Photo: brebca, Getty Images.
“People who love to eat are always the best people,” said cooking icon Julia Child. This holiday season, make the food-loving people in your life happy with a gift they can use. If you’re lucky, they’ll thank you by sharing their next greatest culinary creation. These 14 gadgets and gifts are not only practical, they’re playful and funny as well. Because people who love to eat are not only the best people, they’re a little bit kooky, too.
14 Kitchen Gadgets and Gifts for the Cooks in Your Life:
2016 Cooks Gift Guide | 14 Kitchen Gadgets and Gifts for the Cooks in Your Life
-
Bear Hands
There's no need for kitchen necessities to be frumpy. Among the bestselling items from the quirky Fred & Friends brand are these massive Bear Hands oven mitts. We're all just animals, after all, especially when it comes to food and fire. Let that beastliness out. Grr.
-
Breakfast Sandwich Maker
Sure, one could go to a fast food joint for a breakfast sandwich, but that would require getting dressed and arranging transportation. Give the gift of sloth and self-sufficiency with a Breakfast Sandwich Maker, an all-in-one contraption that assembles and cooks a hot egg sammy in five minutes flat.
-
Engraved Rolling Pins
Engraved Originals, an Etsy store operating out of Phoenix, Ariz., sells engraved rolling pins and cutting boards. Get your favorite Star Wars character, a baseball team logo, a monogram, paw prints, or a custom design etched into this beech wood gift.
-
Darth Vader Toaster
There's no shortage of Star Wars themed kitchen equipment, but a toaster seems like one of the few that will get any use. This ominous Darth Vader design isn't just for toast, either: stamp the Star Wars logo on hamburger buns, frozen pancakes, or English muffins. May the carbs be with you.
-
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Waffle Maker
A true Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle subsists on pizza and little else, but your gift recipient is not a true TMNT. (If only.) And pizza for breakfast is a rare treat. For those mornings when traditional breakfast food is required, make it more fun by eating the 7-inch, syrup-soaked waffle face of this beloved cartoon character.
-
Pizza Boss 3000
Thick crust is no match for this pizza cutter cleverly disguised as a miniature hand saw. The tough guy who gets this gift is going to be looking for anything and everything he can use it on.
-
Hot Sauce Making Kit
This hot sauce making kit will keep the culinary chemist in your life busy during the cold winter months. The kit, created by Man Crate, includes a pull-handle food processor, heat handlers, a stainless steel funnel, 8-ounce bottles, chemical resistant gloves, and an instruction book with three starter recipes. Now all you have to do is wrap it and be the taste-tester.
-
Flavored Popcorn Set
Everybody loves popcorn. But like anything you've eaten a thousand times, it can get a little boring. Wake up the taste buds with popcorn kernels in modern flavors like Chili Lime, Sriracha, and White Cheddar or satisfy a sweet tooth with Kettle Corn or Caramel Corn. (All kernels are gluten-free and non-GMO.) If you want to go all-out with this popcorn gift-giving, spring for an old-fashioned popcorn-making machine.
-
Cheese Log and Ax Knife
Make the cheese board a more manly destination with this ax and log combo. Note: if the reviews on Amazon are to be believed, both wood and weapon may be smaller than they appear in photos.
-
Himalayan Salt BBQ Plank
Grilling enthusiasts will enjoy infusing their food with more nuanced seasoning with this Himalayan salt plank. Not only does this naturally pink plank hold up in high heat, it adds healthy minerals to the food as well. Plain old BBQ just got exotic.
-
Golf Ball Bottle Opener
If you have a male boss, granddad, or father-in-law of a certain age, it's highly likely he golfs. Another guess: he probably drinks. This golf ball bottle opener honors both pleasurable pastimes. It's made with PGA Tour-licensed golf balls, a fact you can confidently announce upon its opening, even if that doesn't mean much to you.
-
Mulled Wine Set
Yeah, yeah, everyone's into beer nowadays, but the winos in your life want to have some fun, too. This mulled wine set allows them to transform cheap wine into an elegant European drink infused with a custom combo of nine spices. Shopping for a teetotaler? This set can be used to make non-alcoholic cider, too.
-
Batter Dispenser
There's a time and a place for splooging, and it's not in the kitchen. Keep muffin-related activity clean with a batter dispenser. Fill the canister, then gently squeeze to eject the right amount of batter into liners (for muffins or cupcakes) or onto a hot griddle (for pancakes).
-
Tattooed Dish Gloves
Chances are, the one who washes your dishes most often is a woman. Probably a woman who would appreciate it if the hot water and suds didn't dry out her hands. Hence, dish gloves, but if she's a badass, she'll appreciate a pair with personality. We recommend these bright pink tattooed dish gloves. Because why can't a girl look cute and get rid of grime at the same time?
