Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Easter Eggs


My family loves deviled eggs.

So much so, that I can make 3 dozen eggs, which makes 72 deviled eggs for a party--and they're ALL GONE by the end of the party!

That's a LOT of eggs!


For Easter, we make them festive.

We color them, like Easter eggs!




I remember the first time my mother made deviled eggs colored like Easter eggs.

I thought they were the prettiest eggs I'd seen!



They're lots of fun to make, too!

Ingredients:

10 hard boiled eggs
About 1/2 cup mayonnaise



Put the eggs in a pot and cover with water.



Bring to a boil, turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.



After 15 minutes, cool the eggs with running cold water.



Peel the eggs.



Then cut them in half.



It's okay if some of them tear a little, the filling will camouflage that.

Or just eat that one.



Put the yolks in a separate bowl.

It doesn't matter if the yolks turn a little darker around the outside--that happens when the eggs aren't cooled thoroughly right after cooking.



Next, you'll need some food coloring.



Make the colors just as you would easter egg dye.

A teaspoonful of cider vinegar in each glass helps.

I used about 3 drops of food coloring in each glass.



Take the eggs out when they're a pretty pastel color.



Drain them on a paper towel.



Mash the yolks with a fork.



When they're uniformly crumbly, add about a 1/2 cup mayonnaise.

Scoop from your measurement and add half at a time.

Make it as creamy as you like.



When it's nice and creamy, you can add any extras--mustard, minced chives, freshly ground pepper, bacon bits, etc.

We like it plain.

You don't need to add salt, the yolk is salty itself.



Time to fill the eggs!



I've had this Super*Shooter forever, it seems, but it still works well.



If you don't have one, you can fill the eggs by hand with a teaspoon.




Put a little bit of the yolk mixture in each egg, so you don't run out, then go back and add a little more on top.



Aren't they pretty!



Garnish with a little bit of paprika.



Pour a small amount into the palm of your hand, then add a pinch to the top of each egg.



There's a psychedelic tie-dyed one--the blue one in the middle.

That happens when you add more food coloring to the glass with the eggs already in the water.

That's kind of fun. 

You can be creative in your egg coloring!



My brother says if you get to the party and you see the eggs, you'd better get one right away--because when you turn around to get one later, they might be all gone!

They're the perfect deviled eggs for Easter!


Itadakimasu!



***



I got my 'thank you' for my donation for Japan Tsunami Relief!


My sister-in-law, who is from Japan, is helping her friend raise money for Japan Tsunami Relief Fund through the Red Cross.

Yuko Nakatani is an artist. She and a group of her artist friends are drawing nigaoe (caricatures) as a thank you for a minimum $25 donation to Red Cross Japan Tsunami Relief Fund.

Some of you that follow along may remember the end of this post.



I sent Yuko this picture of my dog Dixie, along with the email receipt of my donation.



Here's Dixie's nigaoe!



I decided to make another donation and get one for myself!

My picture...



My nigaoe.



Reiko, my sister-in-law.

by Yuko Nakatani.



Glen, my brother-in-law.

This one captures the essence of Glen perfectly, I think.

Miki is the artist on this one.




This one is Seiichiro, Glen & Reiko's son.

It's so...so...Seiichiro!

The artist is Shinnosuke.



I got sent this one by Yuko by mistake.

I thought...That looks like Margaret Takemoto.

And it is!

Margaret's daughter Cherie got this for her.


Now there are 8 artists participating in this project.


You can choose which artist you'd like to draw your nigaoe, as a token of their appreciation for your donation.




No printable recipe for Easter Eggs yet.

64 comments:

  1. I have never seen eggs colored without the shell. I will try this!

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  2. Love it!! Love the eggs, they look like jewels! Love the drawings!

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  3. I had to laugh when I saw the drawing of Uncle Glen. It's perfect!

    And mmmmm.. I love your deviled eggs!

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  4. The eggs are so pretty. Love the caricatures. Thanks you so much for your information.

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  5. This is so beautiful!!!!I love the colours...

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  6. I'm currently pickling eggs to do this, yours look beautiful & I will be directing people to your page to check them out!

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  7. Ok, where do I even start - what a beautiful and unique way to celebrate Easter! I am mad about those colourful eggs and it is SO easy (or you at least make it seem that way!).

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  8. Oh so pretty! What a creative idea for making colorful easter themed deviled eggs!

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  9. So I made these today with my mom, and they turned out so brightly colored! Absolutely beautiful! Great idea =D

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  10. I've done this for years and everyone always love them. Two tidbits for you.

    1. Instead of peeling them all the way, when you remove them from the boiling water, crack them all over and leave the shells on then dye them that way. They get a "marbled" effect after they're dyed then peeled. Save the shells for a craft suggestion (will mention in a second).

    2. If you do the dying your way, save the shells and dye them afterwards.

    Craft suggestion :
    Make sure you get the white skin off of the shells (it's often stuck to the shells). Once you've gotten as much off as possible, dye your shells (unless you dyed them per step 1).

    Crush them in to the tiniest bits you possibly can, keeping the colors separate.

    Have your kids pour Elmer's glue all over some paper (either in shapes, or even use a brush to brush the glue on paper), then pour the colored shells on the glue, just as you would do with glitter. You can even pour colored glitter on it at the same time (we often find colored glitter that's close to the color of dye I'm using). It turns out SO pretty and kids LOVE this project!

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  11. loved the colored eggs! always looking for a new idea and this is a great one!

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  12. This is the coolest thing ever. It's gonna be Easter all year long at my house.

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  13. Very pretty! I'm pinning this. And you are just beautiful!

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  14. If you don't have an icing bag or that awesome shooter you have (I so want one now!), you can spoon your filling into the corner of a plastic baggie and just snip the tip off! It's a lot neater than spooning in your filling and looks nicer too!

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  15. If you tried this, does the egg white taste like vinegar?

    These are so pretty. I may do the donation thing too. I care deeply about Japan and its people.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. There isn't much vinegar in with the food coloring, I don't taste vinegar in the egg whites, and you don't want to leave them in the dye long--I think if the egg whites get too dark they don't look as appetizing. :)

      Also, the artists drawing caricatures for Japan earthquake relief have completed their project, so the nigaoe are no longer available at this time.

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  16. can you use the dye tablets from the easter set or just food coloring?

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    1. You can use the dye tablets to color the whites of the deviled eggs, just be sure and check on the packaging that the dye is edible--some of the specialty ones are not.

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  17. We are making strictly green ones for St. Patty's Day.
    They look soo cool. I Love it. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. I love what you have done with the easter eggs.

    If you haven't noticed the colored egg picture can be found on pintrest (easter)and we all love it.

    The Pictures your friends did were marvelous and I am certain a total success.

    Cheers Bridget

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  19. The green/gray on the yolk is actually iron from the yolk reacting with hydrogen sulfide from the white, its harmless to eat but to cook them to keep the yellow bright:
    put eggs in a pan, cover with cold water, bring to a rolling boil, turn the heat off and cover. Let sit for 10-15 mins depending on size of eggs. Rinse with cold water and let sit in an ice water bath for about 5 mins to stop the cooking process then peel. Your yolks should be a pretty yellow color. I learned to cook them this way a couple months ago and its my new way of boiling eggs. :)

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. I started cooking my eggs in a variation of this way a few years ago and now they turn out perfect every time. 

      1. Put cold eggs in large pot and cover in COLD water about 1 to 2 inches higher than the eggs. Add a halt pinch of salt and about a tablespoon of vinegar for two reasons: makes it easier to peel and keeps the eggs from cracking.

       2. Heat on high until rolling boil. If using a gad stove, lower the heart to medium -- if electric, have another range ready to go on medium heat. Continue on medium for one minute. 

      3. Take of heat, cover, and set a timer for 12 mineutes.

      4. Put eggs in prepared ice bath and stir until cooked (stirring helps them cool faster).

      You'll get a perfect egg everytime without ant grey. That reaction happens from overcooking. I have my egg whites in dye right now. Hope they turn out as beautiful as these :)

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  20. Made these today after finding them on Pinterest! They look great! Thanks for the great idea!

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  21. Do you have to use the vinegar? I have everything else on hand, but no vinegar. Is it a crucial step? Thanks! :) they look beautiful I can't wait to make them.

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    1. Hi Meryl, thanks for your comment. I've tried not using the vinegar, but the egg whites don't seem to take the dye as well without it. If you try it without the vinegar, please let us all know how they look. You may need to leave them in the dye a little longer, or they may be a nice light pastel color. :)

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  22. Your eggs are beautiful! Going to make them tonight! Can you taste the vinegar at all? I'm nervous about that! Thanks!

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  23. Cannot taste the vinegar at all!

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  24. for the dye, is it just a cup of water, teaspoon of cider vinegar and the dye?

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    1. I used about 1/2 to 3/4 cup water, a teaspoon of cider vinegar and a few drops of food coloring. Have fun! :)

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  25. These are amazing looking. I am going to try these this year. Thank you for posting this and the caricatures; they are all awesome!

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  26. I'm curious whether the eggs taste like the vinegar after being immersed in it for that long? I think they look LOVELY and I think I would like to do them for our Easter picnic this Saturday!

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  27. These are adorable and I'm going to do this. I've been kind of bummed my daughter has out grown "coloring eggs with mom" so this is perfect for me! I'm gonna color my eggs and eat them too! ;)

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  28. I did this for Easter, and it was a huge success. It was easy, fun, and the end results were beautiful. To answer the question about the eggs tasting like vinegar, they don't. I used 1/2 tsp of vinegar in each 1/2 cup of water and the eggs sat in the dye around a minute/2 minutes depending on the color.

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    1. Did you use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar? Thanks in advance.

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  29. I love this idea. I will be making them for my hubby who loves deviled eggs. I put a small amount of pickle relish in my yolk mixture to give it a bit of crunch. Thanks so much for sharing and thanks to everyone who gave suggestions, too.

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  30. I am 60 years old and I have never outgrown the fun of making pretty eggs at Easter time! I had never thought to dye the eggwhites, how pretty and fun,and i love the tie dyed effect. I cannot wait to try this and thanks for the yellow yolks tip from Kaybar.
    Deviled eggs are always a part of out family and friends gatherings and this will just add another level of presentation. Thanks!

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  31. Hi, I'm from the other side of the earth - Estonia. I checked you out via Pinterest and I can tell you, I will so very definately make those boiled colored Easter eggs this year. My kids gonna love it and so will my hubby, and all the guests we'll have over. March is the month when our family is celebrating 3 birthdays. I'm just thinking, perhaps I should prepare trials of these eggs during birthday parties!?!
    Thanks for your great idea!
    Merli

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  32. I know I'm late to this party, but this is an amazing idea! Thanks!!

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  33. These Easter eggs are wonderful! I will try to do it! Thanks to share them! ^-^

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  34. can u use kool-aid like you would with the shells on and do you know if the kool-aid taste would be there

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  35. My son and I made these tonight for his preschool Easter party. They are beautiful and delicious. No vinegar taste, we used white vinegar. We mixed 1/2 of the yolks with blue coloring and the other 1/2 with red to make green and orange filling.

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  36. Would love to know if anyone has made using "natural" dyes, and if so what kind did you use and was it successful? For example, beets for pink eggs, onion skin for yellow, etc.

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  37. Made them today, they came out great! I too was worried the egg would get a vinegar taste, but they are perfect! Great idea! thanks so much. :-)

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  38. Actually, your yolks get that green tint around the outside because they're overcooked. Not because you cooled them wrong. The longer you overcook your eggs, the darker that ring will get and eventually your entire yolk will be green except for maybe the very center. They also get bitter once they start to turn green. The darker the yolk, the more bitter the flavor. Try pulling them out a couple minutes earlier to avoid the green ring of bitter yolk. :)

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  39. Awesome, I was just wondering about doing this!

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  40. does it have to be cider vinegar?

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  41. My sister in law and I just made these today, and We used White Vinegar and the egg whites had to sit in there longer then 2 or 3 min. It took around 6 min. or so, We had to keep checking them. We were afraid since there is Vinegar in the water that the whites would turn rubbery if they stayed in too long. But they turned out a Beautiful color, I can't decide which color I like the best...LOL

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  42. I just might try these tomorrow with my soon-to-be 5 y/o son, who is happy to help out in the kitchen these days. He has a birthday in April, so we may do a repeat, if we like them. Judging from the comments, I think we will, they should be great! What a lovely festive idea. May incorporate them into all of our holiday meals. Thanks for sharing!

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  43. These are awesome! I used a plastic baggie for the filling. It was a lot of fun to make and I could not taste the vinegar at all! Thanks for sharing this great idea! Happy Easter!!
    My deviled eggs: http://tinypic.com/r/jrcpd2/6

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  44. OMG!!!! i did this and put extra coloring in my water mixture and they turned out gorgeous. bright bold colors. they looked so festive. i will do this in the future also. experiment with the colors for the seasons festivities. thanx so much for this. i would have never thought to do this. thanx thanx thanx.

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  45. Lovely idea for deviled eggs at Eastertime!

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  46. Muy buenos te han quedado !!! Me llevo la idea .
    grax por compartir .
    Nancy

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  47. After searching Pinterest for good instructions with visuals on the idea of dying Deviled Eggs for Easter. Loved your visuals, you made it easy to follow. I left out the vinegar but it seemed to work out just fine, so was happy overall.

    Thank you!

    XoXo
    Danielle Dishes

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  48. These are too cute. I'm going to have to do this. I just saw a video yesterday of some other colored eggs that are different than these. The lady boiled the eggs and then instead of removing the shells she just cracked them a little bit all the way around the egg and then she put dye into ziplock baggies and put an egg into the baggie and sealed it and then made sure to get the dye all over the egg...she used 8 eggs and 8 baggies with different colors in each one. She left that to set for several minutes and then she rinsed the eggs and then she poured some vinegar on them...then she peeled the eggs. They look like works of art...kind of like are made out of marble. Really pretty. Here's the link if you want to check her video out...she has her little nephew helping her and OMGosh is he a little doll..so funny too lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na6MX7u-SeA

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  49. Are there any natural options for the dyes? These are pretty but I'm not keen on the chemicals.

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  50. These eggs are so pretty! I made some for our Church pot luck supper and received lots of compliments and four of the ladies actually asked me how to make them!

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  51. Question do the colored eggs stain your fingers when you pick them up or serve them?

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    1. Thats a great question!! I wanna know too lol

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  52. White vinegar or apple cider vinegar?

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  53. I have done this for over 30 years at every Easter, I never knew anyone else did it too. How nice to know someone else does things like this.

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  54. I bet these dyed whites would make a pretty egg salad with bits of all the colors mixed together.

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