Forget all the brand-new appliances you received for Christmas. It turns out your hair dryer can help you in the kitchen too. First introduced in 1978 by Italian cookbook author Marcella Hazan as a way to crisp up poultry skin, the hair dryer technique is making a comeback.

America's Test Kitchen offered three uses for this unconventional tool in the kitchen:

1. To relight charcoals on the grill
2. To add a glossy sheen to cake frosting
3. To soften up a bar of chocolate for slicing

When NPR got wind of this unusual cooking method, it tested it with s'mores to impressive results. Turns out that most hair dryers produce air that's about 200 degrees F when the nozzle is about 2 inches from a surface. If you point the appliance at a s'more, not only will it melt the chocolate, but the marshmallow will soften, too.

Though the technique is novel, we're not sure when this will ever be necessary, except perhaps for using on the mini-bar goodies when you're on vacation.