Cook'n is the best selling recipe organizer

We never want to let the name of something lock us in to what that something can do. A cookie scoop is a perfect example of this. They come in at least three sizes, which adds to their versatility.

While it's the perfect tool for measuring out consistent size balls of cookie dough, it does so much more. We recently ran a contest on our blog, MakingFamilyDinnerHourPossible.Blogspot.com, to see how many different uses folks could come up with for this handy utensil. Oodles of submissions poured in, and after putting all the submitters' names in a hat, we drew out a winner of a very cool stainless steel cookie scoop.

Here are some of the ideas:

The most common use was for making perfect meatballs.

The next most common idea was to measure out muffin batter. The point being that using this tool ensures the muffins all come out the same size.

One reader said she uses hers to scoop out hush puppie dough. That's a smart idea - hush puppie dough can be so difficult to handle and using a scoop means uniform dough balls!

Along these lines, other readers use theirs to measure out pancake and waffle batter.

Other readers said they preferred the cookie scoop for making melon balls because the spring loaded action releases the balls so easily.

Another clever reader uses hers to remove the seeds from apple slices.

And how about using it to serve up the perfect dollops of sour cream? Thanks to one creative reader we now know to do that!

Then there's using the mini scoop to stuff manicotti shells. We'd never heard of that one either!

And here are three of my own ideas: First, I use an old mini scoop when planting seeds in my garden. It takes out just the right amount of soil to allow space for a few grains of seed starter as well as the delicate seed. Then I just gently drop the tiny ball of soil that's in the scoop, back into the itty bitty hole it created.

Second, I puree fresh fruit, freeze it until it's a fairly solid slush, then scoop out balls (honeydew melon is show here). I lay them out on a cookie sheet and freeze, then later I repackage the balls into plastic freezer bags. These fruit balls make the coolest ice cubes ever, and of course I add them to my green smoothies all the time as well.

Third, I like to make whipped butter, chill it, and then make butter balls using my mini cookie scoop.

So when you have a few minutes, play this game with your other kitchen utensils. Open your drawer, pick one up, and ask yourself, "Does this little item have any other lives?" Don't let the name of something lock you into thinking that's all it can do - it's my experience that there's a world of surprises attached to those utensils!