I’m back with another recipe and another giveaway for you!
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve recently partnered up with Hamilton Beach to become a Brand Ambassador. I’ll be reviewing their products and providing giveaway opportunities to my readers.
Read all about my experience with the SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer here and enter to win one for yourself!
Today, it’s all about the Hamilton Beach 6 Speed Stand Mixer. I’ve paired my review with one of my kitchen staples: healthy yet delicious bran muffins! These rockstar baked goods can be customized with any combination of ingredients: some of my favorites include dried cherries, chocolate chips, or fresh lemon and blueberry like I made below.
But let’s chat about the mixer first, shall we? I have never owned or used a stand mixer before. I’ve always thought of them as something that only “serious bakers” owned, plus was put off by the high price tag and large footprint on a counter.
This is what makes the Hamilton Beach version so great. The size is compact; I love the narrow design and how it fits on my countertop. The bowl size is 3.5 quarts; for personal use this is a great size and I had tons of room to spare in the bowl when I made my single batch of muffins. If you were going to make a boatload of cookies though, you might wish that the bowl held more. The bottom of the unit has small suction cups which keep the mixer in place. The mixer comes with three attachments: a flat beater, a whisk, and a dough hook.
But the best part? The top of the unit tilts up with the press of a button! This lets you easily pull out the mixing bowl or have more room to add ingredients.
I do wish it tilted back a bit more; I had to weirdly angle myself to add in ingredients. Some of this might have been due to where I positioned the mixer on my counter. This isn’t a deal breaker, just something to get used to when using the mixer.
The mixing head spins as it rotates inside the bowl, scraping the sides to allow minimal scraping by hand with a spatula.There are 6 speeds and a special “fold” setting. I love the little cheat sheet that is on the side of the unit for what attachment and speed to use!
I was very impressed by this mixer and would not hesitate to recommend it to friends. It was easy to go through the steps of my recipe, adding in the ingredients as needed. As I mentioned I barely had to scrape the sides of the bowl as the design of the attachment let the whisk do all of the work. It’s also definitely important to mention that this product retails for a fraction of the cost of the “it” stand mixer by KitchenAid. I’m looking forward to incorporating the stand mixer into my cooking! Now for what I made:
Bran Muffins–makes 12 muffins
1 cup each: rolled oats, plain yogurt
1/2 cup each: no sugar added applesauce, packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup each: oat bran, wheat germ all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon each: salt, baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pint of fresh blueberries*
zest of 1 lemon*
*You can customize the ingredients to your liking; the possibilities are endless! Nuts, peanut butter chips, pineapple, any dried fruit, coconut….go crazy with your combinations!
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 muffin cup pan with liners.
Combine oats and yogurt and let stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the applesauce, sugar and egg in your stand mixer (or with a hand mixer).
Combine oat bran, wheat germ, both flours, salt, baking powder and soda in a separate bowl.
Add the oat/yogurt mixture in with the applesauce/sugar/egg mixture until blended. Then add in the flour mixture.
By hand, stir in your add-on ingredients of choice.
Divide batter among muffin cups, about 2/3 full. Bake about 22-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Muffins should be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days (more like 2 if it is warm in your kitchen), or 4 if in the refrigerator. These freeze wonderfully; I recommend making a double batch and freezing the lot! You can then defrost as needed.
I hope you love these as much as I do! They really are surprisingly wonderful; the applesauce ensures they aren’t dry. And you don’t have to feel guilty about having one!
And drumroll….the giveaway!
The details:
-This giveaway will run from Wednesday, May 7th (12 AM) to Friday, May 9th (11:59 PM).
-To clarify, you are entering to win a brand new Hamilton Beach 6 Speed Stand Mixer. I will coordinate with the winner and Hamilton Beach to have the mixer shipped directly to you from their distribution center.
-Using the Rafflecopter box below, log in and leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite spring-inspired dish is to make.
-You can also follow me on Twitter (@loganmer) for extra points to win!
-Make sure you have clicked the link for this particular post so that the comment box shows up!
-Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner, who I will reach out to over the weekend.
Good luck!
Update: This giveaway has ended and a winner has been selected at random by Rafflecopter. Thank you to all who entered and I appreciate you checking out Sage & Serendipity!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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