Darienne

True, at least in my case. My GE is at least 25 years old. I'd like something less homely, but it just won't break. .6 amps @ 110 volts = 66 watts, such a small number (in comparison the the competition) that it's no wonder that KA wants to disguise it. On the other hand, these are all describing power consumption, not power output, which, as a cook, is what should concern you. Much depends on the efficiency of the mechanical design. It's very possible that a KA could outperform any of the others, for the same reasons that a 189 hp Lotus can beat the pants off a 300 hp Mustang GT. ← If there is one thing Moab has that is wonderful, it's the thrift stores ... However, in all the years visiting Moab...or our home town in Ontario, I have never seen even one second hand hand mixer. Stand mixers...a few ancient ones...but nary a hand mixer. I think hand mixers just die a lonely unmourned death. I did as much research on this one as I felt it deserved, and then the DH went out and bought me a Hamilton Beach hand mixer for $24.99. 6 speeds...more than sufficient. 275 watts...who knows? A pig in a poke. Waiting for me at home is new 1000 watt 7-quart Cuisinart. DH likes big. Not much point in fighting it. ps. as noted earlier, we also have a very ancient hand mixer at home which also refuses to die.

Amazingly enough we found more handmixers than we thought possible : KA, Proctor Silex, Black & Decker, Farberware, Hamilton Beach, West Bend, and a couple of basically no-namers. All the mixers were $15 - $27 ...except for the KA which was $70. HOWEVER while all the inexpensive mixers listed their wattage from 125 at the bottom end to 275 at the top, the KA did not, but listed .6 Amperage which my DH says is nada. A West Bend stand mixer on sale for $70 listed its amperage at 3 amps. Now, says my DH, that might be worth buying. I borrowed my next-door-neighbor's ancient Sunbeam for last night's dessert=dinner, and she offered to lend it to me the entire time we are here. Funny how the ancient ones just keep plugging along and the new fandangled ones burn out over mixing water it seems. I don't know what to do...

All I can say in defence of my Black & Decker is that it is the most powerful of the cheapies...but then I have to add that I have burnt out two of them in the last year. Whereas our very old...can't remember what it is...one is ugly and unloved but it keeps on going. It's at home... So I shall look for a Kitchen Aid mixer. Today. Need it for tonight's dinner=dessert. Cheese Blintz Souffle. Thanks to you both. And if I can't find a KA, will buy one when we get home again.

I am in deepest Utah in a town without too many shopping options...that's why we love Moab...and my Black & Decker handmixer just gave up the ghost. I have a 7-quart Cuisinart standmixer at home. This is my traveling mixer. Within a day or two at most I must buy another hand mixer. Any suggestions? Keeping in mind that there are not many brands of kitchen appliances to be found here. No Wal-Mart, just an Alco and an idependent called Walker Drugs. Thanks for any help.

Thank you both. In the meantime I found a recipe for the same thing called Semiya Payasam which is very popular in the Kerala area. It has long been a favorite of my DH and we used to make it at home long ago. Now we do it again. Thanks again. Darienne

I did. I did. I got Corriher's Cookwise and every second page I am declaring...'I didn't know that'. Amazing book. I am really going to have to earn some money soon to pay for all the Amazon purchases I am making. Oh, I didn't know about books on Amazon either until January.

I looked back over several years in this sub-Forum and found little about desserts. I am looking for a recipe for a wonderful dessert noodle pudding. The noodles are the size of angel hair and I recall sugar and milk being the other two main ingredients. We had a house fire in 1995 and I lost all my notes, this pudding being in it. Thanks.

If I understand correctly, you caramelize the sugar only, with no hazelnuts in it. The crunch is sugar only. I'll look in the grocery store for the Hazelnut meal next. Thanks.

It all sounds and looks delicious (this little face does not mean 'raz'; it mean 'yumm') Thank you for the information and the inspiration. Oh my, one more thing to put on the list of things to make!!!

Thanks Lisa and Lior for further posts on this tricky subject. No, I have not tried the butter ganache yet, but will today if I can. I will also try just plain tempered chocolate. What I am trying to do is two-fold. - an experiment, more or less, with each ingredient or pair of ingredients to work out the 'crunch factor' not only theoretically, but also for my own satisfaction. - want to make a gianduja ganache with crunchy praline bits in it to use as a filling for a pair of dark chocolate discs. Kerry Beal posted a photo of this confection on Lior's thread on 'Using Gianduja'. (I don't know how to bring something from one post to another.) Mostly I just crawl/lurch along trying this, trying that, having a series of minor failures as I try each thing, repeat it with better success, etc. I have so little context in which to put any of this, never having spent any time baking in the decades of my marriage. Did not grow up knowing any of this at my Mother's knee. This is all new and exciting to me. So I learn, learn, learn... I had little idea that this world existed.

But if the butter is still an important factor and crunch is not supported by the presence of butter, then why is it that the crunch of fueilletine is preserved in a butter ganache? Am I missing some point here? Thanks.

Thank you for the information. Now this is too funny. Just now I googled 'barrier substance crunch' and guess what I got? This thread and your answer. Added: but what about the butter ganache? Does the chocolate factor overrule the butter factor?

Thank you. I like that...a barrier substance.

I have been going back looking through every post I can find about putting crunchy bits: praline, feuilletine, etc, into other ingredients and retaining the crunch factor. The answer has been that only a butter ganache will do this. So, I have been experimenting with crushed pecan praline in cream...sog (as expected) cream cheese...sog ; and now the latest, butter...sog. I did not expect sog in butter. A butter ganache is supposed to preserve the crunch factor. My next step is to put the praline into chocolate only. It should stay crunchy? Yes? Also my next-door neighbor/landlady/friend says to me...'well, how do they keep the crunch in speciality ice creams?' I sure don't know. All comments and advice gratefully accepted. (Oh, I am working up to making a gianduja butter ganache and sandwiching it in between chocolate wafers, but in the meantime am fully occupied with playing Ice Cream Lady with my new Cuisinart toy.)

Two more for me. O Amazon! Where have you been all my life? Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop by Gail Damerow (just got a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker) La Dolce Vita: Enjoy life's sweet pleasures with 170 recipe for torte, biscotti, etc, etc, by Michele Sciciolone Both oldies, but goodies.

Wow! So much excellent and useful information in this topic now. And we all do like our ice cream (and chocolate) different. I found the Cuisinart premium Vanilla Bean recipe way too rich for my taste. And now I have made a Coconut Ice cream for my friend, which I found way too sweet and way too much coconut. Interesting. She and my DH both loved it. What I am really going towards is making frozen yoghurt which I prefer to ice cream anyway, and to date that's speaking only of the commercial stuff, both ice cream and yoghurt. The little Cuisinart booklet has some yoghurt recipes and I'll try them next. Has anyone any do's and don't' s specifically for frozen yoghurt that I should know about ahead of time? Thanks.

Hi Kerry, The gianduja in this recipe, is it a Wybauw recipe? Is it a ganache? I now have the disc molds and I have some Barry milk chocolate gianduja. Alas, I have no recipe for a gianduja ganache. I have had the Wybauw on ILL request for almost three weeks now with no result. They can get it: they got it for me before. Can you help me out in some way? Should I just make a simple gianduja ganache using heavy cream? It's so soft...what proportion would you suggest? Thanks, as always, Chocolate Doctor, She Who Knows Just About All.

Thanks. Learn, learn, learn....

Hi Alanamoana, Thanks very much for your explanation. I do realize that I overcooked the custard. Now. Had no idea. Almost everything I make, I make for the first time. An incredible level of novice. Funny, it is in one sense, one 'failure' after another as I learn how to make things. But then with the help of the good folks on this list, and an evergrowing selection of books, I am learning how to do it all. It's never too late. Thanks again.

Thanks for the answers to my questions.

Hi Tri2Cook, Were you able to make the gelato in your Cuisinart Ice Cream maker? I seem to recall reading in a gelato recipe that you needed a special gelato maker to make gelato. Thanks.

Looked this one up but couldn't find anything. My custard separated and I thought it might be because I had used previously frozen whipping cream...sorry it is true. So I wandered around Google trying to find an answer and came up with this: "Sometimes, in spite of every precaution, the custard separates." Fascinating. No possible precautions are listed and I am left wondering how to rectify my error. BTW, the ice cream was fantastic anyway.

Hi Tri2Cook, I'm not very experienced in looking up things on this list, and I could not find a thread marked "Frozen Desserts". Could you please give more specific directions, should they exist. I just 'came into' a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and have made one batch to date, Rich Vanilla. No crystals. Maybe beginner's luck. Next I am going for Coconut Ice Cream and then Peach (my neighbor has some fresh-frozen peaches and is salivating.) A whole new world opens up..... Edit: Could it be the thread: Francisco Migoya's Frozen Desserts ? Thanks

Today I made my very first ice cream ever in one of those Cuisinart Ice Cream makers which I came into just yesterday: Vanilla Bean, on the same page as the chocolate one made by Wannabechef. The ice cream was a great success although I feared it would not be. I used previously frozen whipping cream and the cooking custard separated in the pot. I used the hand mixer on it and hoped for the best. And the best it was. I am so grateful to have found this thread BEFORE I attempted the chocolate. I am going to enjoy this little machine and so will my DH.

Good one, but I have to tell you that my informant gets ksl.com in Utah!