I don’t dye hard-boiled eggs (although you can certainly do that, if you like). I prefer using “blown” eggs, so that I don’t need to worry about spoilage and I can use them for a good long time (sometimes a month leading up to Easter) in arrangements throughout the house. Here's how to blow them out.
It’s not often I share a post that doesn’t involve a recipe or a nutrition article, but this one, I must share. Because I love using natural dyes in my baking projects, I couldn’t resist using them to color Easter eggs, too. (I’m not the only adult with no small children who still does this…am I? Good! Didn’t think so.)
I don’t dye hard-boiled eggs (although you can certainly do that, if you like). I prefer using “blown” eggs, so that I don’t need to worry about spoilage and I can use them for a good long time (sometimes a month leading up to Easter) in arrangements throughout the house.
How To Make Blown Easter Eggs
Follow these steps using raw, white eggs. Reserve the egg carton.
1. Soak eggs for 30 minutes in warm water. This will soften the shell slightly.
2. Remove eggs from their warm-water bath and pat them dry. Place eggs in reserved egg carton, and use a large needle to poke a hole in one end of each egg. Work gently and carefully. You may need to hold the needle in place and “hammer” it into the egg. (I used a small yet thick hardbound cookbook I had handy to tap the needle into the eggs.)
3. Next, turn the eggs over and do the same thing to the opposite end—but this time, make the hole just a bit bigger.
4. Now comes the “blown” part. Cut a straw to 3 inches in length (I find the larger paper straws work very well here). Working over a bowl (to catch the white and yolk of the eggs), place the straw over the smaller hole at one end of egg. Hold the egg with the larger hole facing down into the bowl, and blow through the straw to force out the white and yolk.
First, you will want to prepare your all-natural dyes. Do this by using my tips on making homemade food coloring from fruits and vegetables. For each cup of food coloring (strained, of course) you make, add 3 teaspoons of white vinegar. For example, if you make 1 cup each of blue, pink, and yellow, you would add 3 teaspoons of vinegar to EACH cup of colored liquid.
Once the dyes are made, it’s time to prep the eggs.
If you are using boiled eggs, boil them, cool them, and carry on with the dye process by soaking the eggs until your desired color is achieved. The longer you soak the eggs, the more intense the color.
Notice that the hollow, blown eggs float on the liquid dye…
We solve that issue by placing a small plate on top like this…
(The plate is clear so that you can see through how it holds down the egg; turn the eggs to color each side.)
Once the eggs are colored to your liking, remove them to the reserved egg carton to dry, then use them for a lovely, natural Easter decoration!
Happy, all-natural Easter, everyone!
xo
Gigi ;)
All content copyright Gluten Free Gigi, LLC. Please share courteously, providing link back and full credit for my work. Thank you.