Jonathan Kamens wrote:
>
> I suppose I should have been clear that when the dough gets
> too thick for the hand mixer, we switch to a spoon. Granted,
> perhaps we are not switching soon enough, and perhaps that is
> what is causing our mixers to die a premature death, but I was
> hoping that perhaps there is a better answer than that...


I mix cookies by hand with a metal spoon and have never had a problem.
The only reasons I'd be tempted to use a standup mixer or other
electronic help would be:


if I were making an especially large batch as though making them
commercially

if I had arthritis or other medical condition which made using my arm in
that way difficult.


I thought there would be a whole list, but I can only come up with the 2
possibilities. If you don't have either of these, I'd suggest just
mixing by hand from the start. You can let the fact that the hand
mixers die prematurely, or you can say that clean-up is easier.


Good reasons for using the hand held mixer: egg white and cream. And
even then, a hand whip works fine.


--Lia