My kingdom for a … food processor/standing mixer??? I’d be hard pressed to make a decision on that one, if I had the money. Not to pick on the noble blender, but when it comes to performing tasks the right tool can make all the difference. I am a baker on a budget. My budget being virtually nonexistent, I actually made my first pie crust with the attachments from my hand mixer. While getting my MacGyver on can be a thrill, sometimes it’s just a plain drag.
For example, when the Plum Tart with Walnut Cream recipe called for walnuts to be ground into a “coarse powder” I had to entrust this task to my poor, overworked blender. As anyone who’s ever tried it can tell you, chopping nuts into a powder regardless of how coarse it might be isn’t easy to do with a blender. Nuts have a habit of becoming more like a paste on the bottom and large-ish chunks on the top. So what really was a simple recipe that could have been whipped up in a matter of minutes in a properly equipped kitchen, ended up taking me over an hour(s?).
First I dumped all the nuts in and let her rip. Mistake number one. If you’re going to chop nuts in a blender, do it in small amounts. I did know this, unfortunately I only remembered I knew it after grinding for about 10 seconds and wondering why the nuts on the top where still in one piece. Mistake number two was to try to sift the resulting bits through a strainer so I could attempt another round of chopping. This didn’t really work well. I got nut crumbs all over the counter and I still ended up with some very large chunks. Oh, and the reason the knife is in the blender was because I used it to break up the solidifying mass of nuts I had growing at the bottom. I have no shame (well, maybe a twinge) in admitting that I even tried a damned mortar and pestle to break up the very large, near full nut sized pieces which produced some pretty sad mashed up pieces. Finally I just dumped the nuts in my strainer again and press them through with a spoon. Unbelievable.
Go ahead and try this at home if you’d like, but I suggest doing this with small batches of nuts, like a handful at a time. And just pulse the blender, don’t just press grind and sit back and watch. Finally, don’t expect something resembling anything close to a “powder”. It really looks more like a “meal” texture, if you get my meaning, and there’s no avoiding having some larger chunks floating around.
If anyone out there has another magical way to get finely ground nuts without a food processor (or some other implement that costs more than $20) I’d love to hear it!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Second-hand stores are great — I bought my first two food processors that way, not to mention a lot of other stuff. Of course, at that time I lived just one block away from one. It was easy to stop in often (the best way to find the good stuff). And they usually have an outlet strip so you can plug it in to see if it at least runs…
You know, I’ve really got to check that out. I haven’t noticed any in my area, but I’m sure they’re here.
Ebay isn’t too bad either. Well…it’s hit and miss. Sometimes you can get a good deal but sometimes people are bidding like crazy and I just don’t understand it.
A word to the wise about ebay – always check the feedback! While out of the hundreds of transactions I’ve had over the years only a handful turned out to be bad, you still need to be careful especially when buying a high ticket item. Luckily the only stinkers I had were on small fry, so it wasn’t so much of an issue. AND, if you pay with Paypal you can almost always get your money back (especially with a credit card). But I digress, thanks for stopping by and the great advice!