You light up my life…
Most beauteous wonder
This weekend, my husband, friends and family gave me the most awesome birthday present I’ve received in a long time. I’m trying to remember a better birthday present, actually… other than the Barbie dream house or something, I just can’t come up with one.
And of course, the Barbie dream house was not a wondrous machine of great strength and intrigue. It was not the 5-quart Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer with 325 watts of sheer cream-whipping power. I have basically wanted one of these ever since I was a teenager and my mother bought herself a cobalt blue, 300-watt Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
Now, I need to create an attachment fund. First item of business: a pasta maker. Second item of business: an ice cream maker. Actually, hubby did such a good job of shopping for this mixer that I get a rebate deal for a free grinder or chopper, my choice. I’m leaning toward the chopper… I don’t grind much meat. But what if I decide I want to make sausage? Oh, the decisions!!
Anyone out there own a Kitchen Aid mixer? If so, what have you found to be some of the best uses for it? I broke it in by baking this cake. I guess you could say I baked my own birthday cake, even though I’d already had one cake! This is just a basic strawberry cake, but when I made the cream cheese icing I used fresh strawberry juice in place of milk. It gave it a pretty pink hue and a strawberry flavor.
Strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese icing
May 26, 2009 - 10:22 AM
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My husband and I used Macy’s gift cards given to us as wedding presents to purchase the SAME mixer earlier this year! We bought the grinder attachment over the pasta one because (a) we already own a manual pasta maker we hardly ever use (but have good intentions of using it!) and (b) I read bad reviews on Amazon about the pasta attachment. That being said, we have yet to use the grinder.
I’ve used our mixer to make bread dough, whip cream, make a pound cake, and make crepe batter. We love it! I plan to use it to make my son’s first birthday cake in July (I want to control the amount of sugar in his cake). I’d also like to make some pizza dough with it; I believe there’s a recipe in the owner’s manual.
I’m also interested to hear what other long-time Kitchen Aid mixer owners use theirs for!
Happy Birthday and congrats on the mixer! I love mine, I bought it years ago with a tax refund. Aside from making cakes and whipping cream, it’s great for mixing up and kneading bread/pizza dough. I need to get the pasta maker attachment. I do have the meat grinder. I don’t use it that often, but I love it when I do need it. They also make an attachment now for grinding your own wheat, but unless you’re a farmer, I can’t see where that would be useful to too awful many people.
Congrats on your new mixer! The better question is what not to do with it. Most recently I have really enjoyed making bread doughs, especially for soft pretzels. Mashed potatoes have come out great, as have all of the wonderful baked cookies.
Enjoy your new toy!
btw I bet your cake was fabulous! I love strawberry cakes and cream cheese frosting.
This looks like it would fit nicely in Rachael Ray’s retro kitchen.
But seriously, it looks like a lot of fun. I mean, what man would not like 325 watts of sausage-making power?
I don’t yet own one, but this has long been high on my priority list after I take care of some other pressing needs around the house (like getting grass in my yard and building a shed to house my riding mower and yard tools). After making many loaves of bread using a hand mixer with the ‘bread’ attachments, I would much prefer a real mixer with a real capability to knead bread dough. It would also make my efforts of cake and pie baking go a whole lot more smoothly (pun intended!).
I wish I could lick the icing from my computer screen…..
My husband came with his kitchen aid, when we got married my coworkers bought us the grinder & the chopper. We do use the grinder, have not used the chopper(3 years now) We use the grinder for ham after the holidays to make ham salad and also to put ham in a pot of pinto beans. We have been buying whole sirloins and having Kroger grind it into hamburger but this weekend went to sam’s and found a great deal on a whole sirloin but they didn’t grind it, so we came home and my husband ground the whole sirloin himself – that way trimming more fat off and making really lean hamburgers, hot dog chili and anything using ground beef.
Happy birthday! The cake looks marvelous.
I’m not a huge baker and don’t have one of my own, but I’ve found my mother’s is perfect for kneading bread dough and incorporating air into fluffy mixtures.
My wife loves her mixer.
One thing she foung in CHEF’S mag was a cookie dough scraper
Works well!
RAYJ1
I got one for Christmas a few years ago and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I have the grinder attachment because I use it for making chicken salad. I put cooked chicken in with some hard boiled eggs and mix it up with Hellman’s mayo and some garlic, pepper, and a little salt to taste. You can’t buy chicken salad this good, let me tell you. I use mine for all kinds of mixing and baking and it is the best kitchen gadget I have, by far.
Try http://www.kitchenaid.com for neat ideas and accessories info. Your mixer is also featured on their homepage!
Happy birthday!
I’ve always wanted one of these. I’m determined to save up and get one next Christmas when they usually go on sale.
Hey Becky, don’t you mean your Kitchen Aid came with a husband? Ha!
Jessica, I’ll tell you what I told my friend, Sarah: hint around for birthdays and holidays that your pals/family should all go in together for one gift like this!
Happy Birthday, Lindsey, and congratulations on your new mixer. I bought a silver Artisan about 2 years ago when Amazon was having one of their sales and I just love it. Of all the attachments,I find that I use the grinder most often; in fact, I haven’t bought ground meat since. My husband and I like knowing what actually goes into our hamburgers and meatballs and freshly ground meat really does taste better than what we can get at the store. The citrus juicer really gets a workout around here too although the pasta rollers don’t see as much action because they require more effort and I don’t always have the time or inclination.
Whatever you use it for, I hope that you enjoy it.
Happy Birthday, The kitchen aid mixer is a fantastic tool. The shreader chopper is junk, not sharp at all. I called cust. service and was told it isn’t supposed to be sharp it’s an impact cutter. I use my grinder all the time as roast are cheaper than hamburger here. I have two as we do a lot of baking. I have a 325w tilt top and 635w lift up. I saw the paddle in Chef, and wondered if it worked. Thanks Ray for that info.
Love, Love, Love my Kitchen Aid – I’ve got 2 – the small one and the professional – which is absolutely necessary for most bread recipies and for making candy – like divinity which requires high speed and lots of power as the mixture gets thick.
I use my smaller one for cookies and other things – it is just easier than using the handmixer.
I love the ideas for grinding – ham, chicken, sirloin! I see fresh burgers and homemade chicken salad in my future!
Am. So. Jealous.