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The small offset spatula is one of those kitchen tools—like a cake tester, bench scraper, or fish spatula—that you may consider unnecessary. But use it once and you’ll love it forever. After you’ve shelled out the $5 for the 4.5-inch workhorse, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t bought one years ago, especially considering that you probably spend that amount on various caffeinated beverages every day.
The mini offset is well-known for creating dramatic whirls of frosting on cakes and cupcakes (and don’t even get me started on the wonders it can work on whipped cream), but it’s also the ideal tool for swooping hummus, smearing butter, jam, and cream cheese, and prying muffins out of their tin. Gentler than a butter knife and with a thin, flexible blade that’s a dream to maneuver, the mini offset has none of the sharp edges that threaten to scuff up a delicate crumb. Its bluntness makes it ideal for running along the sides of a pan quickly and smoothly, a sensation that’s as close to the thrill of driving a sports car through the Italian hills as I’m going to get.
I bought my own small offset spatula a few years ago, when I was working in a test kitchen where we only had one. (This was madness.) The recipe developers and food stylists would practically fight for it, running to be the first one to the office in the morning so that they could grab it, hold it hostage in their apron pocket, and be the only person who could make beautiful swooshes that day. When I realized I couldn’t bake (or cook!) without it, I got my own. I received my second as a holiday gift when I was working as a pastry cook at a restaurant: The head pastry chef gave each cook an engraved offset so that we’d never be without one (and so that no one could get away with pilfering). We used them to spread cake batter into all of the corners of a pan, to smooth brownies before they went in the oven, and to butter brioche.
At home, I use it as a flipper, turning small pieces of pan-frying tofu and wedges of roast squash, and a forklift, transporting delicate cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack. (And that means I have yet to purchase a cookie spatula which, I’d argue, is much less useful.)
Now I have a roster of small offsets so that I can keep one by my side when I’m food styling and a few in my home kitchen for whenever the time comes (and it always comes).
Yesterday, I used one to pry the top off a small can of paint. Screwdriver? Who needs one!