Hand Blenders
After 30 pulses on high speed (Grind/Crush ice mode), the blender reduced my 2 cup sample of whole raw almonds to mostly powder. Letting the engine roar for 15 more pulses (45 hamilton beach smoothie blender total) and I had legitimate almond flour on my hands. Unfortunately, no amount of time or motor pulses could transform my nutty materials into true, creamy almond butter.
It doesn’t have any anti-slip pads to help keep it stable while blending. The plastic lid also feels quite cheap, as it’s very thin and doesn’t fit tightly on the jar. Indeed, the appliance only succeeded in slicing through the bottom half of the cheddar, leaving plenty of the block of orange cheese unscathed. With an acceptable 700 peak-watt electric hamilton beach smoothie blender motor, this blender does have a decent amount of oomph to slice, dice, and churn through staple food-mixing tasks. That said, just like its blender brethren, the Stay or Go, this product is underpowered especially when stacked up against the big boys. Settling on a competent kitchen blending machine isn’t as easy a proposition as you might think.
Cleaning it up is a breeze since the jar, blades, and lid are dishwasher safe. The motor base has one button that you hamilton beach smoothie blender need to press constantly to blend. Simulating a pulse mode by pressing and releasing in short intervals is also easy.
However, blenders with programs or that run continuously after one push of a button are more convenient since this design means you can’t multi-task while your smoothie blends. The jar has a 14oz blending capacity, so it’s only suitable for blending small batches, like single-serve smoothies or protein shakes. The Hamilton Beach Personal Creations Blender is a fairly small, compact model. You can easily store it on your kitchen counter or in a cupboard without taking up much space.
It makes a grainy blend with fibrous additions like leafy greens and struggles to crush ice cubes. It’s easy to clean and quiet, but not a good choice if you need to serve a crowd. It’s quite fast, which is usually suitable for smoothly blending fibrous ingredients like kale. Still, it doesn’t perform well for that purpose, possibly because the motor isn’t very powerful compared to most personal blenders.