Ok don't laugh - but I'm asking Santa to get me something I really need this year. After 20 years my handheld mixer is finally showing its age and I need a new one. I'm asking Santa to get me one I actually want (picked up mine as a 5 dollar cheap/temp tool but never replaced it).

Anyway - any suggestions or anyone have a favorite one that I can look into? My old one had two speeds (fast and faster) which I hated. Would love to have a handheld mixer that had an actual SLOW speed so I can stir items.

Also, are the Kitchen Aid hand helds any good? I have a Kitchen Aid stand up mixer that I love, but a friend says the handheld beaters don't give good volume.

Thanks for any suggestions!

I have a KA Artisan 7 speed hand held. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I can do almost everything with it that I can do with my KA stand mixer. Anyone who can't gett good volume with a hand held mixer isn't using it correctly.

I just bought a Cuisinart handheld but haven't had a reason to use it yet. I wanted a KA handheld, but if you look at numerous Amazon ratings on very recent purchases, there seems to be a mechanical or electrical problem.

Just used the Cuisinart. It worked very well on a huge batch of lumpy ganache.

I have a KA hand mixer that I just take to make icing in course I first night. I've had it 3 years, no problem. I have 2 KA classics 4qts at home that I use. Now for Ganaches I use my Cuisineart smart stick imersion blender. I've never heard of the KA hand mixer having issues.

heddahope - many people completely immerse the beater heads in whatever they are mixing. This is fine if you do NOT want to incorporate any air. However, to properly aerate the liquid, the beater heads should be 1/2 to 2/3rds immersed. Without that 1/2 to 1/3rd of the beater heads above the liquid, they cannot pull any air into the liquid. Also, many people just hold the mixer still, with the beater heads in the center of the bowl. Doing this will not properly mix whatever you have in the bowl. You must move the mixer around. I find a figure 8 pattern while simutaneoulsy rotating the bowl provides for the best distribution. Basically you are replicating the planery rotation motion of the stand mixer head. You also must stop the mixing and scrape the bowl sides and bottom with a thin rubber or silicone spatula frequently to make sure everything is getting mixed in. For something like egg whites or cream, to get the foam started, I tilt the bowl to about 45 degrees towards me and move the beaters back and forth very quickly with 1/2 immersion. Once things start getting close to the soft peak stage, I set the bowl back down and return to the standard figure 8 while rotating bowl method, again with 1/2 immersion. HTH!

Well thank you so much for that quick lesson. I have been doing that. .

I just tried making the buttercream with the beaters totally covered (Sugarshacks tip) but I didn't know if it would work with a handmixer,(I don't have a stand mixer). It came out beautiful!!!