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Many sauces and pastries call for beaten yolks. You need to beat yolks well, till they are thick again and are lemon-colored, so using mixer is a must. But if you need only one or two egg yolks, regular mixers are too big for the task. What I'm currently using is a battery-driven micro mixer, and it is not powerful enough and eats up batteries fast. Can anybody suggest a good solution to the problem?

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6 Answers

up vote 14 down vote

Using a mixer is not "a must". You should be able to whisk 1-2 egg yolks together quite easily which a whisk and some elbow grease. How do you think we beat egg yolks for the centuries prior to electricity?

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With elaborate systems of levers and pulleys, obviously. Don't you know any history? :P – Aaronut♦ Jan 18 '11 at 19:38
1  
@Aaronut : I always assumed they used some form of braided leather. I mean, why else would it be called 'beating' and 'whipping' ? – Joe Jan 18 '11 at 22:23
There is a difference between yolks beaten for 30 seconds and 3 minutes with electric mixer. When done by hand, 3 minutes would be like 15? – Sergey Aldoukhov Mar 19 '11 at 16:49
up vote 6 down vote

I don't even bother with a whisk for something that small. (the only wisk I have is medium sized balloon whisk, I don't have any small ones).

I find a fork and a small bowl work well for up to about 3-4 eggs. I tip the bowl towards hand with the fork so I can get a better angle on it, and it keeps the eggs from spreading out too much across the bowl.

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up vote 5 down vote

I think a great option for beating small amounts, if you don't just use a whisk, is a hand-cranked egg beater. They're cheap and easy to use. I have one I got from my Mom many years ago, and it works great. If you get one, don't let batter or egg or whatever dry on it--wash (or at least rinse) as soon as you're done using it. They're hard to get dried-on stuff off of because the spaces are small.

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up vote 3 down vote

I'd use my immersion blender, which gets plugged in.

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up vote 2 down vote

have you tried tilting your blender? i had the same problem for awhile and tilting the blender so the blades could reach the eggs did the trick. just be sure to have a firm, two hand hold; one on the base of the blender and one on the glass. then just tilt the top towards you.

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up vote -1 down vote accepted

This is what I use currently - a drill on a high speed using the micro mixer attachement. I think Dremel Stylus on low would work as well, but I don't have that one.

When I make waffles for 4 people, I use 4 yolks and my immersion blender gets the traction needed, but for two yolks I need a narrow glass and this.

Drill Mixer

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