How shall I break in my new KitchenAid mixer?

Thanks to many United Mileage Plus miles, I recently cashed in and received my very first KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer. I am somewhat of a novice cook, but I am adventurous and enjoy learning new skills. With married life right around the corner, I suppose I should give it a little more attention!

I am looking for recommendations/recipes for a "ceremonious" beginning to what will hopefully be a long relationship with my new mixer. Any ideas on how I can get my feet wet with this lovely machine? I hate to cop out and just make cookies or one of the recipes that comes with the mixer. That just doesn't seem like as much fun.

P.S. I haven't bought any attachements yet, although they all look tempting.

Meringue. That's the sort of thing it's ideal for, that you'd never make otherwise.

Alternately, a key lime pie or something with a meringue topping.

Use your dough hook and make a simple dough project, like cloverleaf rolls or seasoned (perhpas even cheese) breadsticks. Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven, especially homemade bread.

Enjoy your new mixer. I recently bought the ice cream attachment for mine. I already have the sausage stuffer; next purchase is the pasta attachment. Love it.

shakesister wrote:Use your dough hook and make a simple dough project, like cloverleaf rolls or seasoned (perhpas even cheese) breadsticks. Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven, especially homemade bread.

Enjoy your new mixer. I recently bought the ice cream attachment for mine. I already have the sausage stuffer; next purchase is the pasta attachment. Love it.

My only note of caution here is emphasize kneading dough is a low speed activity. You cannot do this at a high speed without risking injury to your mixer.

Regards,

How many miles did it take to get the KitchenAid?

For a nice easy intro to your new mixer, make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Then go nuts.

Thanks for the quick and thoughtful replies. The mixer cashed in about 35,500 of my miles. Not too bad of a trade, and the shipping was free (and quick). Now I might have to throw some of the attachments on the good old registry...

Could you provide the link to redeem United miles for merchandise? It looks like you can only buy stuff at Mileage Plus Mall, not redeem miles. I have enough miles for a Kitchen Aid and they're going to expire in a few months.

http://store.ualmileageplus.com/

How about homemade marshmallows? Like meringue, it's pretty much something you can only make with a stand mixer.

I agree with the meringue suggestion. Or, for something really simple, do whipped cream. It whips up as fast as the time it takes to blow it out of a Redi-Whip can.

i've got about 75' of sidewalk cement to pour...

some 'muffins' a'fore starting, would be mighty nice, too.

Whipped cream. Mmmmm. (I don't care much for meringue)

Saint Pizza wrote:How about homemade marshmallows? Like meringue, it's pretty much something you can only make with a stand mixer.

???
I've made meringue lots of times without a stand mixer. It works just fine with a hand-held electric beater. I've also, long time ago, done it with one of those beaters you crank, and I've even done it with a whisk.

cynthia,
Ha, you got me! I've never been able to make meringue with a wire whisk - I guess I'm either not strong enough or patient enough. And with a hand mixer, ond needs patience as well. With a KA I can be lazy and leave the room for a few minutes while it does its thing.

Saint Pizza wrote:cynthia,
Ha, you got me! I've never been able to make meringue with a wire whisk - I guess I'm either not strong enough or patient enough. And with a hand mixer, ond needs patience as well. With a KA I can be lazy and leave the room for a few minutes while it does its thing.

It does take patience. But since I'm considering getting a Kitchen Aid, it's nice to know that it will free up that extra little bit of time.

After wishing and some begging, my daughter gave me back my 30 some year old KitchenAid. Used it again for the first time yesterday to make chunky oatmeal raisin cookies for the grandkids at camp and at home. It was a pleasure not having to stand and hold a mixer again. But even more so was how quick it creamed the butter and sugar and made easy work of putting the cookies together.

Now if she could only find the extra bowl and the meat grinder. (Extra bowls are great for those times when a recipe calls for the addition of beaten egg whites. And chopped liver comes out easier with a grinder then a Cuisinart.)

Can't wait to use it again.
Paulette

Wonders of wonders she found my second bowl. Now if she could only find the meat grinder before Rosh Hashonah.
Paulette

thanks for the reminder about the United program -- I've been trying to justify the mixer for some time and free did the trick!!

Might want to take a look here: http://forum.kitchenaid.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=33