Although I’ve been thinking about the KitchenAid stand mixer for some time now, I only finally bought myself one last week. Everyone and their brother/mother/sister/friend seems to have one and they all rave about how great it is, so I had little doubt that it would be fabulous. There are plenty of colours to choose from, but it was an obvious choice for me. I’ve used my KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer twice already and it’s worked out very well! No surprise there, right?

The first thing I ended up baking with the stand mixer was the brownie recipe that was listed in the instruction/information booklet that came with the mixer. It was very easy and straightforward and the end result was ab fab chocolate goodness. I also made madeleines and they turned out perfectly. I love the fact that the mixer can do the work while I measure out the ingredients. The convenience factor is awesome!

I used the plastic pour guard at one point, but I didn’t really need it. I was just trying to use as many gadgets/attachments as possible. I used the paddle attachment (above) for the brownies, but I used the whisk attachment to whip up the eggs for the madeleines. Switching the attachments is easy and quick, as is cleaning them.

I am very happy that I opted for the lift-arm mixer rather than the bowl-lift mixer. The arm lifts at the flick of a switch and the bowl attaches securely and simply to the base.

Here are the brownies before I put them in the oven:

It’s a stylish machine, yes, and it looks wonderful on my counter (a stylish appliance? really? this is what I’m talking about these days? how old am I?), and so it seems I’m joining the “it’s so great, everyone should have one” club. I’ll share a few more photos in the upcoming weeks as I’m eager to try the pasta roller/cutter attachments!