Create Your Own Ravioli, Pierogie & Stuffed Treats With KitchenAid’s Pastry Crimper
Written: Oct 15 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Cleaning: |
|
|
| Style: |
|
|
|
Pros: Easy to use, well made, comes in assorted colors, inexpensive, one year warranty.
Cons: Some people feel the need to use this as a pizza cutter.
The Bottom Line: Sick of paying an arm and a leg for bland, boring ravioli? Want to jazz up your baked treats and tarts? Then check out KitchenAid’s awesome Pastry Crimper!
|
|
|
| Freak369's Full Review: KitchenAid Pastry Crimper |
A pastry crimper is something that you either use all the time or use it once and it gets tossed into the ‘useless gadget’ drawer. I got into the habit of using one of these when I would be ‘recruited’ to make ravioli and other stuffed pastas for the holidays. Until someone suggested using one of these I was hand crimping things and it took a lot of time to get them done. Moreover, there were always a few that weren’t sealed completely so when they would get dropped in the pot of water whatever was inside would leak out and make a real mess. Most of the time the pastas and stuffed foods that I made go directly into the freezer after they are finished off, this does eliminate some of the mishaps but not all of them. When I came across the KitchenAid Pastry Crimper at Marshals I couldn’t pass it up, I needed a new one and for six bucks, it was priced lower than all the others I’d seen at other stores.
KitchenAid Pastry Crimper
In a lot of ways this looks like a cross between a pizza cutter and a fabric cutting wheel that you use when making quilts. The edge on the wheel of the crimper isn’t sharp but it will cut through most doughs and mixes easily leaving behind a decorative edging. This can be used for pie crusts, sealing the edges of pasta or small filled tarts, fried dough squares and pretty much anything that needs a sealed edge or that you want to add a little design to. You can use this on thin or thick items as long as they are soft and pliable, harder or cooked foods can be cut but I wouldn’t try to use this on something like a taco shell unless you want it crumpled into bits. This is great for adding a little decoration to sandwiches for kids, cutting up pancakes or my favorite, putting an edge on a tortilla before I fry it. You can make very quick desserts from these by frying them and topping them off with a sugar and cinnamon sprinkle when they are still hot.
This is a sort of no brainer type piece of kitchenware; if you can hold it and apply even pressure, you can use it without fail on almost every type of dough. This will crimp dough edges for ravioli, pierogie and stuffed treats and it leaves the edges with a nice design. It saves a lot of time too; if you have ever done hand crimping on foods you know what a laborious task it can be, not to mention having to wet the edges or use an egg white ‘glue’ to get the dough to stick. Using this crimper eliminates a lot of that - it saves you time when making foods and cuts down on the clean up time. This shouldn’t be used to cut foods, the edge on it isn’t sharp and you run the risk of bending the wheel if you press too hard on it or try to cut things like pizza with it. This should be used on soft food items only, if you need something to cut cooked foods, invent in a good rocker knife or pizza slicer.
Cleaning
Cleaning this really depends on what you are making with this and if there are a lot of fine bits of food that could get trapped on the sides of the wheel. This is dishwasher safe however if you are a paranoid person you will want to hand wash it with hot water to make sure that it is completely clean before you allow it to air dry and get stored away until the next time it is needed. If you are working with any type of raw meat or fish you should pay a lot of attention to the sides of the crimping wheel to make sure that it is thoroughly clean. So far this hasn’t shown any signs of rusting or pitting on the wheel and the plastic body / handle looks as good as the day that I purchased it. I chalk a lot of that up to the fact that I hand wash it and allow it to air dry, you never know when some type of food could get stuck in the sides of the crimping wheel during the wash cycle - if you don’t catch it before the drying cycle starts, those rouge food pieces could get stuck to it making it a tough task to remove them when they are discovered.
Price
If you are going to look for these pastry crimpers the average price both online and in retail stores is between $7.00 and $9.00 depending on the type of store you are in. That’s why I didn’t hesitate when I saw this for $6.00 [actually, $5.99] at Marshals. I knew that this was a pretty good deal and the KitchenAid name is one that I trust. I have owned several other pieces from them and have never had any problems with them in the past. This does come with a one year warranty against manufacturer defects and workmanship so make sure you tape the receipt to the product card and store it some place safe in case it is needed in the future.
The Bottom Line
As I said, a pastry crimper is something that you are going to use a lot or never at all, once you get used to the feel of it and the correct amount of pressure to apply I am sure that you will fall in love with this and find a lot of uses for it when you are baking or cooking, It is a well made piece from a company that has a great reputation in the kitchen gadget market. It comes with a one year warranty so you can put it through it’s paces without having to worry about it falling apart or breaking. If you make any type of ravioli, pierogie or want to put a nice spin on your own wontons, this type of crimper might just be the thing that can help you save time when making them and ensure that the edges stay sealed tightly whether you are cooking them right away or freezing them for a later date.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Other kitchen essentials ...
• 14 Inch Pizza Screen • Norpro Marble Mortar and Pestle • Pro Grip Large Tower Grater • Tablecraft Meat Tenderizer with Wooden Handle • Misto Gourmet Olive Oil Sprayer • Ateco Bowl Scraper • Sunbeam Jumbo Oven Thermometer • Ateco Parchment Paper • OXO 9 Inch Black-Handled Meat Tenderizer • Ekco Magnetic Bottle Opener • Ateco Cannoli Kit • Ziploc Storage Bags • Adjust-A-Cup Measuring Cup • Norpro Jumbo Cookie Shovel •
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $5.99
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.