Favorite Baking Tools

I love baking. And I have a weakness for cute kitchen tools. You probably spotted some of the things I'm about to share in my kitchen tour post last year but I had some people ask for reviews so here we go:
my must-have baking tools

These reusable muffin cups are rad! I've had them for about half a year and I've used them at least 20 times since. They are really convenient because you don't have to worry about greasing your muffin pan or buying expensive paper liners. Nothing sticks to them and once you're done you can simply put them in the dishwasher - no hassle at all. The ones I bought are from a French company (sorry, I don't know the name) are really great because they are pretty thick so they keep their shape (my parents once had some really thin ones that didn't work well.)

Eeeeek, here are my favorites: my beloved kitchenaids. I bought the stand mixer(color: raspberry ice) last summer from my first paycheck. Probably the best investment of that year! I bought it in a bundle with the slicer/grater attachment (the one for the US market is slightly different but I'm sure it works just as well!) as well as the glass bowl. I love the additional bowl because I often need two separate bowls for one recipe and it has a lid! So whenever I make a dough that needs some alone time in the fridge I use the glass bowl.

The only additional thing I bought for the stand mixer is the flex beater. It's probably the best invention after the stand mixer itself. No more stopping to scrape the bowl and it feels like mixing ingredients is much faster and more thorough than before. Oh and the best thing? It's dishwasher safe! :)

I got the blender pretty spontaneously in Denmark. I was in a huge houseware store and there it was, the perfect green blender. My parents have the older model so I knew about how versatile and awesome it is. So the green one was a sample and it was on super sale. They had like 10 different colors and the only one on sale was the one I wanted. Perfect, right?

I didn't mind it being a sample at all because obviously it wasn't used and it looked perfect - no scratches, no flaws, not even fingerprints! So I dragged it to the checkout (that thing is heavy - I'm glad we didn't fly to Denmark otherwise I couldn't have bought it) and the cashier went to get the original packaging. Ten minutes later and she comes back - without the packaging. Apparently the store lost it. Or at least it wasn't where it was supposed to be. So I almost lost my nerves because the warranty leaflet and everything is in the packaging. And how on earth was I supposed to drag the thing back to the car that was parked about 5 miles away?!

The cashier apologized and told me to hold on a minute. Two minutes later she comes back - with another green blender in its original packaging, still sealed. And she offered it at the same price as the sample. I think I smiled for the next 10 hours straight. Dragging it back to the car was a pretty intense workout but so worth it!
I use the blender all the time. To make powdered sugar, to chop nuts, to make soups and pesto, to make smoothies and milkshakes... the possibilities are endless!

I've had about three different thrifted scales before I finally was willing to pay for a digital scale. It was really frustrating having an inaccurate scale or one that has a bowl on top, thus I couldn't put the kitchen aid bowl on it and always had to fill the ingredients I wanted to measure into three different bowls.
Not to mention that weighting yarn is useless if there's a +/- 30g accuracy.
I'm super happy with this one - you can change between oz and g which is really useful if you have a mix of American and European cookbooks like I do :)

Last but not least, measuring cups. I got the blue ones at winners (the Canadian version of Ross / TJ Maxx / ...) and the ceramic ones are from Anthropologie. I compared my teaspoons to the teaspoon measuring cup and my regular teaspoons only hold like 1/2 the amount the measuring cup does. So yeah, I always thought tsp/tbsp measuring cups were useless and I only bought them because they were only $2 and hand painted and so cute. Turns out it was a pretty food investment :)

So what are some of your kitchen must-haves? Anyone else who gets super excited about colorful kitchen tools and appliances?

ps: this is not a sponsored post and I'm not trying to advertise for any companies. I'm just sharing my experiences and opinions on products I like.