Oh, How I Love Bakeware

If you don't know of my obsession with everything having to do with baking, you must be new here. That's okay. Welcome!

So I love baking -- so much that I've noticed that when I'm in the office rather than at the bakery, right around 2 or 3 pm I always get this incessant desire to go home and bake something. Usually I end up doing that or chowing down on any baked goods I've left on the counter or even in the freezer. I admit to microwaving some peanut butter brownies I had previously baked and frozen the second I got home from work yesterday. Does that ever happen to you?

But getting back on track... part of what I discovered while baking so much is that you can be armed with the right ingredients and the right recipe, but if you don't have the right tools and pans, your dessert (or breakfast or what-have-you) can be a complete flop.

It's true. If you use the wrong capacity pan, you are taking a huge risk! If you don't have the right piping tip, you'll never end up with a buttercream rose no matter how hard you try. If you don't have an offset, you might not to be able to create that super smooth look when frosting a cake. That's just the way it is.

So let's just say that ever since I figured that out, I have been adding to my collection of bakeware and tools quite rapidly. I have tart pans, individual tart pans, tartlet pans, a bundt pan, a springform pan, individual springform pans, an offset, a baby offset, a pastry blender, a full set of piping tips, sheet pans of all different sizes, cupcake pans, and mini cupcake pans, and I could go on and on. And with online shopping it's even easier (and even more dangerous!) to keep my collection growing.

There are several sites (see my Favorite Food/Cooking/Cookware Sites tab above) I turn to often when I need a particular pan or tool, but I recently was made aware of a new site, or rather set of sites, called CSN Stores.

CSN Stores comprises more than 200 stores where you can find everything from kids beds to cooking supplies to pet accessories. It's insane how many different products they offer. My favorite site is easily cookware.com, but I really loved the kitchen section of allmodern.com as well. If you're looking to fill your drawers and cabinets with some new baking tools, appliances, and cutlery, and you have some time to spend paging through products, I suggest you head over to cookware.com.

I was lucky enough to be able to pick out an item from one of CSN's sites to review. It took me quite a while to choose something. I mean, there's Emile Henry, Le Creuset, Cuisinart, Calphalon... I was in kitchen stock-up heaven. I finally made up my mind, and I can't wait until my Nordicware petit fours pan gets here so I can tell you all about it and bake up some lovely spring goodies to share with all of you.

Happy baking and happy shopping!

What are your favorite online sites for cooking and baking supplies? What are your must-have items?