Shopping for the baker or cook in your life can be a challenge. You don’t want to give them something they won’t use. (Cupcake maker, anyone? Makes 5 at a time!)
You want to find a gift that’s both thoughtful and useful—something that will genuinely enhance their time in the kitchen. Whether they’re a seasoned pro, a weekend hobbyist, or just starting their culinary journey, the right tool or gadget can make all the difference.
I’ve considered what I would want in 2025 and created this guide to help you cut through the fat to bring you the best gifts this year, from timeless essentials to delicious to practical.
Here are ideas for every budget and skill level, ensuring you’ll find the perfect present that will be cherished for years to come.
Gifting Kitchen Essentials
Stove Top Sweetheart Waffler
Unlike an electric waffle iron, a stove top waffler allows for more control over the heat, critical for caramelizing the pearl sugar in liege waffles. And for regular Belgian waffles, you can achieve gorgeously golden, crisp edges much easier. And, the pockets are much deeper, all the better to fill with butter and maple syrup! The sweetheart design is also adorable! This is an excellent gift for the breakfast lover, Sunday brunch host, the friend who just got back from Belgium, and general waffle enthusiast.
Cupcake tins
Even seasoned bakers need an upgrade on their muffin and cupcake tins. All the seams in a cupcake pan can easily wear or rust! The baker in your life is probably dealing with this and would love new baking tins. This Nordic Ware cupcake pan comes with a lid, too, which is extra useful for storing and transporting goodies. It’s the perfect gift for the baker who loves to share their treats! Make it an extra thoughtful gift by including fun cupcake liners and sprinkles! And maybe a good cupcake recipe 😉
Mini Food Processor
A food processor is so useful for making pestos, nut butters, pie crusts, baby food, and even slicing vegetables. They can get pretty hefty, though, and a mini one is advantageous because it takes up less cabinet space and is less work to clean because it’s mini. This KitchenAid Mini Food Processor comes in lots of fun colors and holds up to 3.5 cups, plenty of room to make an Oreo crust and not spend all afternoon washing the parts! This makes a great gift for a budding cook, a college student in a tiny kitchen, or even a seasoned home cook looking for a smaller scale appliance!
Stand Mixer
Stand mixers are an important appliance that can handle a wide range of tasks beyond baking. The iconic KitchenAid Artisan mixer can be paired with so many attachments that empower you to make fresh pasta, shave ice, ground meats, and whip up ice cream to name a few! Whether you’re giving the stand mixer itself or one of the fun attachments, your gift will make lots of memories. Surprisingly, the KitchenAid website offers the lowest price on their stand mixer, currently $90 off MSRP at $359.99!
There’s another stand mixer to watch, and that’s the more compact albeit spendy Ankarsrum stand mixer. While the KitchenAid has a rotating paddle, hook, or whisk, and a stationary bowl, the Ankarsrum has a rotating bowl and stationary mixer. The Ankarsrum best mimics the motion of kneading dough by hand. Thus the Ankarsrum stand mixer makes an excellent gift for the special bread baker in your life!
A 7" Santoku Knife
Every kitchen needs a really good chef’s knife or santoku knife. At least one, ideally two. One for you, one for a cooking buddy. One for vegetables, one for meat. A 7″ santoku knife is a great all-purpose size that can chop veggies and slice grilled chicken. Wusthof makes a fantastic knife that will stand the test of time and stay sharper longer. This is an excellent gift for a beginner home cook! Opt for the 8″ chef’s knife to give your more advanced cook.
Gifts to sink their teeth into
Pierre Marcolini Chocolates
There are few gifts sweeter than a beautifully curated box of artisanal chocolates from Belgium, and not just any Belgian chocolates—Pierre Marcolini chocolates. Ganache-filled, praline, and fruit infused confections make a gorgeous gift for the chocolate-loving foodie in your life. Unless you’re off to Belgium to pick up a box, the only place to order these from the U.S. is through London-based Selfridges. While on the very expensive side for chocolates, a box of Pierre Marcolini chocolates is seriously worth every cent!
Kosterina Olive Oil
High-quality extra virgin olive oil is having a major moment and is an incredibly chic gift for 2025. A single drizzle can elevate a simple weeknight meal into a gourmet experience. A well priced, delicious, and beautifully labeled EVOO is Kosterina. The original (white label) is spicy, like the dry southern Greek climate its olives hail from. The every day (blue label) is more mellow in flavor, and good for cooking. The pair make a deliciously gorgeous set–a luxurious pantry staple that doubles as a stunning piece of kitchen counter decor. Any cook in your life would appreciate it as a gift!
Beyond Good Vanilla Bean Powder
There’s something so delightful to the baker about spotting flecks of vanilla bean in a dessert. The subtle grittiness in a whipped cream or the warm aroma of a sponge cake from vanilla bean is a source of pleasure for baker and treat-taster alike! The Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean paste is one great way to elevate baking, and thus an excellent choice of gift for the baker in your life. BUT! Arguably an even better choice is the Beyond Good Vanilla Bean Powder. It lasts longer because you don’t need as much, and it produces a much stronger vanilla flavor since it is not diluted by alcohols, gels, or water. You can buy it via Amazon or at Whole Foods. This one makes a great stocking stuffer for the baker in your life!
An excellent cut of meat
You can be sure that the cook in your life would be absolutely thrilled to receive a few cuts of filet mignon, ribeye, porterhouse, or New York strip steak. These splurge-type cuts are hard to justify on a regular grocery run for the practical home cook, but you will make their day with a gift of personally chosen cuts from a local butcher (skip the Omaha Steaks). Just make sure if you’re wrapping the gift, to keep it chilled!
Practical and Easy Gifts, Chef
Naomi After-Cooking Hand Scrub
When all the cooking is done and dishes are put away, sometimes the home cook can’t quite get that onion smell off their hands. Or fish smell, or whatever other pungent foods linger on the skin. For these cooks, what a gift it would be to have a soap that scrubs, neutralizes odors, and smells heavenly of bergamot and pepper! Naomi Hand Scrub is the perfect way to treat your home cook to a luxurious yet practical soap.
Mini Spatula and Spoonula
This stainless-steel-handled, silicone, mini spatula and spoonula is a gift that you can be sure will be put to use every day, twice a day. The mini spatula is perfect for maneuvering scrambled eggs in a small frying pan or mixing chicken salad. Its silicone head ensures nothings getting left in the bowl or pan, and its size makes it so easy to use for small batches. The spoonula is equally as useful, particularly for scraping peanut butter from a jar or slathering mustard on a slice of sandwich bread. This duo is a tiny but mighty gift any cook or baker will cherish.
Stasher Bags + Bee's wrap
A major trend in 2025 is sustainability, and Stasher Bags appeal to the eco-conscious home cook, as does Bee’s Wrap! Stasher Bags are versatile, reusable, dishwasher-safe, sous-vide-able, oven-safe, freezer-safe, easy to clean. They come in a variety of colors, as well. Bee’s Wrap is a reusable alternative to plastic wrap and comes in a gorgeous slew of patterns that makes packing a sandwich a colorful and happy affair. Some times the practical necessities just need a little upgrade to make them a great gift! The Stasher Bag Starter Kit includes four bags from snack size to stand-up mid bag. Bee’s Wrap can come in different size combos or cut to size!
Recipe Cards
Recipe cards and sets are a wonderful and classic gift for any home cook, and there are many stylish and practical options available. Instead of scribbling a recipe on a napkin, help your home cook document their work with lovely, custom recipe cards. Some come with holiday designs, perfect for writing and sharing special holiday dishes! Etsy, Paper Source, Rifle Paper Co, and Amazon all offer great options for recipe cards. It’s a thoughtful gift that doesn’t break the bank!
Containers and Measuring Cups
A kitchen is like a well-oiled machine when the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, oats, and pancake mix are in their respective containers, each paired with an appropriately sized measuring cup. Give the ultimate gift of organization with these OXO Pop Containers (I’d recommend 3-4 containers) and OXO stainless steel magnetic stacking measuring cups.
Worthy Cookbooks
Gateau by Aleksandra Crapanzano
Gateau, or “cake” in French, is a cookbook I return to every week when I want something exquisite, simple, delicious, and reliable. Every recipe in Gateau I have tried always turns out. Aleksandra Crapanzano is a genius and James Beard award winning writer. The beautifully colorful book cover will always be stationed on the kitchen counter. This is an excellent gift for the savoir-faire baker in your life looking for something elegant but effortless.
An Unapologetic Cookbook by Joshua Weissman
This is the anti-shortcut cookbook. It is bold, fun, and encourages the home cook to dive head-first into process. The book’s core philosophy is that the quality of your base ingredients dictates the quality of your final dish—so you should make everything yourself, from condiments to bread. Gift this book to the new cook, the seasoned cook, and the cook who is very meticulous! And bookmark the hokkaido cinnamon rolls for them, maybe you’ll receive a gift in return!
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is not just a book; it’s a masterclass in how to cook. Nosrat lays the foundation for cooking essentials to empower the home cook to create balance in their dishes. After laying the foundations, she provides phenomenal, fail-proof recipes with suggested pairings to serve them with. This is a book to give someone who is truly earnest in their desire to learn how to cook successfully. Favorite recipes from this book include slow-cooked salmon, midnight chocolate cake, tahdig, and several salad dressings.
Big Macs & Burgundy: Wine Pairings for the Real World by Vanessa Price
This hilarious book is not a cookbook, but a recommendation of wine pairings to go with non-pretentious, every day food, like Big Macs and movie theater candy. (The first pairing is Sancerre wine with Cheetos.) Vanessa Price is a gifted writer and sommelier who decouples the snobbery of wine from caviar to help wine drinkers understand and appreciate how wine plays off of food. Gift Big Macs & Burgundy to the wine enthusiast in your life!