STORY BY Kate Brosseau

With all the baking, roasting and sautéing you did during the holidays, it’s time you retired some kitchen gadgets to make room for a few upgrades.

Gone are the days of misshapen cookies or decorative icing attempts gone awry. With a cookie press and icing set, such as the Endurance set ($33.50, left) from Pryde’s Old Westport (115 Westport Road), you can use the see-through barrel to funnel cookie dough into 20 different cookie shapes, and then doll up the baked cookies with an assortment of icing tips.

Locally sourced, organic foods have taken center stage in the culinary industry, and it doesn’t get any more local than your own kitchen. Gather some fresh produce from a local farmers market, and run it through this handy dandy food mill ($24.97, right) from Function Junction (2450 Grand Blvd.). Whether you’re concocting a nutritious serving of baby food or making a dish of homemade salsa for fiesta night, the possibilities for fresh fixings are endless.

As your pie bakes to perfection, the color of the crust is often an indicator of when the dessert is ready to emerge from the oven. But before you stick your pie in to bake, insert a pie funnel to make sure the filling stays up to par with the doneness of the crust. Without a funnel, steam gets trapped underneath the crust and can overcook the filling. Use a funnel, such as the cheerful bird figurines ($4.95, center) from Sur la Table (430 Nichols Road), to release the steam and achieve the perfect pie, inside and out.

GET OUT YOUR APRON
Ready to earn your James Beard Award? Kansas City is bursting at the seams with opportunities to practice skills that could make you the next Iron Chef.

• The culinary experts at Gilbert, Whitney & Co. (104 N. Liberty, Independence) can help with anything from crafting the perfect cannoli to making a pie crust so flaky your mother-in-law is sure to be jealous.

• At the Culinary Center of Kansas City (7920 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park), you might be the next Julia Child with classes reminiscent of Child’s French fare. The wine tastings shouldn’t be missed, either.

• Kitchen extraordinaire Brenda Nolte from Kitchen Thyme (4169 Mulberry Drive) offers monthly classes, which include a full meal and drink pairings. Bon Appetit!