The Whole Egg

When I make scrambled eggs for the family, I use a few whole eggs and a few egg whites. That leaves me with unused egg yolks. Since they are a special gift from our hens (and way better than store bought), they should not be discarded. Fresh eggs are like gold in my house. So, what to do with extra yolks? I'm going to show you an example of how I utilize the whole egg.

I'll make two easy and delicious things that you will be glad to have in your home, lemon curd and coconut macaroons. 

First up, the lemon curd. Recipe adapted from http://www.chow.com/recipes/29540-lemon-curd

The Ingredients:

1/2 cup of sugar

4 egg yolks

1/8 tsp of salt

1/3 cup of lemon juice (I used 2 large lemons)

1/4 cup of lemon zest (This took about 6 lemons)

6 tbsp of room temperature of unsalted butter

Zest your lemons

Then juice your lemons. The way to extract the most juice, is to have them at room temperature and roll the lemon with your palm.

Separate the eggs. An easy way to do this is to crack it and put the egg in your hand. Open your fingers to let the egg white fall to the bowl and the yolk will remain intact on your palm.

Just look at the color of fresh egg yolks. Not only are they a gorgeous and bright, but look at how they stand up. These eggs are only a few days old. Often times the ones that are bought in stores are weeks old, maybe even a month. If it's possible, buy fresh eggs from a local farm. Totally worth the extra money you will spend.

Now create a double boiler by placing a heat safe bowl on top of a pot of simmering water (only 1-2 inches of water). Make sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't actually touch the water. Add all the ingredients except the butter and whisk well for about approximately 10 minutes. You will notice the thickening of all the ingredients. It turns into a pudding like consistency.

Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer. I then added in the butter in pieces and stirred them in vigorously. This will give you a silky, pure curd.

Fresh lemon curd is tangy with a touch of sweetness. It's perfect for scones, cakes and other pastries. My husband and I could just eat it all off the spoon, but we won't!

Now onto some of the easiest cookies to make, coconut macaroons. Here are all the ingredients (minus the salt).

3 cups of unsweetened coconut

4 egg whites

1 1/2 tsp of vanilla

1 rounded cup of sugar

Pinch of salt

5 oz of semisweet chocolate chips for melting and drizzling

So simple. Whisk the egg whites for a few seconds. Then add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix well. It's going to feel like a goopy mess. That's okay, it's suppose to. Then take about a tablespoon size (or bigger if you'd like) and form little mounds. I use a silpat on a cookie sheet, but you can do parchment paper.

Place them in a preheated oven to bake for about 15 minutes at 325 degrees. While that's baking, melt your chocolate chips in the microwave. Start slowly and keep mixing the chocolate so you don't burn it. 

Side note. If you are going to have chocolate, might as well make it good chocolate. I found this brand at Whole Foods. It's called Guittard's and it is absolutely decadent. 

When the macaroons have started to brown nicely, they are done. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and let cool. These will keep for about 3 days in a sealed container...that's if they last in your house!