1️⃣ $70 – $180 – An Airbrush Machine First up – an airbrush machine. 💨 There are many options, but the ones that twin2 is digging are the Sweet Pink Olive airbrush ($160), the Cookie Countess Airbrushes – the original model ($125), and the newer model – the Royale Max ($179.95).

 

2️⃣ $800 – $900 – iPad + Apple Pencil + Procreate Not for the faint of budget – an iPad with Procreate and an Apple Pencil makes for the ultimate gift for the sketch-artist-turned-baker. If you want Heather’s rec – shoot for the iPad Pro model 11” (there are some variants and refurbed options that should trim the price down a bit) 🖋 and the Apple Pencil second gen ($129) (not to be confused with the Pencil first gen) + a Procreate app purchase ($10 – one time).

 

3️⃣ $124 – $173 – Americolor Corp’s Gel Paste Kits Corrie swears by these – and I, frankly, love the name. The Americolor gels are a fan favorite – and their kits allow a baker to create just about every color under the sun (or oven light??). ️🎨 Their Heavenly 70 ($173) or their Nifty 50 ($124) are going to make any baker squeal like a kid on Christmas morn, and if you’re on a budget – the 12 Color Student Kit doesn’t break the bank at just $28.

 

4️⃣ $100 – $200 – 3D Printer – Ender3 Pro V2 Takin’ cutter production in-house is a great way to save time, money, and open a world of possibilities to the creative process for the cookier in your life. 🖨 I’m going to recommend the cheaper Ender 3Pro ($189) but the Prusa Mini ($429) is self-leveling (and will likely pay for itself with the money you save not buying Advil).

 

5️⃣ $20 – $25 – Cutter of the Month Club Subscription For the baker you just don’t know what to buy for – let the cutter shops do the pickin’ and choosin’ with a Cutter of the Month Club. 📦 These subscriptions send the baker in your kitchen a set of cookie cutters every month for as long as the subscription is active – and they’re already preppin’ for Valentine’s Day! Two Corrie is diggin’ is the SheyB Designs ($25) and JH Cookie Co. ($25) subscription boxes.

 

6️⃣ $99/yr – YNAB – You Need a Budget Boring, I know. But listen – there’s actually two ways to make money – 🤑 either sell more or spend less – and with YNAB’s budgeting app ($99/yr or $14.99/mo), you can know when and where your money’s going – perfect for the baker who is looking to streamline costs in 2023. This is Heather’s pick for the financial fanatic this holiday season (bonus – new family plans are included in that price! the whole fam can saaave). 

 

7️⃣ $112 – $172 – Canvas Lamps Okay – if you’re thinkin’ about jumpin’ into the wild world of Reels in 2023, come prepared and in style with one of the prettiest desktop lamp / phone stands this side of… well, the North Pole. 💡 Canvas’s Lamps ($112 – $172) are beautiful desktop light rings with a built-in phone holder (some say it can even hold a projector – but we’ve not yet tested that). Two thumbs and one tripod up for this one.

 

8️⃣ $119 – Canva Pro Membership Uh – yikes. Totally misquoted this price on the podcast – but the Canva graphic design software’s Pro plan is still worth the steeper-than-quoted price point ($119/year paid annually). 🖼 This software packs a punch when it comes to all things graphics – social media, presentations, printables, and more. Plus get background removal with the pro plan. You can snag a team plan for $30/person for 5 people (total $150/yr) if you can get a team together – much more cost-effective.

 

9️⃣ $150 – $250 – A Dehydrator Live in a swamp like us? Check out a dehydrator – it speeds up the icing drying time, and while it can be a bit of a learning curve, the bleed-free results are worth the studying-up. Corrie snagged a Cabela’s dehydrator ($150) (🐮 meant for beef jerky if you don’t see the cow/cookie connection here). 

 

🔟 $3000 – Eddie the Edible Food Printer Obviously, you’re gonna have had to be really really good this year to land this on the Santa shop list – 🖨 but the Eddie printer ($3000) is everything a baker would want (and could want) when it comes to streamlining the decorating process. Heads up – if this is on your list for the cookier in your kitchen, skip out on the airbush for now – Eddie can replace an airbrush pretty ‘durn good (as he should with that price tag).

 

1️⃣1️⃣ $449 – $519 – A Nutrimill Bosch Mixer The “Big Daddy” Bosch mixer is here to make your quadruple-batch dreams come true. For those who don’t know the mixer lingo, a Bosch Universal Plus mixer ($449) can do in one session what a KA (Kitchen Aid) takes 4 sessions to do. 🥣 It’s one of the few things Corrie talks about with hearts in her eyes – I would almost wager that she’d take a Bosch over the hubby – that’s how much she loves this purchase. 

 

1️⃣2️⃣ $156 – $250 – Cricut Cutter or a Munbyn Thermal Printer Crafty? Label requirements for the Cottage Food Laws in your state? Can’t go wrong with the Cricut cutter machines (I’ve yet to open mine, but I’ll link to it here – it’s the Cricut 2) or a thermal printer by Munbyn ($156). If you made me pick between the two – 🔥 Munbyn it is. This little printer prints only in black, but uses heat to print on thermal labels – making one-off printing a breeze and cost-effective too.

 

1️⃣3️⃣ $99 – $200 – A Dehumidifier Can you tell Santa (aka the twins) live in a swampy armpit of the US? A dehumidifier does just that – sucks the humidity out of the air, 💦 which – when it comes to drying icing – is a huge help in preventing icing bleed (the exchange of water that causes icing colors to melt into nearby colors). Dehumidifiers are based on room size, but if you’re lookin’ for a link – here’s a solid bet from the Best Buy.

 

1️⃣4️⃣ $30 – $50 – Energy Usage Monitor You hear us talk about cost accounting when pricing, but indirect costs (like electricity to power the oven) are always this ambiguous “concept” of an idea that you know you need to account for – but like, how?! 🔌 Energy usage calculators are an easy way to see what’s suckin’ up where. The P3 Kill a Watt Usage Monitor is a shnazzy $30 and can help you figure out if you’re workin’ in the red, black, or dark.

 

1️⃣5️⃣ $29.99 – Stupid Car Tray “It may look stupid, but does it work?” If that’s the question for the Stupid Card Tray ($29.99), the answer is yes. 🚗 This rather basic contraption keeps cookies level in the passenger seat and also has a tiedown so the precious cargo isn’t cargo-ing all over the floor. 

 

1️⃣6️⃣ $68/mo – The Cookie College Biased? Maybe – but cookies are all fun and games until you get the bill for the cutters from the Vendy Blendy. Without a good sales and marketing strategy, this is just a pricey hobby – 🎓 and with the courses, we teach in The Cookie College ($68/mo), you can turn this hobby into a real money-generating hustle with over 90 marketing courses, the freebie photos, and a ton of awesome private-group content. (ps – out of your baker’s budget? Check out the Bakers Business Basics for $36/mo – we just launched it!)

 

1️⃣7️⃣ $10.99/mo – Asana Project Management Software Okay – another boring one – maybe, sure. But Asana has changed my life (Heather here – Corrie still refuses to use it) and it’s well worth the monthly fee. 📑 Using Asana ($10.99/mo), you can streamline your production process with templates and recurring tasks, stay on top of orders, sync to your calendar and your Gmail, and create workflows for – well – literally anything in your life. Gone are the days of missing orders – HELLO happy brain!

 

1️⃣8️⃣ $0 – $9.99/mo – Lightroom Mobile App Corrie says she’d be up a photography creek without a post-processing paddle if it weren’t for Lightroom – a free mobile app or paid desktop app from Adobe ($9.99/mo). 🤳 This easy-to-use (with a little learnin’ curve on Curves) app makes all the difference for that crisp photography you’re looking for when it comes to cookie photos. Note – you can probably get most of what you need from the free mobile app.

 

1️⃣9️⃣ $500 – $3000 – Mirrorless Cameras Wide price range, because the quality of the camera is directly related to the price you pay – which is to say, the more expensive, the better. 📸 But there are some really nice cameras (especially when you’re talkin’ refurbished) that’ll pack all the picture punch without takin’ your wallet to the cleaners. 

 

2️⃣0️⃣ $70 – aeCore Photo Backdrops Nothin’ sells product like makin’ it look picture perfect. And nothin’ ruins product photography more than a cruddy background. Fix it (without the remodel costs) by using backdrops! aeCore Backers ($70) is a podcast sponsor – so using the code SUGARCOOKIE will knock 20% off that price above too. Note – recommend starting with the Polar White color if you’re new to photography backdrops – it’s easiest to stage. 

 

2️⃣1️⃣ $28 – $150 – Royal Batch – Bonus – if we’re includin’ our sponsors (that we love), we can’t skip on the ingredients powerhouse that is Royal Batch ($28.99) by Bakety Bake. This meringue (what an insane word to spell) powder includes everything you need to create that crust you just wanna bite into – all in the bag. And use code TWINS to knock off 10% at checkout.