Sure, electric mixers whip cream and egg whites in a jiffy. But I’m not one to lug out the electric mixer for small whipping tasks. When I want a dollop of whipped cream for my hot chocolate, it seems like a lot less trouble to do it by hand, even if my arm gets sore in the process. So when I saw the new double-balloon whisk from Kuhn Rikon, which is supposed to double your whisking power, I thought it might make my life easier. And it did. This groovy tool with double the tines let me transform heavy cream into billowing fluff and egg whites into soft peaks so quickly that I was done before my arm had begun to ache.

The 10-inch whisk is $13.95; the 12-inch whisk is $15.95 at Cooking.com.