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Chances are you've benefited from having a friend or family member who loves to bake. They're always showing up with their latest creation, whether it's a dozen of the best chocolate chip cookies you've ever had, a celebration cake speckled with sprinkles, or a loaf of bread with a tinge of warmth left from the oven. And who would you be not to encourage their delicious habit when it comes to gift-giving?

F&W Best New Chef Paola Velez — star of our fan-favorite YouTube series, Pastries with Paola — is a magician with sugar, flour, and fruit. We couldn't have asked a savvier chef to help us wow aspiring bakers and veteran pastry chefs with a few of her picks. "When I'm shopping for the bakers in my life, I'm going all out," she says. "I'm talking about all the tools I wish someone would buy for me!"

Whether you're unsure what to get them — hint: they can always use more sheet pans and spatulas — or know they're all about aesthetics and would appreciate a beautiful dish or stand to display, there's something they'll love on this list. And in return, they'll surely keep bringing you shareable treats, except maybe with a fancier pie plate than before.

Whether mixing cookies, shaping sourdough, or crafting buttercream flowers, a quality apron makes a big difference in both cleanliness and efficiency while baking. "When you wear an apron for a living, you learn what aspects matter most to you," says Velez. "This Tilit apron checks all of the boxes for me — it's super lightweight, has hip and chest pockets, and the soft straps won't scratch your neck."

I'm a firm believer that a baker can't have too many sheet pans — the limit does not exist. If the baker in your life seemingly has everything, they probably still need more sheet pans. This Nordic Ware Bakers Half Sheet is the trial-tested best pick.

"In batch after batch of cookies, it yielded bottoms that were evenly browned and insides that were well-baked without requiring excessive tweaking with recipe times," notes Food & Wine's testers after over 30 hours of side-by-side sheet pan testing.

We tested a range of sheet pans for things like sturdiness, affordability, versatility, ease of use, reliability, conductivity, and value, and this one received top marks.

Related: We Tested the Best Cookie Sheets for Better Baked Goods

This heavy-duty frying pan will last years — perhaps even decades. Choose between 10 and 12 inches and eight vibrant colors. "From pies to cornbread, a solid cast-iron pan can handle it all," says Velez. "I like this sage green enameled version by Staub, which is photoshoot–ready and beautiful enough to sit on the stovetop year-round."

Also available at Target and Walmart

Although by no means a new release, this cookbook from pastry chef Stella Parks is the one I most often recommend to everyone — but especially newer bakers. Parks writes with clear instructions and explanations, with many recipes offering troubleshooting tips for potential pratfalls. Volume and weight measurements are available on each recipe, though she'll tell you at the top why she really encourages you to get a kitchen scale and convert to weight measurements if you haven't already.

And for the types of recipes, Parks offers any classic you'd need, like a one-bowl chocolate cake, overnight cinnamon rolls, and the perfect buttercream, as well as recreations of classic American brands, like Oreos, Twinkies, and Fig Newtons. Nearly every entry has a section with suggestions how to substitute different flavors in your creations or even how to make a recipe vegan or gluten-free, making BraveTart a go-to for any baker.

Also available at Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel, and Williams Sonoma.

Baking is a culinary art that often requires precision; a pinch of salt is about as vague as recipes get, with most requiring specific weight or volume measurements for every ingredient. And if you haven't yet heard the good word about volume measurements, let me be the first to share with you that it's a far superior method for a couple of reasons.

First, think of the dishes you won't clean by leaving your cup measures in the drawer. You simply won't need them! But more importantly, weight is a more consistent way to precisely scale your ingredients, as human error and even temperature can affect volume measuring.

As such, this scale rocks. It offers both U.S. (ounce) and metric (grams), and the pull-out display means you'll still be able to read the scale even with your biggest bowl. My favorite feature is the detachable stainless steel platform. I often use it to weigh bread dough directly on the scale; then, I can easily take the platform off and throw it in with my other dishes.

Aesthetics are often part of what draws people to baking; creating something that's both beautiful and delicious can be highly satisfying. This Tivoli pie dish looks almost as good empty as it will with the perfect cherry, apple, or chocolate cream pie in it, making it a great choice for display and use.

The hand-painted stoneware features Italian-inspired designs that are a little nostalgic in nature. It's not too pretty to use, as it is oven safe up to 482 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's also dishwasher safe. Perfect for the baker with open shelving full of their most beautiful dishes and drinkware.

Nielsen-Massey is the standard in many professional kitchens for high-quality vanilla beans and extracts as well as flavor extracts. A creative baker will love experimenting with the Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, Rose Water, and Orange Blossom Water in this set. The floral flavors lend themselves to Middle Eastern, Turkish, and Indian cuisines but play well in a variety of applications.

My favorite use of orange blossom water is in buttermilk ice cream, brightening its tangy flavor and enhancing it with a subtle floral note. Scooped alongside a strawberry-rhubarb pie? Incredible.

Everyone loves jam, but we love it even more when incorporated into baked goods. "Jam can elevate and transform your baked goods when used as fillings for cakes or toppings for pastries," says Velez. "I love Trade Street Jam for interesting flavor combinations — and they're a minority-owned small business."

Also available at Rifle Paper Co.

There's something special and time-honored about hand-writing a recipe. If there's a digital recipe I find myself returning to again and again, I'll find myself compelled to write it down — what if my internet is down? Or it disappears from my favorite site? I shudder to think.

The Rifle Paper Co. Recipe Tin definitely leans into baking nostalgia in its designs, and it has a few for you to choose from. The sunny tin boxes feature a gold metallic interior and come with 24 two-sided recipe cards as well as 12 recipe dividers with sections like desserts (my most-used for obvious reasons), sauces, appetizers, breakfast, and more. And if 24 doesn't cut it, Rifle has plenty more cute cards with which to supplement the set.

Also available at Crate & Barrel, Food52, Walmart, and Williams Sonoma.

File baking mats along with sheet pans in the "can't have enough" category for bakers. This classic from Silpat is made from a nonstick combination of fiberglass mesh and food-grade silicone, and it's good for temperatures up to 480 degrees Fahrenheit.

But many bakers find themselves using silicone mats for much more beyond the baking itself; they're microwave- and freezer-safe, and they're great for rolling out pie or pastry dough on — I prefer it to rolling dough out straight on my counter. Instead of trying to wipe away flour mess from my counter when I'm done, I can take the mat over to the sink to dump it there. Plus, I can move the whole thing with dough on it to my fridge or freezer to rest without disrupting more fragile dough if it gets too warm (a classic puff pastry struggle).

After spending (occasionally painstaking) time making a lovely cake or pie, it's absolutely necessary to have the perfect platform on which to show it off.

"I love this handmade ceramic stand that's perfectly imperfect and guaranteed to become a family heirloom," says Velez. "It's a simple and beautiful way to elevate your desserts that too many people aren't willing to splurge on!"

We think it's pretty enough to leave on display on a counter or shelf, even without dessert in it.

If the baker in your life makes a great deal of pies, puff pastry, sugar cookies, or laminated treats, do their wrists a favor and invest in a good tapered rolling pin for them. The dowel-style pin (as opposed to those with handles) gives bakers a better feel for their dough while also being ergonomically pleasing. Antiques of Tomorrow has several finishes available for their rolling pins, from cherry to white ash.

Also available at Jacobsen Salt Co and Williams Sonoma.

The bakers who get it, get it. Flake salt might seem like it's more cooking territory than baking, but a dessert is only as good as its salt, which enhances the sweetness in contrast.

Oregon-based Jacobsen Salt So. gathers its much-beloved flavor crystals from seawater in Netarts Bay, processing and hand-grading the flakes. You've likely seen chocolate chip cookies and brownies on social media adorned in the stuff, almost like sprinkles, and though I sometimes contend they use a bit much in the name of photos, I generally co-sign that idea. And you'll be amazed how much mileage you can get out of a 4-ounce bag.

For the person who can never have enough cookbooks on their shelf, here's another one to add to their collection. According to Velez, "This book from Toni ­Tipton-Martin chronicles over 200 years of Black culinary excellence, and I've come to especially appreciate the recipe for gingerbread with a bourbon Chantilly cream; it ties together unlikely ingredients in such a harmonious way."

Also available at GIR and Food52.

It's almost guaranteed that every baker has a favorite spatula. It's heat-resistant, the perfect shape to scrape a bowl (even around a stand mixer attachment), dishwasher-safe, and, inevitably, it's always dirty.

The GIR (Get It Right) spatula is bound to be a new favorite, and if your resident cookie maker already has one, they'll welcome a second for when the first is in the dishwasher. The holy grail of baking equipment is made of silicone that's heat-resistant up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit and comes in several colors and sizes. More spatulas, always.

Tidy chefs and bakers will never have a towel out of arm's reach, and more likely, it's actually hanging from their apron tie. This set from 1Canoe2 is, frankly, cute, and the variety of colors makes them seasonally ambiguous (if your baker is the type of person to want to coordinate that kind of thing).

Fairly generously sized at 18 by 27.5 inches, the cotton towels include a loop to keep them snug on a drawer or oven handle, ensuring it's clean and does not slide to the floor.

This might be the best gift you could give the friend or family member who's been sharing loaves of bread since they started making sourdough in 2020. The Illinois farm is renowned by Midwest bakeries for their fresh-milled flour, which provides more flavor and nutritional value than more standard bleached all-purpose flours found at grocers.

The set comes with Janie's Dark Rye Flour, Silky Smooth Pastry Flour, Heirloom Turkey Red Flour, and All-Purpose Flour, each in 1.5 pound bags, as well as a stainless steel whisk, bowl scraper, and three recipe cards. The bags have icons on them indicating what the flour is best used for, so even someone who isn't a pro in fresh-milled flours can get started on their way.

Food on clothing and jewelry has been having a moment. A twee-loving baker will find these gold-plated hoops with the tiniest enamel strawberries adorable (as do we). They feature hypoallergenic titanium posts, so even sensitive ears should be able to wear them.

Also available at Fancy Sprinkles ($10)

There's something inexplicably joy-inducing about a sprinkled dessert, and Fancy Sprinkles has established itself in the sprinkaholics community as a high-quality option. This particular celebratory blend of traditional sprinkles, stars, pearls, and more is fit for any cake or sugar cookie.

Real bakers know the importance of a quality juicer to have on hand. "If you want to breeze through juicing a mountain of citrus for your next cake glaze or granita, this citrus press is a game changer," says Velez. "Bonus: It's an absolutely beautiful statement piece fit to display on any kitchen counter." We couldn't agree more.

After extensively researching this topic, we spoke to pastry chefs for their recommendations on the best gifts for bakers on the market. Each product on this list was suggested and vetted by experts. We then read hundreds of reviews, compared their responses, and created our final lineup.

Lauren Quick, a food writer and pastry chef with her own cottage bakery (Jean June Pastry), curated this list of high-quality items anyone from home bakers to professional chefs will use frequently and appreciate. And frankly, some of these gifts are on her wishlist this season.