Dog-Inspired Kitchen Tools That Are Perfect for Pet Lovers

They say that dogs are man’s best friend, but the same can be said about a slice of cheesecake or a delicious brisket. In fact, there are times when we prefer the latter: less responsibility and absolutely no barking.

For that fido-loving friend who also happens to love cooking and baking, why not combine the best of both worlds with these dog-inspired kitchen gadgets? They’re adorable, make perfect gifts, and could possibly enhance the quality of your meals (or at least the experience of making them).

From a corgi wine stopper to dachshund chopstick rests, scroll down to fetch all of our unique finds.

“Corki” Wine Stopper, $6.65 on Amazon

Amazon

We judge (ever so slightly) those who are in need of a wine stopper, but if you can’t finish a bottle (blasphemy), you may as well plug it with something adorable. And frankly, what’s more adorable than a Corgi?Buy Now

Dachshund Ice Cube Tray, $7.76 on Amazon

Amazon

If you assumed we’d toss in something hot dog-related to pay homage to the precious wiener, you thought wrong. That’s way too predictable! Instead, surprise cocktail hour guests with dachshund ice cubes. They’re quite the conversation starter.Buy Now

Dog Print Dishcloths, 2 for $11.50 on Amazon

Amazon

The irony of this pick is that it’s usually your dog that’s creating the mess, not cleaning it. Horrible wet dog smell not included (we hope).Buy Now

Dog Kitchen Timer, $6.09 on Amazon

Amazon

You’ll now know when it’s time to walk your four-legged friend and take the cherry pie out of the oven. Multi-tasking at its finest.Buy Now

Dog Spatula, $12 on Amazon

Amazon

One must “wag” the batter, not stir with this adorable Sur La Table spatula. Just don’t wag too much if you’re making a delicate soufflé. Buy Now

Dog Paper Towel Holder, $19.98 on Amazon

Amazon

Dog lover, cat lover, fish lover, whatever. You don’t have to love animals to buy this hilarious and quirky paper towel holder that’s perfect for a modern kitchen.Buy Now

Dog Cast Iron Trivet, $14.97 on Amazon

Amazon

Now that’s what we call a hot dog. Literally. Your pots, pans, and cookie sheets have never looked better.Buy Now

Dog Rolling Pin, $33.99 on Amazon

Amazon

They see you rollin’, they hatin’, especially when they find out your rolling pin has dogs on it and theirs doesn’t.Buy Now

Dog Salad Serving Set, $26.16 on Amazon

Amazon

Salads are typically one of the most boring dishes on the dinner table, but serving the greens with these utensils will have guests saying “bow wow.”Buy Now

Dachshund Chopstick Rests, 5 for $15.95 on Amazon

Amazon

You’ve heard of giving your dogs a rest, but now you can rest your chopsticks on these adorable silver dachshunds. And you thought your bowl of ramen couldn’t get any better.Buy Now

Related Video: How to Make Homemade Salmon Treats for Your Dog

All featured products are curated independently by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, we may receive a commission. For more great hand-picked products, check out the Chowhound Shop.

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Five Ways to Use Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend

Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

This Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese is just what your carb-loving soul needs! Macaroni bathed in rich, creamy cheese sauce topped with a flavorful breadcrumb topping and baked to perfection. Yes, please!

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Simply Recipes Meal Plan: March Week 4

This week our meal plans are EASY and DELICIOUS! Paella in the pressure cooker? Yes, please! Ham and Asparagus Quiche? Absolutely! Tasty Vegetarian Chili? It can be done!

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How the Women Behind Coolhaus Built an Ice Cream Empire

What Is the Difference Between Ice Cream and Custard?

“What’s the difference between ice cream and frozen custard?” is something you might ask yourself on a hot summer day when contemplating a trip to either Dairy Queen or Culver’s (a midwest chain that specializes in butterburgers and frozen custard). Me? If the question concerns frozen, creamy desserts, I’m likely to contemplate it any time. Case in point: It’s 35 degrees out in Chicago right now, and I’m writing about the distinction between two sugary, chilled desserts. What can I say? My taste buds listen to my sweet tooth!

While ice cream and frozen custard are pretty similar in that they are both desserts, both delicious, both creamy, and both frozen, the difference between them can be addressed along five key areas:

Ingredients

When making vanilla ice cream, I use four ingredients: heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, and vanilla. That’s it. Sure, it’s high in calories. But I’m making ice cream, not a kale loaf (not sure if that’s a thing), so I splurge, and use the high fat content dairy. As for custard, it uses all that stuff and two more particular ingredients. First, and the stars of the show, are egg yolks. The second is salt (you can use salt in ice cream too, I just don’t). To be precise, the USDA specifies that frozen custards must have 1.4 percent egg yolk and 10 percent milkfat to be considered as such. If the egg yolk content is lower, it’s officially considered an ice cream instead.

David Lebovitz

Consistency/Texture

The egg yolk and salt combination in custard ensures a dense consistency and smooth texture—kind of like yogurt or pudding. Sure, ice cream can be dense and smooth, but not like frozen custard. Consider this: Some soft serve ice creams can be composed of 50 percent air. Frozen custard’s air content is significantly lower. Don’t get me wrong, I like soft serve a lot. It just has an airier texture to it than frozen custard does. It’s weird to say, but custard has a more creamy texture than ice cream.

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Serving Temperature

Did you know that the egg yolks in custard allow it to be served at a higher temperature than ice cream? You might think to yourself, “So what?” Well, if you happen to run a frozen custard stand, or local shop, like Andy’s Frozen Custard, you’ll likely spend less on refrigeration. And if you’re just a frozen custard consumer, this means a creamy, frozen dessert that will melt less than traditional soft serve ice cream. Typically, ice cream is served at 10 degrees Fahrenheit, while frozen custard is served at 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Preparation

If you have the right tools, like an ice cream maker, you can make ice cream, and even frozen yogurt, in about 30 minutes. Custard takes a lot longer. Why? ‘Cause of those egg yolks. In order to ensure the safety of the eggs, and achieve the proper texture, you have to dissolve ingredients, temper/heat your custard mixture, then cool it down, then freeze it. This takes a lot longer than the process required for ice cream—dissolving sugar in heavy cream and whole milk, sprinkling in some vanilla, pouring the mixture into your ice cream machine, and waiting about 25 minutes. All told, custard, on the other hand, could take four and a half hours, or even a full day.

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Nutritional Content

I’m not really sure you can say that ice cream or frozen custard are health foods. That being said, custard seems to be a healthier option. On average, it tends to have less fat, fewer calories, and more protein. I mean, if you’re really concerned, your best bet is frozen yogurt. Actually, if you’re really really concerned, you should just have a piece of fresh fruit.

Are you a fan of chilled desserts? Then you’ve probably encountered ice cream and frozen custard and wondered, “What’s the difference?” After reading this article, I’m sure you feel better equipped to answer that question. As the weather gets warmer, hopefully you get to sample all sorts of creamy frozen desserts, from French made ice cream, soft serve, frozen yogurt, and frozen custard. I know they’re high-fat, high-calorie foods, but they’re also high in something else—goodness. Interested in making your own? Try this Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe, or this Frozen Custard recipe—or both!

Cuisinart ICE-21 1.5-Quart Ice Cream Maker, $42 on Amazon

Make ice cream, custard, or frozen yogurt in any flavor you can dream up at home. You know you want to.

Buy Now

Related Video: How to Make a Superfood-Infused Ice Cream with Moringa

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Homemade Healthy Snacks: These Superpower Energy Bars Are Easy and Delicious

Healthy snacks are absolutely possible, but even the least processed granola bar at the grocery store can’t come close to the flavor and texture of homemade. So we whipped up four fantastic healthy granola bar recipes that are easy to make at home, and give new meaning to the term superfood.

When your blood sugar plummets and a fresh apple is nowhere in sight, that smashed energy bar at the bottom of your bag is a godsend. It’s portable and mess-free, and will buy you time until your next meal. It may also contain alien ingredients like hydrolyzed collagen and soy protein isolate. Even if it doesn’t, it probably won’t taste all that good. But you’re desperate, right?

Packaged snacks have come a long way since we originally wrote that (in 2010), and you can find good ready-made options of all sorts, from gluten-free and non-GMO versions to probiotic-packed snack bars, but for the healthiest and most delicious bite, we still like to go homemade.

Luckily, as we learned when first reverse-engineering some of the most popular bars of the time, underneath the fancy packaging they’re no more complicated to make than Rice Krispies Treats. Yet they’re packed with super-healthy ingredients like chia seeds, almond butter, brown rice cereal—and completely free of all the things you don’t want, like preservatives and artificial sweeteners. Plus, they’re far cheaper to make than to buy, and you can customize them to your heart’s content.

So hikers and surfers, moms and kids, college students and office workers everywhere—roll up your sleeves and make a batch or two of our Figgy Fuel, Superseed, Cherry Power, and Chocolate Victory bars on a lazy day off. Wrap them in plastic and pop them in the freezer for long-term storage, stash them in an airtight container on the counter for the week, or toss one into your bag, where it will be waiting for you at the bottom like a promise. These bars have power: Harness it.

Figgy Fuel Bar

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Fruity and fiber-packed, these figgy bars were modeled on Lärabars, which are already made from all-natural ingredients. We removed the pecans from their original date-pecan-almond formula and added not only dried figs for a heartier chew, but brown rice cereal for a crisp contrast, and vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest, and the faintest zing of black pepper for a fantastic flavor. Swap in a seed butter for the almond butter if you prefer, and feel free to leave the pepper out for picky eaters. Get our Fig Granola Bar recipe.

Superseed Bar

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This texture-rich bar is packed full of chia seeds, flax seeds, wheat germ, and crisp brown rice cereal, with cocoa, dates, and a whisper of vanilla for a little sweet chocolate flavor that’s not cloying or artificial. What you can’t taste, but will love knowing is in there too: tons of omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, and antioxidants. Also pretty great? These don’t cost $2.50 and upwards a pop! Highway robbery never tastes very good, but superpowers are delicious. Just be sure to use softer, sweeter Medjool dates so their natural sugar and moisture content keep the bars from drying out. Get our Superseed Granola Bar recipe.

Cherry Power Bar

Chowhound

If you like a chewy, oaty, nutty granola bar, you’ll love this one, with pops of sweet-tart flavor from dried cherries, though you can swap in any dried fruit you like best. It’s not too sweet (just a little honey and brown sugar come into play alongside the fruit), but it is delicious (cinnamon and coconut flakes contribute additional layers of flavor), and it will give you plenty of energy to get through the morning or provide a pick-me-up in the afternoon. Get our Cherry Granola Bar recipe.

Chocolate Victory Bar

Chowhound

This follows a similar format as the oat- and nut-filled bar above, but adds a thin layer of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate for those who can’t quit cocoa. It’s still heaps healthier than store-bought chocolate-covered granola bars, but if you want, you could also choose to think of this as a super nutritious candy bar alternative… Get our Chocolate Covered Granola Bar recipe.

Variations

As long as you stick to the given ratios in each recipe and consider the texture and flavor of your individual ingredients, you can mix and match to really make these bars your own. Swap in different combinations of seeds, grains, nuts, dried fruit, and natural sweeteners like honey and agave, and use whatever nut butters or seed butters you prefer. Switch up the spices and feel free to add small amounts of nutritious powders like matcha or moringa, tasting as you go to make sure the flavors stay in balance.

Freezing

If you want to make batches of granola bars ahead of time (and why wouldn’t you?), you can freeze any of these recipes for about three weeks, but ideally no longer than a month for best flavor and texture. Just let them fully cool and set first, cut them into bars, and wrap them individually in plastic (or a more eco-friendly option like Bee’s Wrap), then stash them all together in a plastic bag or freezer-safe reusable container. Take out as many bars as you want to eat on a given day an hour or more before you get hangry, as you’ll want them to come to room temperature before you take a bite.

Shopping List

Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Stack & Snap Food Processor and Vegetable Chopper, $49.99 on Amazon

A food processor makes quick work of blending sticky, dense dates and pulsing harder ingredients to the right size for granola bars.

Buy Now

Wilton Ever-Glide Non-Stick 8-Inch Square Cake Pan, $7.86 at Walmart

If you don't already have a brownie pan...why not? It's also ideal for making uniform granola bars.

Buy Now

Back to Nature Gluten-Free Sprout and Shine Cereal, $7.59 on Amazon

This sprouted whole grain brown rice cereal is a more nutritious alternative to the usual elf-endorsed kind.

Buy Now

Bobs Red Mill Natural Raw Wheat Germ, $6.04 at Walmart

This adds a nice nutritional boost to any bar or baked good, but if you're gluten-free, ground flax is a worthy substitute.

Buy Now

Betterbody Foods Organic Chia Seeds, $8.94 at Walmart

This two-pound tub will last a while, even if you use chia in everything.

Buy Now

Related Video: How to Make Healthy Superfood-Infused Ice Cream with Moringa

All featured products are curated independently by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, we may receive a commission. For more great hand-picked products, check out the Chowhound Shop.

This post was originally published on August 27, 2010 and was updated with additional links, text, and images on March 22, 2019.

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