Bakers with Cork

Crate & Barrel's new Bakers with Cork line of white stoneware baking dishes nest in cork liners for bringing hot dishes directly from oven to table. Bakeware is dishwasher safe. Made in Portugal.

$24.95 for the square baker, $29.95 for the rectangular baker, and $39.95 for the lidded oval casserole at Crate & Barrel.

Two's a Trend: Matryoshka Measuring Cups

Worldwide Fred has updated the iconic matryoshka doll as a useful kitchen gadget. At right, Fred's M-Cups ($12.50 at perpetual kid) are a set of six plastic measuring cups that nest like the real Russian tchochkes. Anthropologie's version (left) -- a set of three Matryoshka Measuring Cups ($28) -- aim for a more traditional look, though they are dishwasher and microwave safe.

The LEGO Kitchen

Over the weekend, I found myself at the just-opened LEGO store at New Jersey's Garden State Plaza.

While I had a hard time pulling myself away from LEGO's ultra-cool new "Architecture" series featuring the Guggenheim Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, and landmark skyscrapers, I also noticed a series of new products intended to outfit your kitchen in the contours of the classic toy bricks.

Clockwise, from left: LEGO kids cutlery, minifigure cake mold, minifigure cookie cutters, rolling cookie cutter, and kitchen storage set.

Pimp My Mixer

From the Department of Twitter May Be Useful for Something, we learn about the SideSwipe Spatula Mixer Blade (Cook's Illustrated's Christopher Kimball tweets it "works great"), a tricked out replacement for the standard Kitchen Aid mixing paddle.

Made of reinforced nylon with silicone "wiper fins," the attachment is designed to reduce hand scraping with a spatula. The blade is configured to mix ingredients horizontally and vertically, directing the contents downward and wiping the bowl clean as it rotates. Its creators also claim that it allows chunky ingredients to be mixed easily without being crushed or jammed against the bowl. $24.95 to $29.95, depending on the size blade that will fit your mixer model, at the SideSwipe Store.

Tools for Tarts

These beautiful hand-turned French rolling pins are made in Nashville, not Nîmes, by artist and woodworker Jackie Johnson. They are available in solid cherry or maple in 13" ($16) and 19" lengths ($24) at Johnson's WoodElements Etsy Shop.

Vertical Baking

Too space-starved to bake more than one batch of cookies at a time? The Baker's Mate cooling rack can support up to four ten-pound trays, so even the tiniest kitchen can be transformed into a miniature bakeshop. What's more, the rack folds flat to store in less space than a single tray. $19.99 at Chefs Catalog.

Digital Dose

The easy joke is that this Spoon Scale is a gadget for drug dealers posing as a kitchen tool. But, the scale, which can measure exact weight down to 0.1 grams, would probably be pretty useful for serious bakers (where measures of weight often trump volume) or for translating foreign language recipes that use the metric system. Results may be given in grams or ounces and are displayed on a small LCD screen. Approximately $35 (18.5 £) at Pro-Idee. [Via Not Martha]

Broom for Baking

The Swiffer has dealt a serious blow to brooms everywhere, but one thing it can't do is test whether your cake is fully baked. The Amish Cake Tester Broom (found via Book of Joe) is comprised of corn husk straws that can be broken off and used as cake testers. $6.99, including a poem, at CHEFS.

Vintage Pin

If you've ever had to resort to using an empty wine bottle as a rolling pin (I have), you can appreciate the playful design of this rolling pin that evokes the shape of a bottle of Bordeaux, but won't leave any wine stains in your biscuits. $21.40 at Atypyk.

Vintage Pin

If you've ever had to resort to using an empty wine bottle as a rolling pin (I have), you can appreciate the playful design of this rolling pin that evokes the shape of a bottle of Bordeaux, but won't leave any wine stains in your biscuits. $21.40 at Atypyk.