Power tools in the Kitchen?

[David Eisan]

Hello everyone,

I was looking for some cookies today and could not find any in the house. How hard can it be to bake cookies? I like peanut butter cookies, I thought I would give making them a try. Turns out, it is a lot more work than I thought. If I had baked before, I might have been able to deduce that the recipe was sized to make four thousand cookies and I could have reduced it. I do remember watching my Mom make cookies when I was a young boy, and only when it was too late did I realize I should have mixed the butter and sugar first and not added the butter last. I broke the wooden spoon trying to mix the butter with the peanut butter, sugar and eggs. I got out Katarina’s toy mixer, but it has no torque and was starting to give off a funny smell. I was running through my mind what power tools I had that could help with this. My DeWALT 300 RPM mixer drill was out on loan and my mortar mixing paddle would take too long to clean anyway. Probably for the best, the mortar paddle was not stainless steel, and who wants yellow paint in their cookies. I found my Makita cordless drill. I blew it off with the compressor and wiped it down. The mixer paddle was easy to chuck in the drill. I was able to keep the RPM low and after trying unsuccessfully to mix in the butter by hand for 15 minutes, I had it mixed in about three minutes. Since the mixture was quite thick, I also used it to mix in the flour and other dry ingredients.

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/pbmix.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/pbbake.jpg

I filled the baking pan a number of times, and when all was said and done, instead of trimming windows today, I spent 5 hours baking cookies. It would have been slightly shorter if I had made sure I had all the ingredients before I started and didn’t have to run to Mom’s for “Magic Baking Powder”.

I took a couple containers of cookies to my folks tonight for them and my sisters’ family. I will be taking bags of them to work for the next little bit, so free cookies will be on the counter at Fed Tool for the next several years.

Thanks for looking,

David.

Every Neighbourhood has one, in Mine I'm Him

[Mark Elmer]

Just think. If you had a small cement mixer.......:D

[Lee Koepke]

you could run them thru your planer to get them all the same thickness too .

[Bob Vallaster]

For a more varied offering, you could drill them with a 1" spade bit to have low-profile donuts.

BobV

[Dewey Torres]

PB cookies... one of may favs!

[Craig Johnson]

I think they also would look good after a roundover with the router.
Great story.......

[John Sanford]

yeah, just remember to RELEASE THE TRIGGER before you lick the mixing paddle. :eek: :D

[Mike Wilkins]

Nice save. But don't let your wife know you did this. She will crack your noggin.

[Curt Harms]

Tim Taylor would approve:D!

[Jim Kountz]

Now thats how you mix cookie batter *ug ug grunt grunt*

[Josiah Bartlett]

Just think. If you had a small cement mixer.......:D

I would co-opt my wife's Kitchenaid to mix up some grout if I thought I could clean it well enough afterward. That thing is unfazed by anything.

My wife borrowed my dremel tool to remove some callouses on her feet after I pointed out that the whizbang callous remover tool we were seeing on TV was way more expensive. It worked great.

[Byron Trantham]

yeah, just remember to RELEASE THE TRIGGER before you lick the mixing paddle. :eek: :D


Too cool!!!! :D

[Matt Walton]

My wife borrowed my dremel tool to remove some callouses on her feet after I pointed out that the whizbang callous remover tool we were seeing on TV was way more expensive. It worked great.
Did you know that professional nail people use dremels?

[Eric DeSilva]

Never used a power tool in the kitchen, but needlenose pliers ought to be a standard in the kitchen drawer... I also have a special 1" cheapo chisel that has been washed for the sole purpose of breaking up chocolate when I'm doing large quantities of filled chocolates.

I also seem to remember Alton Brown using a pepper grinder that had been fitted to a cordless drill. For when you need lots of fresh ground pepper...

[Bob Hallowell]

you could run them thru your planer to get them all the same thickness too .

you would have to joint them flat first!

[Jack Wilson50]

Sounds like something McGeyver would do.

[Peter Quinn]

I just love that! Way to adapt, improvise and overcome! Did you consider the drill press? Doesn't have the orbital action like a good stand mixer but it has pretty good torque and adjustable speed!

Oh, those fancy micro plane cheese graters that are so popular now in cooking stores started when a women broke her regular cheese greater and borrowed her wood worker husband's micro plane file to shred some parmesan! Figured if they could handle walnut and oak they could handle cheese too. She loved it, he marketed it, now its a must have. Perhaps Makita will soon offer a custom mixing paddle with a 1/4" hex shank for quick change and clean up.

[eric auer]

Am I the only one that caught he's wearing different shirts in the two pictures, Apparently he Really needed to see how fast he could mix......................

[Brian Effinger]

Am I the only one that caught he's wearing different shirts in the two pictures, Apparently he Really needed to see how fast he could mix......................
Good eye! Hehehehehehe :D:D:D

[Bruce Barker]

Just purchased a 10.8V Makita LiIon and I must say, it already looks and feels like a kitchen tool (only nicer)...now some entrepreneur just needs to make hex-shank kitchen accessories!

[Larry Edgerton]

I have cut casts off of my legs with a Fein sander. Never thought of mixing dough though.......

Hmmm.... A new garbage can and a drywall mixer in the drill press.......

LMAO :)

[Kristi Sprinkle]

(with a really bad Irish accent), "Aye, MANLY, but I like it, too."

Just wait 'til she finds out you've been using the cookie jar as a place to store your Bungee cords.

[David Keller NC]

Ha! Had to laugh at that one, and I can guarantee that you'll get a pretty big laugh out of any female you show that to.

Clearly intended for a laugh, but as someone that does do all of his own cooking, there's a couple of things I'll suggest that'll make your life so much easier the next time you have the Jones for peanut butter cookies:

1) Never attempt to mix butter straight from the refrigerator into anything. If you think about it, take the butter out the night before and leave it on the counter. It won't spoil, and it softens up enough to be mixable. However, failing this (and I have to admit I rarely think about it the night before), a microwave will soften a stick of butter to near liquid in about 15-30 seconds. It heats much faster than water, so don't go over this - it'll explode violently (also probably highly entertaining in pictures).

2) You don't have to roll cookie dough into little dingleberries to make decently shaped cookies - the heat from the oven will spread them out. Just use a tablespoon and another spoon to remove the muck from the first spoon.

3) Finally (and the most important part of this reply) - Buy your wife or yourself a KitchenAid mixer. They've enough power to mix concrete (or to constantly stir shellac until it's dissolved - don't ask me how I know this!)

[Chris Schumann]

Many years ago, my sister came home to find her boyfriend at the time using a drill to whip a meringue for lemon meringue pie in a 5 gallon pail. She thought no man would do that for anything but his favorite pie, so for 30 years, we had lemon meringue pie at every holiday dinner.

A couple of years ago at one of those holiday dinners, this man says that apple pie has always been his favorite, and he just had a craving that day.

I'm just saying that if peanut butter cookies aren't your very favorite cookies, don't wait 30 years to tell everyone.