Bowl Scrapers: The Inexpensive Tool That Makes Baking Clean-Up Breezy

Some kitchen tools are more versatile than others. A bowl scraper is one of those tools and it is also one of the best kid-friendly cooking utensils you can own. This is such an essential item to have in the kitchen, even celebrity chef Michael Symon is a fan. Along with a photo of a white, plastic bowl scraper, Symon said on Twitter that the tool "works great," joking that you "can keep it in your pocket" and that he buys "these by the dozen and give them to friends." He even lauded the scraper as the "greatest" kitchen tool.

What is a bowl scraper traditionally used for? Epicurious explains this flexible plastic tool, which is curved for the angles of your bowl's shape, is great for getting every last bit of dough, glaze, batter, or cream out of a bowl. And if you are frosting a cake, it can help create that perfectly smooth frosted style for your dessert that makes it look like you purchased it from a bakery. 

Serious Eats adds that this durable and nonporous tool is also great for picking up and cutting dough. But that's not all it can do, so don't put it back in the drawer just yet. This inexpensive tool can also make your kitchen and baking clean-ups easy-breezy.

According to Serious Eats, a bowl scraper has a life well beyond its common uses. The cooking site explains a bowl scraper is great for cleaning up flour spills when you are baking cookies, cakes, and pie, as well as for when you create a mess of rainbow peels from veggies when you are making a stew. Its unique ability to both quickly sweep crumbs, scraps, and powders together, along with its ability to pick-up the mess, makes it an ideal cleaning aid. A bowl scraper can also come in handy when you're making mashed potatoes and you need to push the ingredients through a strainer. This gadget can do just about anything.

The bowl scraper's ode doesn't end there. In a video demonstration, Blue Flame Kitchen sings this tool's praises, noting it can be used to scrape onions off a knife just as easily as it can be used to scoop up grated cheese or "squeegee" the sides of a bowl filled with cookie dough. Couple all of these culinary virtues with the fact that most of these scrapers are dishwasher safe, per King Arthur Baking, and it is easy to understand why it is such a favored tool.