Morphy Richards – Accents Hand Blender Set

Morphy Richards – Accents Hand Blender Set

Earlier in the year I became a Morphy Richards ‘Home Innovator’ and in the post that won me the position listed were my 5 top pieces of kitchen equipment that save me money and time. So back in June when the whisk part broke and the blender bit seemed to be struggling, it was perfect timing when Janelle asked if I would like to try out and review this lovely ‘Hand Bender Set’. It felt a bit like my birthday when it arrived and funnily enough it was a few days before my birthday too!!!

First I will come to the colour, it’s cyan and will say every time I use it there is something about the colour that lifts my spirits (strange but true fact). I probably wouldn’t have chosen cyan out of choice but now I have it I am glad that colour was chosen for me!!! It does also come in other colours too. From having this lovely colour I will definitely move away from plain old white for the future.

But the real test has to be will it cope with all I expect of it and I am a hard task master when it comes to the kitchen!!! Any hand blender for me has to:

On a daily or weekly basis:

• Make smoothies/milkshakes to drink or make into ice lollies
• Whizz up pancakes for breakfast
• Make a quick dip for lunch
• Make my soup smooth
• Make a pasta sauce smooth

Occasionally:

• Whip Cream
• Make breadcrumbs

The first task I got it to do can always be a tricky one, whip cream. It happened the day it arrived we had a friend staying over so I was making Eton Mess for pudding. Whipping cream by hand takes ages and leaves my wrist aching. I put the generous size beaker in the fridge before hand (top tip is to have everything cold before whipping cream, speeds it up!) After kicking the guys out of the kitchen thinking I would be whipping for a few minutes I was pleasantly surprised that in a minute I had perfectly whipped cream. The model I was trying had twin beaters which certainly worked much quicker than the single balloon whisk I had on my old hand blender.

 Whipping cream – Thumbs up

I also used the beaters for making up not a single but double batch of pancake mix as Bex and Oscar had sleepover friends so it’s pancake for breakfast!!! I used 1pt of milk, 2 eggs and 8ºz of flour so I used one of my own bowls for the mix but again it whipped this up in no time at all and deemed ‘The best pancakes’ by Bex’s friend who had never tried my pancakes before, well what can I say….

Pancake making – Thumbs up
Now mostly I would use my hand blender for smoothies and pureeing which as I had expected it did an excellent job. Quick and easy and again I will mention that the beaker provided is a really good size and big enough to make smoothies for both my two at the same time. Soup was easily made smooth and a favourite lunch/snack humus was made super quickly.

Smoothie/milkshake making and general pureeing – Thumbs Up
The chopper, well I confess I had never used the chopper function on my last hand blender but felt for this review purpose I must try it out. But hang on there, I have been missing out on this super quick chopping action. It was perfect for breadcrumbs and don’t forget breadcrumbs freeze well and transform a pasta bake when mixed with a bit of grated cheese and some herbs as a topping. Or breadcrumbs with fresh herbs and lemon zest to make a piece of fish into a rather scrummy dish!!!

I also used it to make a jacket potato topping. I was using up bits and pieces from the fridge so used the chopper to chop some onions, mushrooms, garlic and parsley. I fried it up with a little olive oil, seasoned with black pepper, topped the potato added a bit of mozzarella and baked for 10-15 minutes. They were gorgeous alongside my roasted ratatouille ones. Admitted they don’t look the prettiest but if you like mushrooms your love these!!!
Chopping action and bread crumb making – Thumbs up

So that is lots of thumbs up, a great bit of kitchen kit that will get lots of use.

Things that would improve it

To be honest it is as said above a great piece of kitchen equipment, I love the colours, it does everything you would want from a hand blender. The things I did find not so good was it only had two-speed setting with just one button. Not a problem for me as I usually use it on high-speed (!) but it does say in the instructions to use the beaters on slow. Now with just one button, I didn’t find slow. They do a model with more settings on a dial which may be more suitable for some.

The other thing was the instruction manual – The instructions are all fine but it is rather uninspiring especially if you have never owned a hand blender before. For example the ‘Blender leg’ part suggests for its use, ‘pureeing soft foods for use in soups and baby food’ and yes that is it.

That is fine for someone who is confident in the kitchen but for someone who is not then this piece of kit will never get used to its full potential.

Some recipe suggestions or idea’s would be great and help someone maximise the use of it. I mean look at what I been missing with the ‘chopper’ part!!!

I would recommend this lovely bit of kitchen kit with it’s very happy colour so if I have tempted you I can gladly offer you a discout code FP1002  giving you a big 25% off ‘The Accents kitchen preparation range’ offer valid till 31st August. That is rather lovely of the Morphy Richards gang isn’t it.

The price of the blender I was sent is £39.99 but the range starts at £29.99 The Accents preparation range is newly launched includes everything from hand blenders to food choppers and is available in a selection of different colours including red, cyan, yellow and cream.

I think all kitchens should have hand blenders in, really great for healthy eating and totally brilliant if you are watching your weight as numerous wonderful things can be produced.

For bloggers and non bloggers there is a Summer baking competition that you can enter over on Tots100 to win the same hand blender as I have here competition open till 31st August 2012.

Remember the discount code for your 25% off is FP1002