Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The New Love of My Life

Sorry, Nate, but there's someone new in my life.

My pearl metallic KitchenAid Professional 600 series 6-quart stand mixer. I've wanted one for years (and I've always kicked myself for not registering for one as a wedding present), but have more recently become somewhat obsessed with the idea of getting one. I mean, I cook and bake quite a bit, so it only makes sense, right? Luckily, my birthday is coming up and this particular mixer -- the one I was considering anyway -- came up on sale at Amazon for a really good price, so I just had to get myself an early birthday present. And my mother-in-law -- who is an avid baker and cook herself, and undestands the importance of having a stand mixer -- sent along some "mixer money" (thanks, Julie!).


The thing is really pretty big, and it took quite a bit of kitchen rearranging to figure out where to keep it after we learned it wouldn't fit underneath the cabinets. But I think we figured it out, and it has a prominent spot in the kitchen.

Because Nate was the recipient of a random text from me mid-day last week saying "I bought a KitchenAid mixer. Hope that's OK!" I told him the first thing I would make would be for him. After settling on cookies rather than beer bread, I turned to the Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe in the instruction and recipe booklet that came with the mixer. I followed the recipe very closely (see p. 43) because I wanted to be sure I used the mixer just as the recipe intended. But I subbed in 1 of the cups of flour with whole wheat flour, added some mixed chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds and pecans, probably 1/4 cup) and didn't measure the chips I threw in, but rather used up the three partial bags (milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and butterscotch) I had in the pantry.

Rather than using a teaspoonful of dough, I used closely to a tablespoon, so I ended up baking my cookies for closer to 15 minutes. The cookies were fantastic -- they had a bit of a crunch on the outside, but were still soft on the inside. The butterscotch offered a nice burst of flavor.


It was a great first experience using the mixer, and I can't wait to use it again ... and again ... and again!

5 comments:

  1. congrats my sweet. you have made a wise choice for a love substitute. (Nathan, you are still loved). chocolate chip cookies are a fine place to start, as that is my most used recipe of all. good luck and enjoy your mixer. believe me, the fun has just begun... happy birthday!!

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  2. Brenton got me a stand mixer for our anniversary and it's one of the best gifts I've ever gotten - I loooovveee mine! I use it all the time and now I'm coveting the pasta attachments.

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  3. I didn't even know the cookie you left me was from the new mixer. Yum! You do know you'll have to bake a lot more, now, right?!

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  4. Yes! I forgot to mention that. I made the cookies the night I got the mixer! Oh, I will definitely be baking more now that I have it! Thankfully, the Junglers are good guinea pigs. :)

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  5. Alysha, what's your favorite thing to make with yours? You do a lot of baking, so it must get used quite a bit! :)

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