Hamilton Beach 2 Speed Hand Blender (with whisk & chop)

As an avid cook and cookbook author, I've used a lot of blenders and food choppers over the years.

 

When it comes to portable, immersion types of blenders/choppers there are several features that I look for and expect:

 

 

-Easy to use, with attachments that connect quickly and stay in place while in use.

 

-Easy to clean.

 

- Powerful.

 

 Reasonably priced. ($30- 40 range)

 

-Not too heavy of a power base to use for extended periods of time.

 

-Added attachments that I will actually use.

 

-Quiet operation.

 

I recently tried the Hamilton Beach 2 Speed Hand Blender (model 59765) and it stacked up very favorably, on all counts!

 



I decided to give the chopper attachment a try first and I was happy with the results, chopping two veggies that I use in so many recipes: onions (and who likes chopping onions!) and carrots:

 

 

Two onions before.

 

 

And after a quick buzz with the chopper!

 



Four carrots before.

 



 

And after.

 

What I really appreciated was that it wasn't necessary to pre-chop the carrots or onions into small pieces, as was the case with some chopper/blenders I've previously used.

 

I broke the carrots in half, added them to the blender bowl and voila, a medium dice, after less than a minute of using the chopper. And if it works this well on hard, fibrous carrots, that's a very good indication how it will perform with other types of foods!

 

The blender bowl comes with a separate rubber base/lid which helps to keep the bowl in place on the counter, when chopping. What a great idea!

 

And relatively quiet too, Mr. Cheddar didn't even wake up from his nap when I was using it. :<) He is NOT a fan of the larger food processor I have which makes a lot more noise than the Hamilton Beach 2 Speed Hand Blender.

 

Another plus, the blender bowl is a 3 C. capacity, not too small to allow for chopping a good amount of food at one time. I've used other mini-choppers that had bowls that were so small they were basically useless. If I'm going to forgo chopping with a knife for smaller amounts of food prep, I need an appliance that makes the clean-up worthwhile afterwards.

 

The  Hamilton Beach 2 Speed Hand Blender definitely does!



 Blender base with attachments.

 

 

A couple of other pluses:

 

A 5 year limited warranty on this product. Don't see that very often with small appliances!

 

Also, a big, bulky English/French user guide was NOT included with this product, just a one page, safety/general use guide. I appreciate this as well. How many times does anyone every really read through the humongous user guides that still come with so many products? Not me!

And in Canada, that includes a French version, across Canada. So much wasted paper. More information about this product and recipes etc...are all available at the Hamilton Beach site. If I want it, I'll find it there. So far, what was included on the one-page user guide was more than adequate to answer my questions about using this product.

Only one thing that I thought was lacking: a beaker for blending smoothies and other drinks. I intend to use this blender for that purpose a lot, but need a container that's right for that type of blending. The beaker is sold separately but it would have been nice to have it included with the set.
 

If you are looking for a small kitchen appliance for blending, chopping, whisking...that you will actually use and not just have stashed in the back of the cupboard, collecting dust ;<) the Hamilton Beach 2 Speed Hand Blender is definitely one to consider.

 

 

Overall rating for this product: Very Good. 4 out of 5.

Hamilton Beach 1.5 Qt. Ice Cream Maker

It hasn't exactly been "ice cream weather" here in Interior BC for the past couple of weeks. But I recently received the Hamilton Beach 1.5 Qt. Ice Cream Maker (68321Z) as a gift and have been giving it a try out, in spite of the cooler temperatures. Ice cream with coffee or Caf-Lib is one of my fav combos so that helps! ;<)

This is the first electric/automatic ice cream maker I've ever used. A long time ago, we had one of those old-fashioned crank models, when I was a kid. It needed rock salt and plenty of muscle power to turn (make that churn) out a batch of homemade ice cream. Fun memories but how times have changed! Now it's oh so easy to make all kinds of ice cream treats, without any fuss or brute strength required LOL.

The Hamilton Beach 1.5 Qt. Ice Cream Maker is so easy to use. And clean-up is a breeze too.

The inner freezer compartment needs to be put into the freezer for about 24 hours before you are planning to make ice cream. It's suggested in the instructions to just clean the unit after use and return to the freezer, so that it's ready for the next batch of ice cream yummies!

After the liner is thoroughly chilled, it's placed in the outer plastic unit, and the chilled ingredients are poured in. Unit on....churning and presto, 20-30 minutes later, perfect homemade ice cream. Made with your choice of ingredients and add-ons. And with no thickeners, additives, colors...as is the case with most mainstream commercial ice cream. Just fresh and oh so delish results!

I've made Vanilla and Mocha Pecan ice cream so far, both were wonderful. You can read the post about the Mocha Pecan Ice Cream with recipe here.

I've also got an: Ice Cream Lover's Giveaway coming up shortly, so stay tuned for that!

Only a couple of things that I think would make this product even better. When the ice cream is finished churning, it needs to be scraped out of the freezer bowl and into a container for storing. It would be great to have a small, rigid spatula included to make this easier. I used a large cake spatula that I had, so as not to scratch the interior of the freezer bowl but it wasn't ideal.

Also, the churning paddle is adequate but I think it could be a bit more "heavy duty". Perhaps one in stainless steel instead of the rigid plastic this one is made of? It gets put through it's paces, when it's close to the end of the churning process and the ice cream is getting very thick.

Another thing to mention, if it looks like there isn't enough ingredients in the container at the beginning of the churning process, you'll be amazed how it expands as it's processing. Definitly good to follow the recipe instructions and stick to the amounts suggested.

There are a few recipes included with this product in the instruction book but I've got a couple of amazing Ice Cream recipe books to share with you soon. And of course, creating and tweaking your own ice cream favorites to make is part of the fun too!

If you've been considering buying an Ice Cream Maker, this is a good one to buy. Reasonably priced to at about $35. -40. It will pay for itself in no time, if you've been buying premium ice cream products on a regular basis.

Visit the Hamilton Beach site to read more about all of their fine small appliances and products. And stop by Europe's Best to enter their current Hamilton Beach small appliance contest too. Some great prizes up for grabs.

Overall rating for this product: Very Good. 4 out of 5.

Hamilton Beach Aroma Express 5 Cup Coffeemaker

As I wrote in this previous post  I am a huge coffee fan. Lately I have been making an effort to cut back on the java but sometimes, it's still gotta be the "real thing" to fit the craving.

As my previous coffeemaker had gone kaput quite some time ago and I had been drinking instant or coffee substitutes since then (more about a wonderful coffee substitute here) I recently decided to invest in a small coffeemaker to once again enjoy the full-brewed experience occasionally, at home.
                                
The Hamilton Beach Aroma Express is small, doesn't take up a lot of counter space and cost less than $20 at the local Save-On store. I have also purchased other Hamilton Beach products in the past that performed very well. Brands do count, don't they? I know it's always a consideration for me.

And best of all the results: a really full, rich-tasting and hot cup of coffee. This unit seems to brew coffee at a higher temperature than many of the other coffeemakers that I've tried in the past. Add to that spring water and freshly-ground organic coffee, viola bliss!!!  I really savored that first cup of brewed coffee, after a long hiatus at home. And let's face it, restaurant coffee isn't all that great usually, unless you are visiting the coffee bars and putting out the big bucks for a truly satisfying cup of brewed java.
                           
What I didn't like about this coffeemaker? Well, the Hamilton Beach Aroma Express is suppose to make 5 cups of coffee. It is called a 5 cup coffeemaker. So what does that actually mean? Last time I checked a cup was still an 8 ounce measure. This actually refers to 5- 5 oz. cups of coffee and not really even that as it has to be filled to the top of the carafe with water to make the full  5 "cups". And as we all know, filling a coffee carafe right to the top is NEVER a good idea, unless you like cleaning up a big mess afterwards with spilled coffee all over the counter.

I don't know why manufacturers of these products do this. Who actually drinks 5 oz. cups of coffee? For me, that's just a sampler. Most coffee mugs hold about 10-12 oz. now that's more like it. But to make it accurate and easy to understand, why not stick with a 1 cup measurement= 8 ounces. I think this is so misleading.

The picture on the box is also misleading, it looks like a fairly good-sized carafe. I didn't take the time to start undoing the box and packaging at the store. I always feel a bit weird opening boxes up to any real extent when I'm shopping and I was in a hurry at the time. So, the sorta surprise came when I unpacked the unit at home. Yes, I could have returned it at that point but for the price ($18. on sale) I thought, let's just give it a try.

It makes about 3 average-sized mugs of coffee when the carafe is ALMOST full of water. For the present, it will work out fine. And I do have a larger coffeemaker (with all the bells and whistles) in a storage unit right now so that's available when we get moved and back to having more room for all our appliances, in the near future.

For now, the Hamilton Beach Aroma Express (but not really 5 cup) coffeemaker makes a delish cup of coffee. Just not a lot at one time.

Overall rating for this product: Good. 3 out of 5.