We love ours too. So what are the basil balls? I just made 8 batches of pesto for the freezer yesterday, but can you freeze basil itself? I guess it would make sense.

I'm thinking of buying a smaller one because I just don't have the counter space for my full sized Kitchen Aid. How many cups does it hold?

I only have a mini processor also. Great for cooking for two. Mine doubles as a blender (take off the processor and put on the blender - that tells you the diameter). It is a little noisy due to a smaller motor - but I just cover my ears!

I have a small and large food processor and the small one gets most of the work. I hate cleaning the big one so I only use it when I have to.

I'm wondering what are basil balls, too. ??

I have the small one and use it for lots of things - chopping nuts, chopping horseradish, cilantro chutney, chopping garbanzo beans for falafel, pesto.

It is really nice for emulsifying oil as in making a dressing because you can be running it to mix and drip oil in the top.

A nice thing about the mini-processor is that the collar around the shaft goes all the way up so the processor can be almost full of liquid without leaking.

I only have the small model so sometimes I do bigger jobs in batches to make them fit. And the button has to be held down for it to operate which can be annoying when processing a lot. I've been thinking that I might get a big one - partly because that. But I have the grater attachment for my KA stand mixer for things like grating potatoes for latkas. Partly I'd like the full size model to use for making pie dough, biscuits and other jobs where butter is cut into flour. Or possibly occasionally for slicing vegetables - the KA mixer attachment has a blade for slicing but it doesn't do that great a job.

Can the small one be used for grinding coffee beans?

I should have defined basil balls--which are finely minced basil in just enough oil to make a slurry, and frozen in ice cube trays. I take out the basil balls and put them in a freezer bag and use one or two in spaghetti sauce, pesto, etc. as needed when I don't have fresh basil.
The capacity of my Cuisinart mini is three cups.
I have no idea about grinding coffee beans since I have a grinder dedicated to coffee beans. Just from observing how nicely it does on hard cheeses and nuts, I'd imagine that the mini would do coffee beans with no problem.

Maybe not for coffee beans depending on how you are making the coffee. When I grind nuts, it is never an entirely uniform chop. With most coffee brewing, it is important for the grain size to be right for the brewing method. We mostly use an expresso machine and that is very sensitive to having just the right grind size, but I think grind is also important for drip - to small and the water goes through too slowly and coffee can be bitter - to large and it goes through too quickly and coffee can be weak. I think it would be hard to get the right grind and a uniform enough grind.

I have a little grinder I normally use but I thought maybe a smaller processor would give a uniform grind. Oh well.

I agree, although I've never used a SMALL food processor. The large Cuisinart that I have does not uniformly grind anything. The closest thing to coffee that I have ground is dried peppers. If I were trying to make chili powder, I would first grind in the FP and then in a coffee grinder. I have 3, for some odd reason, so one is dedicated to spices. Although, it seems a little too fragile for a lot of the dried spices like coriander or pepper.

Does your "little grinder" not do it uniformly? I have two like that, you just grind until you want to stop. I have one really nice one that you can set for different grinds, turn on, and it does it's thing.

Give it a shot with just a small amount and see what happens. Can't hurt. You could always make camp coffee if the grind isn't right.

Thanks, Marlin, for clarifying what basil balls are, lol. I was really curious. I do the same thing with basil too. Thought you had some new thing going on. :)

I made pesto in the mini tonight and was wondering - how did they make pesto before food processors? Did they pound it in a mortar and pestle?

That's what some TV chefs say. I did that for the first time this year, and I actually think it tastes better. It also holds the green better, as long as you don't chop the basil before you put it in the mortar (or pestle, I never can remember which is which). I rip it up before hand. It goes really fast, so if you just want to do a little, it's not a big deal.

A mini processor is one of the items on my wish list, but I have one of those attachments for my wand mixer, which works for most small processing I want to do. I'm running out of room in my kitchen and pantry though, so I'll probably put off getting one until we move. The attachment holds a little over 2 cups, and I use it for all sorts of things.

I love love love my mini -- even in my teeny kitchen it's more than earned permananent space on the counter. (I have the black and chrome one, too -- very smart looking!)

LOVE LOVE LOVE my mini! I freeze basil and parsley in zip locs and then break off a chuck when I need some. Just chop with olive oil. Works great! It's also nice for large batches of chopping and slicing because it has an attachment to send the food out into a free-standing bowl.

bethy - which mini do you have? My Cuisinart mini only chops stuff - it doesn't have a slicing feature or attachment to send stuff into a free standing bowl.

I just gave mine away to a good buddy. I got a new KitchenAid with the small bowl attachment and prefer that to the mini. But my friend got a nice free mini out of the deal!

Duane