Easter Eggs

Lots of my friends are becoming "chicken ladies" now. Luckily one of them lives only a couple of miles away. Last week when I was baking a birthday cake, I realized I had only 2 of the 3 eggs needed for the recipe - a quick text to the neighbor "eggs?", the reply - "on my way to town, I'll drop by with a couple of dozen". Who said living in the boonies was inconvenient?
We've learned some things about eggs since buying eggs from the farm instead of the grocery store. The selection is much more interesting! This winter when the hens took a vacation, I brought home eggs from the grocery store. When I opened the carton, ohh, they were all white and the same size - how dull! I've read that for dying Easter eggs brown eggs work best for absorbing the dye color. We are saving that project for next year when Granddaughter is older.
Another thing to know about farm fresh eggs is that they are that - fresh! That was very evident when I made Deviled Eggs last weekend for Easter dinner. Eggs which are not-so-fresh are much easier to peel. If you're buying them from the store, check the carton for the closest 'sell by' date. This is one time when buying the product that is less fresh is better.
From the King Arthur website I learned a few more tricks for hard cooked eggs. One I had not known, but will definitely use again is to prop the carton on its side in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. You may need to secure the top with a rubber band. This floats the yoke to the center of the egg, making a much more attractive deviled egg with the yoke-space to fill evenly in the center of the white. Cooking times for eggs are based on room temperature eggs. So take them out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temp before cooking. If you forget this step, allow them to set in a bowl of hot tap water for ten minutes.
Now here's a good plan for cooking the eggs to just the right firmness. What a mess to undercook the eggs you want to use for deviled eggs and end up with a weepy white and a gooey yolk. Not a safe product to eat either! Place the eggs in a single layer in the cooking pot and cover with water by about 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Then remove the pan from the heat and cover with a tight fitting lid. This way the eggs will slowly cook in hot water. No cracked shells and poached whites escaping. Time is important, for medium eggs allow 12 minutes, for large 17 minutes, and for extra large 19 minutes. Then drain the eggs.
Place the eggs in a bowl of ice water to cool. This eliminates the green ring that can develop if eggs cool too slowly. When cool, peel and continue with your favorite deviled egg recipe or refrigerate to use within a week. An easy way to peel the egg is to tap the flat end on a hard surface to crack it and peel under cold running water. Even with using the fresh eggs I had this made peeling easier and only a few wore a mangled surface.
Deviled eggs are a favorite no-think covered-dish-to-take. And there are never any left to bring home! Glad I found that article by King Arthur Flour to learn more about eggs!