New product reviews

Fall is here and gift season is about to kick in. We’ve been trying a few things in the test kitchen and we think some of these might make really nice gifts come December.

Duxtop 17-piece cookware set

With all the cooking we do, we go through a set of cookware about every two years. If you spend $250 to $500 on a set, that works out to a few dollars a month to “rent” all that metal before you pass it on to someone else. In particular, ceramic coated surfaces don’t seem to last long before you overheat it and the non-stick aspect of it is over. And because the kitchen here is outfitted with a glass top stove, we were looking for something durable that wouldn’t loss its shape on the bottom.

Bingo – Duxtop. Whether your range is gas, glass-top, halogen, induction, or ceramic, this set performs well on them all.

After 6 months of daily use it looks a lot like it did when we took it out of the box six months ago. The non-stick pan is holding up well; the deep stock pot has proven itself for sous-vide tasks and the 11” saute pan is nice and deep. If it’s time for new cookware, put this on your wish list.

More information is at duxtop.com.

Crazy Cups flavored K-Cups

If you’re a coffee snot, skip this one, but if you like to play with coffee flavors, keep reading. Crazy Cups makes a few dozen flavors of coffee in single serve K-Cups, then they package a few of each into collections. The dessert pack includes several each of Pumpkin Vanilla Crème, Bananas Foster Flambe, Frosted Oatmeal Cookie, Cinnamon Churro, Carmel Truffle Sundae, and Salted Carmel.

Instead of adding everyday cream to your coffee, a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream is the perfect add-on. Get two boxes, one for you and one as a gift.

More information is at crazycups.com.

Danish dough whisk

During the pandemic, we had lots of time to put cooking tools under the microscope and educate ourselves about the possibilities. One exercise was learning all we could about the different types of whisks available. One such whisk is the danish dough whisk. Its odd shape lends itself well to blending flour and liquid together. And virtually none of the mix gets trapped in the whisk like it would if you were using a French ball-style whisk.

To see all the options, search “danish dough whisk.”

Falafel stamper

When you’re locked down, you’ve got time to get into some serious food prep. So, we got a falafel stamper, came up with a nice recipe and started stamping out our own falafels. Some went in the fridge for eating the same week, the rest got stored in the freezer for later use.

And along the way a funny thing happened. When it came time to make cookies we used the stamper to stamp out perfect portions of dough. Then we worked up our own sausage recipe, and again the tool was used to stamp out evenly portioned patties. One tool with multiple uses – that’s what we like in the kitchen!

Our brand of choice is from a German company called Stöckel. They make several sizes.

More information is in English at stoeckel-soehne.de/en/.

SD!/October 2020