Cool New Product

So I was out shopping at BJ’s this week, and I started looking through the gift section they’ve set up for the holidays.  You just never know what neat new gadgets you might find there, so I always like to browse it while the selection is still good.  Well, low and behold, I stumbled upon the coolest little kitchen device called the Perfect Bake.  Basically, it is a digital kitchen scale that attaches to your iOS or Android device (I’d be using it with my iPad) and gets paired with the free app called Perfect Bake.  The kit also comes with a stand for your tablet, a set of color-coded bowls, and an oven thermometer.

The gist of it is that the app provides you with awesome recipes for baked goods, and the digital scale helps you measure the ingredients by weight in real time on your tablet screen, telling you when to stop adding each ingredient.  Because it measures by weight, it’s more accurate than using measuring cups and spoons.  And because it allows you to add ingredients directly to the bowl on the scale, there’s less cleanup. 

Not only that, but it shows you each step of the process, one step at a time, even including built-in timers where necessary for mixing and baking, and that makes it super simple for even kids to use on their own. 

Other neat features are the ability to scale any recipe.  So if your kid’s class has 28 students, rendering a boxed cake mix useless to you, you can tell it you want to bake the recipe for 28 cupcakes, and it will scale it for you automatically.  Everything can be made from scratch.  Bye-bye baking mixes!  And from what I’ve read of the reviews, you get bakery-quality goodies every single time!  You can also add your own recipes to the app, though I’ve read that’s a bit complicated.  And you know how you often end up with cupcakes that are various sizes?  Well, with Perfect Bake, you set the cupcake pan right onto the scale, and it tells you when you’ve got the right amount of batter in each and every well of the pan!  How cool is that?!?

Another great thing about it is the pantry feature.  You can apparently tell it what kinds of baking ingredients you have in the house already and how much of them you have, and then you can have the app tell you recipes you could make using only the things you have on hand so there’s not running to the store for missing ingredients!  I think that’s super handy, because that happens to me a lot…I get a fancy to bake something on some rainy afternoon, only to find I don’t have what I need, and I don’t want to go out.  Bummer! 

It looks as though this item came out just in time for the holidays in 2014, and it was $70 at that time.  But at BJ’s this week, I saw it for only $40.  And on Amazon, it was $41 and some change.  Not bad!  I know Holden, who is 7, would absolutely love this.  He loves to be in the kitchen and cook stuff.  He’s always the one I end up buying cooking classes for at Christmas time.  If he could do it all on his own without my hovering in the background overseeing things, I know he’d be proud to be able to say he made something all on his own.  And I see lots of uses for it for myself, as well.  It could be a fun thing to do together with the kids, as everyone could get involved.  I’ve just got to have this thing!

I sent a link to it to Steve with the hint that it would make a great Christmas gift for us this year.  We shall see.  I’m not sure I can wait that long, though!  I hear it’s got great holiday recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I’m probably going to end up with it before much longer.  I’m not sure I can help myself.  I love kitchen gadgets!

What do you think of it?  Have you tried it out for yourself?  I’d love to hear your feedback.  Most of the reviews I’ve read online are very positive.  I think it would be right up our alley.