Big City, Little Kitchen

One of my most-used kitchen tools these days is the dough scraper.  Mundane, yes, but also quite useful, and not just for its eponymous purpose.  As of late, I’ve been using it to slice brownies or bar cookies in their pans.  The user holds the handle on the top of the scraper, using a downward motion to slice; this eliminates the awkwardness of holding a knife, bumping its handle against the sides of the pan. 

I also hate lining pans with buttered parchment; yes, it helps to lift the finished product out of the pan and onto a board for cutting, but it’s incredibly awkward.  If you have a dough scraper, don’t line the pan; just butter it, pour in the batter, bake, and slice.  You can then remove the goods to a pretty serving platter. 

You can, of course, use it for its intended purpose as well, scraping and lifting pastry dough from a board.

Moreover, this little tool is only 6 inches long and lays flat, so you can throw it into a drawer and forget about it (until the next time you have a pan of something delicious that needs slicing, that is).

I bought mine at Sur La Table for a mere $5; I would urge you to add this to your arsenal, too.