Kitchenaid mixer - what's the favourite thing you do with yours?

[maggiethecat]

I just got one and admit to being a bit intimidated by it. I'm going to do a sponge which has always turned out great with my hand held mixer and I wonder if this gizmo will really make life much easier (tho perhaps not quite chuck ingredients in and voila!)
What's the favourite thing that you do with yours?

Making bread is much easier, and I wouldn't do it without it. Whipping cream, or anything that involves taking a lot of time getting air into something is much easier, because your arm doesn't get tired. Many things I make are just chuck in the ingredients and turn it on, and you're done.

I have the slicer/shredder attachment, which is great for grating large amounts of cheese, or slicing lots of carrots or cucumbers, or making hash browns. I also got the pasta attachment for Christmas, and it is a lot of fun, and so easy. I'm in the middle of resting my pasta right now to make for tonight's dinner. (Am 8 hours behind most of MN.)

You don't have as many dirty bowls with your Kitchen Aid.

I make bread and cookies most often. So easy to cream the butter and sugar, its bliss.

Right, I'll get on with making that sponge then. Looking forward to breads as well. DH bought the ice cream maker for himself (you know, the 'oh I got this for you and a little something for myself' spiel) so we'll see about ice cream at some point.

Bread, Pizza and meringues. Another thing that is great is using the paddle attachment to rub the butter into flour when making scones or pastry.