Product reviewed: Black + Decker Helix Performance Premium Hand Mixer
I recently discovered that the hand mixer I have in my kitchen is the one my mother gave me 18 years ago when I moved out. It was a hand-me-down that she gave me when she bought a new one. It’s been used so much that the two fastest speeds don’t even work. Needless to say, when the opportunity came up to test and review the Black + Decker Helix Performance Premium Hand Mixer, I was up for the task.
This hand mixer comes with two nylon beaters, plus two additional attachments: a set of dough hooks and a wire whisk. One of my favorite features is the handy storage case that everything easily fits into for compact storage.
I was pleased to find that the mixer comes ready to use, right out of the box. The only “assembly” required is snapping in the mixer attachment you want to use. Since my ancient hand mixer only had a set of metal beaters, I was glad to find this product came with a handy instruction booklet that shows examples of how best to use each attachment.
I used each of the three attachments for different recipes and found them all easy to use. The lightweight nylon beaters are easy to attach and detach from the hand mixer, and they worked well for mixing cake batter. It’s easy to change speeds, and there aren’t a lot of extra buttons to press, making it very user-friendly.
The dough hook attachments worked really well when making cooking dough. My old mixer used to struggle through cookie dough, and I would constantly have to stop the mixer and unclog the beaters. These dough hook attachments had no trouble with the thick dough, and I didn’t have to stop and clean them at all. I will say that the dough hook attachment is not made for mixing a thinner batter; when I was making cookies, I had to start with the nylon beaters and switch halfway through to the dough hooks after incorporating the flour, which made the dough thick. It didn’t take long to switch, but it is an additional step. However, when making bread or pizza dough from scratch, this dough hook attachment would save a lot of kneading time.
The wire whisk attachment is a fun addition and made the process of making homemade whipping cream a breeze — so much easier than getting sore arms from whisking by hand. All the removable attachments are dishwasher-safe and, once cleaned, everything fits easily into the storage case with a snap-on cover. No more digging through drawers looking for a rogue beater. It’s compact and fits easily in a kitchen cabinet or on a pantry shelf. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone in the market for a new hand mixer.
