Hot stuff for the foodies on your gift list

Holiday shopping for the cooking enthusiast on your list continues to get easier and easier. Thanks to the growing popularity of television cooking shows, we’re constantly introduced to new equipment and gadgets that make our time in the kitchen fun and convenient. Here’s a look at a few of the culinary finds we have spotted throughout the year that would make cooks and chefs on your gift list happy campers. We’ve organized them in price ranges so you can target items that fit your budget.

$1 to $10

• Enjoy Biscotti Company Frangelico Chocolate Toffee Chunk Biscotti: $1.49 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware. Visit enjoybiscotti.com
This Arvada-based, award-winning take on the Italian crunchy cookie is the perfect stocking stuffer for your espresso-sipping friends. They are made with milk chocolate and toffee; the hazelnut liqueur highlights the flavor. Try them with other beverages, too, like wine, a glass of milk or hot cocoa.

• Slip-On Pour Spout: $6.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
The silicone spout can be attached to pans, bowls and jars that do not have a spout for easy, safe pouring. Tired of hot liquids running down the side of the pan and making a mess on your stovetop? The wide edge narrows to a small edge, making it a wonderful help with hot soups, brewed tea, broths, stocks, and mulled cider. It’s dishwasher safe and heat-resistant.

• Too Haute Cowgirls Hell-bent for Chocolate Fistful of Fleur de Sel gourmet popcorn: $7.49
at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware. Visit toohautecowgirls.com
The Carbondale-based gourmet popcorn makers have gained a reputation for their caramel corn, which they coat with semi-sweet chocolate, roll in crushed handmade toffee and dust with fleur de sel (sea salt). The result is a mouthwatering sweet-salty party in your mouth.

• Small Breadwarmer: $7.95 at Camerons Products
The 11-by-2-inch warmer is made of high temperature polyester interior liner with a poly/cotton exterior with polyester film and insulation. Bread or rolls will stay hot up to an hour. Turn the warmer inside out to wash. For use in microwave only. It comes in two designs: Christmas Holly or fall leaves.

$11 to $20

• Party People Snack Markers: $12.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
First there were wine glass markers; now there are colorful snack markers with such clever names as Curious, Macho, Deep, Naughty, Cuddly, Devilish, Jolly and Mysterious. The shapes of the markers roughly resemble their namesakes. Bottom line: You will always recognize your own fork. Sure to be a conversation starter at your next shindig.

• Firewire Flexible Grilling Skewers: $14.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
A set of two stainless steel flexible wires that will hold more than twice as much food as a regular skewer. Load up the wires and place them into a resealable plastic bag with marinade. Remove and place on the grill. The wires are dishwasher-safe and will not rust.

• Grandpa Witmer’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer: $16.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
A must have for all natural peanut butter lovers. This gadget allows for easy stirring of the oil that separates in natural nut butters. Fasten the crank to the mixer lid. Insert into the nut butter and turn the crank to mix the oil back into the mixture. Mixer lids are available that will fit 16-ounce jars with 77- or 70-millimeter jar mouths.

• Fusionbrands’ Food Pod: $17.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
The silicone food-pod basket saves time when boiling eggs, blanching veggies or steaming shellfish because it fits in almost any size pot and keeps food together. When the food is done, lift the pod out of the boiling water and place in a water bath to stop the cooking. It can be crushed for easy storage. It’s a fun-looking gizmo that’s functional.

• Insulated Casserole Tote: $19.95 at Camerons Products
Pack up your hot-from-the-oven casserole in this heat-resistant tote and be on your way to a friend’s home or picnic. The sturdy handles make it easy to carry a standard casserole dish or pan (not included). The top zips completely off for serving. It’s machine washable and should be air dried. A front pocket is ideal for carrying serving pieces.

$21 to $30

• Microplane Herb Mill: $21.95 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
What would the holidays be without a new Microplane gadget? This year, we spotted the herb mill, which cuts delicate herbs easily without tearing them. Remove the top and load in the herbs and twist the knob to start the dual-action blade. Herbs will be cut without bruising. Dishwasher safe.

• Bagel Biter Bagel Guillotine: $24.95 at Chefs Catalog
Safely cuts bagels in half with guillotine-action blades behind a protective finger guard. Can be washed in the top shelf of the dishwasher.

• Kaiser Crossini Pommesblech French Fries Sheet: $23.95 at Chefs Catalog
Looking for evenly crispy frozen fries? Here’s the answer. The thermal base is ideal for perfect results without turning the potatoes. Can handle family-size packages and has a nonstick surface.

• “A Peak at the Springs — A Culinary Exploration of Colorado Springs” cookbook: $26.95 at Junior League of Colorado Springs office
The Junior League of Colorado Springs created and thoroughly tested the 124 recipes in the cookbook for high altitude. Some recipes are from local chefs, and all recommend using locally grown foods.

• Rabbit Aerating Pourer: $27.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
For the wine lover, this aerator improves the flavor and bouquet of wines that need to be decanted. The aerator is inserted in the wine bottleneck so when the wine is poured from the bottle it has air mixed with it as it swirls in the glass. Wash by hand.

$41 to $100

• Electric Rabbit Rechargeable Corkscrew with Electronic Display: $49.99 at Chefs Catalog
No more struggling to remove corks from pesky wine bottles. This corkscrew pulls the cork out with the touch of a button. There’s an illuminated LCD screen that counts down the number of cork pulls before it needs to be recharged. There are 30 cork pulls per charge. A foil cutter and an AC charger are included.

• Capresso Automatic Milk Frother: $59.99 at Chefs Catalog
Create a beautiful froth for cappuccinos, café lattes and hot chocolate in seconds. There’s a choice of cold, warm or hot milk settings. The removable milk pitcher is dishwasher safe. The see-through lid lets you see when the milk is frothed to your desire.

• A di Alessi Parrot Sommelier Corkscrew: $60 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
This whimsical tool by Alessandro Mendini is a practical, pocket-size corkscrew in a parrot-shape design. It’s made of cast aluminum and plastic material. It’s sure to get comments and take some of the snobbery out of wine service.

• Maverick Pro Temp – Professional Thermocouple Thermometer: $99.99 at Sparrow Hawk Gourmet Cookware
This thermometer will respond in 3 to 4 seconds and is factory calibrated with a certificate included. It has large, easy-to-read white LCD digits. It runs on 3 AAA batteries that are included.

$101 and up – Wow-wee items

• KitchenAid Pasta Press: $179.95 at Chefs Catalog
Designed to be used with any KitchenAid stand mixer, it allows you to make small and large homemade macaroni, bucatini (thick hollow tubes), spaghetti, fusilli (corkscrews) and rigatoni (short, ribbed tubes). The tough plastic housing attaches to the mixer’s power hub. There’s a built-in wire cutter for customized noodle lengths. Recipes, cleaning brush and pasta pusher included.

• Breville One-Touch Tea Maker: $249.95 at Chefs Catalog
Pricey for a teapot, yes, but this machine brews tea at five different temperature settings and three brew strengths: mild, medium and strong. Tea connoisseurs know green tea, white tea, herbal tea, Oolong tea or black tea brew at different temperatures. With this pot, you take out the guesswork. There’s a feature that includes a Delay Start, Keep Warm and “Agitate” for loosening tea leaves and improving infusion. It can double as a hot-water kettle. The tea basket and scoop are dishwasher safe.

• Vitamix : $449 to $699 at vitamix.com
The Vitamix is a blender on steroids. If you are into smoothies, this is the machine for you. Other juice machines extract the juice but leave behind the fruit fiber. The Vitamix whirs the juice and fiber into one smooth, nutritious drink. Hot soups can be blended into velvety smooth mixtures. It’s even possible to grind grain for making whole-grain breads and other baked treats.

 • SousVide Supreme $449.95 at sousvide-supreme.com
The world’s first water oven designed to bring the sous vide culinary technique into home kitchens and smaller restaurants. The term “sous vide” (pronounced “soo-VEED) is a French term, meaning “under vacuum.” This is the revolutionary cooking technique that has foodies and the culinary world abuzz. Vacuum-sealed food is immersed in a water bath and cooked at a precise, consistent temperature. The cooking time can be longer than other methods for a given food, but the cooking temperature is much lower. This low–and–slow method yields remarkable results with moist, tender meat. The sous vide slow-cooking method has long been used by gourmet chefs worldwide to set the standard for fine dining. Now, with this compact countertop appliance with a one-touch precision control panel, preparing gourmet-quality meals is easy.