KitchenCraft Stainless Steel Pastry Blender & Ceramic Baking Beans for Pastry, 500 g (1 lb)

I love this pastry cutter! I didn't know such a thing existed until I saw one on a cookery programme and wish I'd bought one years ago. I use it mostly for recipes like scones and crumble topping where butter should be rubbed into flour till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs...I have painful joints and so doing this by hand gets painful. It's great to be able to bake such things again and it takes a fraction of the time as it would doing the same thing by hand.

I don't normally write reviews but after using this for the first time today I'm wondering why I haven't bought this years ago. Cheaper than a stand mixer and easier and quicker than rubbing in with your fingers. Only used it once so not sure of its durability but it feels solid enough and at a fiver it's not the end of the world if I have to buy one a year.

Never used one of these before but it's great. If the phone rings I don't have to wash my hands before answering....result!

So handy. Having very weak and painful wrist joints I was quite sceptical as to how this would help. I love it. It more than halves the time of crumbling into a much more even texture and requires a lot less effort on my joints. The one tiny negative is I find where the handle joins, it's a little roughly finished. Otherwise a very handy kitchen tool that I love using.

Like another reviewer saw this on pioneer womanI hate rubbing in butter so this is perfectCould be a little stronger but works well makes nice crumble topping

I haven't had the chance to use this much but the couple of times that I have it's been okay. It does what it needs to do and seems sturdy enough so far. What I did find that when cleaning, was that bits of dough would get stuck between the curved blades. I call them blades because I noticed when using a sponge to wipe them that it cut straight through. Great for chilled butter not so much for fingers.

I have been making pastry with a fork for all my adult life and it's a pain. Finally, I decided to try a pastry blender and see if it's as good as people claim. It turns out to be every bit as good as claimed. Ingredients are combined quicker with less effort. This results in a better short pastry because I am not longer tempted to give up early. Generally, nobody notices how much effort you put in or what tool you used. But I notice and I like my pastry a lot more these days. Every cook needs one.

Bought this product for my dad who likes to bake. He loves the fact that this is a simple but very effective tool for making pastry as it ensures that all the ingredients remain cold whilst getting to the breadcrumb stage, a must for successful pastry.