Your favorite stick blender

[janesathome]

Finally got to test my new cuisinart smart stick today.

First and foremost I am going to say that I am not thrilled by the two button press to start and stop stickblending. I know that you can let go of one and keep doing the other to keep it going, but then you need to unlock it again to start again. I am not that coordinated LOL. Unless I got a different version than the rest of you that recommended the smart stick. It did get a little easier as I went along.

Now I don't know if this is a good time to give a review on it as I unwittingly changed a few things about my recipe: Since it was an all-white recipe, I added the td to the oils, AND because I think my particular fragrance isn't that strong I added kaolin clay to the oils in a desperate attempt to stick the fo. AND it was a smaller batch and my container was too big, AND (I am cracking up as I am typing this), ...because I was adding all this stuff that I don't normally add to oils at the get-go, I figured...why not add the sodium citrate while I am at it.

So I ran the stick blender and it was all bubbly. Then after a while I wasn't sure if it was bubbles or kaolin clay rising to the top, so I let it sit for a little bit. Mind you it was just oils and all this other mash that I put in it. Which isn't taking any stars away from my review, because I never add all that stuff to my oils all at one time normally. But then again, I was also fighting with the two-button process on the sb...

Oddly enough, I added the lye and everybody calmed down in the pot. Still had to fight my lack of coordination with the buttons. Then because I was still testing the suction/bubble/stir method that I was used to with my old blender, I probably blended too much because as soon as I added my fo, it riced a bit. I managed to put two fingers on the buttonS and gently sb out the concoction into a nice smooth, creamy white pourable batter.

All that said, I love the gentle blending that it does. I was able to work through all those ANDS. I don't like the need to use two buttons. No suction. No crazy bubble action.

Next time I will test it without all the extra stuff. But mine is a lard bar, so its naturally easy to work with. If I had a faster moving recipe then I don't know...maybe when I get some muscle memory to operate the two-button action lol.

Overall, much better than my old blender. 4.5 Stars.

Thank you for starting my day with a chuckle. You have a great writing style that captures your experience with humour!
I bought a Cuisinart 2 button SB when I started soaping this year - it is now my kitchen blender and my old one is now for soaping. I join you in disliking the 2 button feature. I find it very difficult to manage. Wouldn’t want to be using it for soap, so kudos to you for persevering!

 

[Bill S.]

I use a Hamilton Beach 59770 two-speed Hand Blender. I make a lot of soap and the toggle start switch has begun to fail on two so far over the past 13 years. The motor is fine, but the on switch makes intermittent contact. I've purchased two replacements of different make and model and both are too powerful. They cause too much circulation and entrain so many small bubbles that they are not useable for me. Every time I have come back to the Hamilton Beach I use. It's not in production any more and I keep searching eBay for them. Modern Hamilton Beach stick blenders might be the same, but I haven't purchased one yet.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

Really glad you started this thread—I’ll need to buy a new SB soon.

I bought a KitchenSmith SB on sale for $15 from Target 14 mos ago, and after ~60 batches of soap, the bump that clicks when I twist the blade attachment off/on for cleaning started to break. Thinking about just buying the same one, since it’s gentle, simple, and $18 for Memorial day… but if you’ve found SBs that last several years, even better!