KitchenAid 13-Cup/3.1L Food Processor Review | Countdown To Black Friday Giveaway

I love to cook. I especially love to bake. These days I don't have much time to do either. With the holidays approaching, though, I will be doing more of both. I'm not a chef by any means, and I follow recipes exactly, but I love learning new cooking techniques and I like products that make my cooking and baking easier.

Since 1919, KitchenAid has been helping cooks of all levels create delicious meals in their homes. Their quality products bring us the technology we need to make our time in the kitchen more enjoyable. I purchased a KitchenAid Stand Mixer several months ago, and I have actually found excuses to bake just so I can use it. It has been worth every penny I spent on it, and then some. I recently had the opportunity to review the new KitchenAid 13-Cup/1.3L Food Processor, and cooking is now even more fun!

As soon as I removed the food processor and all of the accessories from the box, I recognized the superior craftsmanship that goes into making KitchenAid appliances. You can tell just by looking at their products that they are of the highest quality. The 13-Cup Food Processor comes with a 4-cup Mini-Bowl and Mini-Blade, 13-Cup Work Bowl, Externally Adjustable Slicing Disc, Reversible Shredding Disc, Drive Adapter, Disc Adapter, Slicing Adapter, Stainless Steel Multipurpose Blade, Dough Blade, Chef's Accessory Case and Spatula/Cleaning Tool.

I was thrilled to see the Chef's Accessory Case! This makes it so easy to store all of the included accessories. There is a removable tray on top that holds the blades and adapters, and then the discs are stored underneath. Genius!

Another feature I really like about the accessories is that they are all labeled, so you know exactly what you are working with. Take the Mini-Blade, for example. You can see right on top of it the words "Mini Multipurpose". That way you don't have to try to figure out which blade goes with which bowl.

I decided to try out the food processor by making Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars. I knew the recipe called for a food processor for multiple steps, so I put my new KitchenAid Food Processor to the test.

The first step was to process some chocolate wafer cookies with sugar, melted butter, coffee and salt to make the crust. When I have had to do this in the past, I would put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin until they were fine enough to use. Not only did that take a while, but it usually made a huge mess since the bags tended to get little holes in them. This food processor made this task so much easier! I broke the cookies up into quarters, added the other ingredients, placed the work bowl cover on, and processed for about a minute on high speed. My crust was then ready to press into the pan.

The food processor will not work unless the work bowl cover is securely attached, and the large food pusher is inserted into the feed tube, which is a great feature! This eliminates any potential accidents, and also keeps everything inside the bowl. The 3-in-1 feed tube is one of the industry's largest, and can accommodate large items like tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes with minimal sectioning or slicing.

While the crust was baking, the next step was to make the cheesecake filling. If you have ever made a cheesecake before, then you know how hard it is to really get a creamy filling if you are whisking it by hand. It is almost impossible. The food processor also made this task very simple! I added the ingredients, and within just a minute or two I had creamy filling with absolutely no chunks in it! I did have to scrape the insides of the bowl a couple of times, but the food processor did the rest.

I added the chocolate to the cheesecake mixture and baked it. I then topped it with a glaze and some peppermint pieces. It was absolutely delicious!

This food processor is a work horse! With this recipe, I only scratched the surface of what it can do. It can also slice, chop, mince, puree, shred, julienne, grate, shave, knead and whip, It really does it all! The KitchenAid Food Processor has the ExactSlice System, the first-ever externally adjustable slicing available in a countertop food processor for precise slicing for hard or soft, large or small foods. The BPA-free work bowl, mini bowl and lid are easy to clean and dishwasher safe. I still have a lot to learn about this great appliance, and I can't wait to use it again!

The KitchenAid 13-Cup/1.3L Food Processor would make a great gift for the cook in your life! With an MSRP of $249.99, this food processor is at an above-average price point, but this is no average food processor. I highly recommend the KitchenAid brand, and their products are definitely worth the price.

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~*~KitchenAid 13-Cup/1.3L Food Processor!~*~

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Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received the KitchenAid Food Processor at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. A big thank you to KitchenAid for providing the giveaway prize!