ejacobs

Thanks for all the ideas! These all sound like a ton of fun to try. As to why desserts, in my house, I'm the baker and asked for eggs in exchange for sweets. That said, I'm sure my friend who has the chickens will be trying all sorts of things. More ideas welcome, and I'll report back!

A friend of mine just got chickens and has offered me some fresh eggs to bake with if I will share the dessert with her. I was thinking of doing something custard-based - creme brulee, or an ice cream - but was wondering if anyone here has any suggestions for desserts that will really highlight the eggs?

Again, thanks to everyone for the tips. I think the problem with my previous batch was that I hadn't mixed everything together -- the later batches had a different consistency because, well, the batter had a different consistency. I made two batches this weekend, neither of which had my previous problem. I made sure that everything was well incorporated and I was prepared to start piping as soon as I was done folding so that no separation would take place. Of course, I ran into other problems. My first batch was way overbeaten -- flat, runny Macarons. In an attempt to correct my first problem, I created a much larger one. So the next morning I made a second batch -- these were underbeaten, but at least servable. Now to find the happy medium . . .

I filled the bag several times, although it wasn't exactly consistent with the different sheets. They were all sitting out on my kitchen table where there is no draft and made at night, so I don't think it was that. I think that separating could be an issue, since they did sit for a little bit before piping. My other idea was that they were just a little undermixed -- maybe another stir or two could have evened it out? I'm going to try again later this week, and I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks to all of you for your hints -- I decided that my New Year's resolution was to learn to make Macarons. On my second try tonight (last night was my disastrous first), they came out as something I am mostly proud of, but I do have a mystery: I piped them out onto three different sheets of parchment paper, one after the other. The first batch held its shape too well -- the Macarons are more domed and the tops didn't sink back into them. The second batch was better -- more spread out, but still a little too puffy. The third batch spread out perfectly, and I ended up with beautiful Macarons. Any idea what I might have done so that this would have happened? I made the entire batch together -- the only thing I could think was that perhaps the first batch that came off the top of the bowl was not mixed enough, or had too much egg white in it? Any hints on what to do better next time would be lovely.