Eggs-actly right for Easter

#Middlebury #KitchenDiva

During the Easter season, hard-cooked eggs act as a creative canvas for children and adults to decorate. Using natural food dyes to color eggs became popular during medieval times. English kings distributed hundreds of decorated, gold-leaf eggs during Easter. Russian Czar Alexander took this holiday custom to high art when he commissioned the famous Faberge eggs as a gift for his wife, the Empress Maria, from goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge.

For the perfect, hard-cooked eggs for your Easter holiday, follow the directions below. Happy Easter!

Create beautiful Easter eggs like these by following the directions in this week’s Kitchen Diva column. (Depositphotos photo)

Perfect Easter Eggs

1. Bring eggs to room temperature.
2. Place eggs in room temperature water in a large pot.
3. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a low boil for 12 minutes.
4. Quickly chill the eggs in ice-cold water.
5. To decorate successfully, the eggs must be completely cool and dry.
6. Hard-cooked eggs should be kept refrigerated and used within one week.

NOTE: The greenish color around the yolk of hard-cooked eggs is a natural result of sulfur and iron reacting at the surface of the yolk. It may occur when eggs are cooked too long or at too high a temperature, or when there is a high amount of iron in the cooking water. Although the color may be unappealing, the eggs are still wholesome and nutritious, and their flavor is unaffected.

Greenish yolks can best be avoided by using the proper cooking time and temperature (avoid intense boiling), and by rapidly cooling the cooked eggs. Occasionally, scrambled eggs can develop a greenish tint if they are overcooked at too high a temperature or left too long in a metal pan.

Decorating Tips:

1. Use crayons to gently color a design on the hard-cooked Easter eggs. If you want to dye the crayon-decorated eggs, the crayon wax will resist the dye and the design will show through.
2. You also can decorate the eggs with craft supplies, buttons, sequins, glitter, beads, ribbons and pieces of felt or stickers. Use white or craft glue to attach the materials.
3. To make your own dye: Combine 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of food coloring with 2 teaspoons of white distilled vinegar in a large cup or deep bowl. You can experiment by mixing the food coloring to create a variety of hues. Add water until the cup or bowl is half full.
4. Gently place the eggs into the dying liquid in the cup or bowl using a soup spoon to avoid cracking the shell. The longer the eggs are left in the dye, the darker the color will become.
5. When the egg is the desired color, remove it from the dye, pat it dry with a paper towel and place it back into the egg carton or on an egg-holder. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Angela Shelf Medearis is an award-winning children’s author, culinary historian and the author of seven cookbooks. Her new cookbook is “The Kitchen Diva’s Diabetic Cookbook.” Her website is www.divapro.com. To see how-to videos, recipes and much, much more, Like Angela Shelf Medearis, The Kitchen Diva! on Facebook. Recipes may not be reprinted without permission from Angela Shelf Medearis.

(c) 2018 King Features Synd. Inc., and Angela Shelf Medearis