Cheeky Devil(led) Eggs!

This one is so much fun! Who doesn't love to eat stuff that looks like other stuff? Especially when it happens to be something cute with a face? (Just wait until you learn how to make a Bunny Cake...but that'll be another time). This is great for Easter because there's bound to be little tykes around and they'll just think it's the bees' knees, which it is. Okay, here we go:

The first thing you have to do is hard-boil your eggs. I am assuming you already know how to do this! It's basic. There are lots of old wives' tales on Google about adding vinegar, salt, starting with room temp eggs, etc. But I basically just put the eggs in the water, turn on the stove, and when it starts to boil, turn it off. It's already warm enough to cook the eggs. Then just leave it alone until the water is completely cool, and then you can peel them. Be careful peeling!!! Don't gouge them up or they won't look pretty when you're done. This isn't a traditional devilled egg where you don't see much of the white part. For these, the white part is the whole idea.

One other thing: a normal devilled egg recipe yields two pieces from every egg. In this recipe, each egg yields only one piece. So you may want to double the number of eggs you think you need -  especially because you will soon see that doing the filling may cause you to lose a few casualties along the way.

Okay, now your eggs are cool and peeled. You have to lop off the top third at just the right part: too high, and you won't be able to scoop out the yolk. Too low, and it won't look like it's hatching later on. So extra eggs may give you some wiggle room if you screw up a few.

With the top lopped off, GENTLY scoop out the yolk. You do not want to tear the white or it will ruin the egg. I found the easiest thing to you was this little tiny sea salt spoon that my sissy has. If you don't have that, try maybe a cocktail stir spoon?

Once you have all your yolks scooped out into a bowl, mix them with mayo and some salt and pepper. Some people do fancy things like add celery to devilled eggs but that won't really work here because the filling has to look like the soft yellow body of a hatching chick. Keep it simple. Once you have your mix ready, scoop it into a piping bag (or a ziplock bag if you don't have baking stuff). Snip off the tip and pipe the mixture into the hollow bottoms of your eggs. This is a lot easier if you either stand your eggs up in a muffin tin, for instance, or slice a tiny sliver off their bums to give them a flat bottom. This way they can also be display. Fill them enough so that some of the filling sits about the white part.

Once they're all filled, sit the egg white tops on the filling so that it looks like an egg is hatching. Don't squish the chicks! Just put the tops on gently.

Cheeky devils!

Last, garnish with two peppercorns for eyes and a little snip of carrot for a nose. Or you can use orange bell pepper and olive slices, but who wants to be slicing up olives when you could be enjoying you Easter cocktail plus chocolates?! Throw them on the plate and be done with it! Besides, they'll be too cute and your guests will probably feel too badly to eat them. Oh well, more for you later on! Yum!