Deviled Eggs, Happy Dance, Egg Salad?

Have had a lot of requests for my deviled eggs, and also for me to post them on this blog so am happy to do so....also how to peel them easily!

First of all, the best way I have found to cook the eggs is bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover tightly and let sit:

12 minutes for small

13 minutes for med

14 minutes for large

15 minutes for extra large...I find the extra large work best for deviled eggs, hole size mainly.

Have read all kinds of tips on peeling through the years, and guess what? to this day still have times they peel perfect and times they do not....so many things enter into this reason, age of egg, thickness of shell, how carefully they are cracked, how carefully they are peeled, etc....very very seldom do they all peel perfectly, and if that does happen it is time to do a "Happy Dance"...and if not time for a batch of your favorite "Egg Salad" recipe and call it a day.

My fav way to peel is drain, and swirl around in the pan with cover on and try to gently smash shell, then fill pan with cold water...the secret I find is to start on the fattest end, break the skin if possible then peel in small increments, carefully, do not rush, do not try to take off the whole shell all at once, this is not an APPLE, this is an EGG....also might have to lightly bang on counter or something to help the shell break up....

Note: if you are using fresh home grown chicken eggs, they are going to be more of a problem and should be at least a couple weeks old. I have read that baking soda in the water helps, but having chickens and our own eggs I find that never helped me, so just bite the bullet and buy them for any recipe peeled eggs are needed....

My recipe I use most often, and I have used many, that always is a hit is as follows:

6 hard boiled eggs, and a couple extras just in case

Peel, slice and remove yolk, Tips: clean knife in between each egg slicing....start removing yolk from fattest end, carefully bend then it should pop right out...

1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise of choice

1 1/2 Tbsp ranch dressing of choice

1 tsp. gourmet mustard

onion powder

black pepper

dried thyme, 1/4 tsp of each

Tip: mash yolks first, then add rest of ingredients, mix well, if too dry add a little more ranch dressing...

Stuff egg

Lastly dot with a fav BBQ sauce, a thicker one works better for this....

Enjoy!