It's about time we got into the Easter spirit at our house. Easter is {this} Sunday after all.
Dying Easter eggs - perhaps only second to eating Easter chocolate - is the funnest part of the holiday! It is something the entire family can do together too!
In order to dye eggs I need to 'hard-boil' them first. So I thought I would do a little blogging while I wait for the eggs to warm to room temperature before 'hard-boiling' them.
I learned from my mom and my grandma 'hard-boiling' eggs is an art - especially if you do not want rubbery egg whites with green tinted yolks.
Sure the green tint to the yolks doesn't hurt the flavor of the egg but it just does not look appealing. So what is the secret to 'hard-boiling' an egg?
Hint...your first step is written above....
{Step One} ~ Bring the eggs to room temperature before cooking them.
{Step Two} - Place eggs in a single layer in the bottom of a large pan and cover eggs with COLD water so water is one inch above eggs.
{Step Three} - Bring water to a boil. As soon as it boils turn off heat and cover eggs. Set timer for 12 minutes.
{Step Four} - After 12 minutes drain eggs and add cold water to pan. Continue to drain water and add cold water as the eggs will warm the water. You can also add ice cubes to the water to keep it cool. Let eggs cool for 10 minutes in water. Drain and store eggs in refrigerator for up to one week.
If you want easier to peel eggs then use old eggs (3-5 days old). Eggs that are too fresh are more difficult to peel.
Some people say by adding salt or vinegar to the water when boiling your eggs makes them easier to peel. Perhaps it makes your eggs easier to peel; but it also makes your egg whites rubbery. I find peeling eggs under cold water works the best.
I do remember when I was younger we would also dye hollowed out egg shells, blowing the innards out of the raw egg. The shells were surprisingly solid and they kept indefinitely. So if we made some beautiful eggs we could keep them. How do you blow out eggs? You poke a small hole in the top of an egg with a thick needle, a larger hole in the bottom and blow into the smaller hole until the egg is empty. Considering there were four kids in my family you can imagine how many eggs we could color. You can only eat so many hard-boiled eggs. So blowing out eggs and using the yolk and whites of 12-24 eggs to make scrambled eggs and french toast for Easter brunch the next morning instead of figuring out how to eat all those hard-boiled eggs. Although, my mom's egg-salad sandwiches are egg-cellent! (ha-ha!)
I'll post easter egg dying photos tomorrow so be sure to swing by the blog again tomorrow night.
Gotta run...it's now time to hard cook some eggs!
Recent Comments