Monster Eggs

We were invited to a Halloween Party over the weekend and I wanted to bring something fun. My traditional go to holiday specialty is none other than Deviled Eggs. I will fix these every chance I get; generally Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. This was the first time I've ever made them for Halloween before. When people ask what my favorite food is I usually can't decide. I like food in general. I think Deviled Eggs would be a top contender though.

When I was growing up my mom would fix Deviled Eggs for Holiday feasts or the occasional church potluck. I would end up eating most of them and would try my best to sneak a few before they arrived at their destination. That's when she decided she would have to start making a second batch just for home. I adored her for this! I continue the tradition and make a "few" extra eggs and when no-ones looking I will squeeze any of the extra filling from the bag into my mouth. I don't think I should have just admitted that....

Anyways these Monster Eggs, as I like to call them, were entirely too much fun to make! I got the idea from Rock Your Party where they made Spiderweb Eggs.

Here's what you need to make the Monster Eggs (click here for printable recipe)
2 teaspoons black food coloring
12 eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Grainy mustard
A couple dashes of hot sauce
Salt and Pepper
Sliced olives  (I only used the end)
Ziploc bag
Gloves to protect hands from dye

Directions:

1.) In a stock pot combine 8 cups of water with black food coloring. Place eggs in a single layer, 

cover and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. 

The dye ran onto the paper towels and made a beautiful pattern!

2.) Using a slotted spoon, place eggs on paper towels. Place colored water in fridge to cool. Use the end of the a wooden spoon to tap each egg in several places to slightly crack the shell. The more places you crack, the more veins the egg will have.

3.) Place the eggs back into the cooled water and let sit for 2 to 3 hours. The longer they sit the darker the veins. 

Peeling eggs is usually my least favorite part but this time it was so fun!

4.) When done, peel eggs and cut length-wise. 

Using a teaspoon, scoop out the egg yolks and set egg whites aside. Mash yolks with remaining ingredients. 

5.) Fill a Ziploc bag with egg yolk mixture and cut one of the corners off to fill each egg white.

6.) Garnish with a sliced olive.

Two great tips: Use a potato masher for the yolks and a Ziploc bag makes filling the eggs much easier.

I was mesmerized by the beautiful shells. This would be such a fun thing to do with children! Every-time I peeled an egg it was like a big SURPRISE. I even squealed with delight each time and said to my husband, who had his head stuck in a book, "Look at this one!"  After the about the 7th egg this started to irritate him a little since I was interrupting his reading. I can't wait to have children to enjoy these fun projects with. I should mention, for sake of my husbands ego, that he did help out with this project. (he doesn't want to be portrayed as a grump because he was engaged in his book during the peeling part)  He's the one who boiled the eggs and put the cracks all over them. Thanks Cookie Monster!

The eggs turned out great. I hope you'll try this out yourself sometime, it really is a lot of fun. You don't have to follow my recipe for the filling, there are tons of different recipes out there. You could change the color of the dye too. I think it could look like beautiful stained glass for Easter. Remember the longer you leave the eggs in the dye the darker they will get.