, and it is well worth checking out.