The Mister and I recently moved to a new apartment, so we’ve spent the past few weeks sprucing it up and adding personal touches (lightsaber candlesticks here, a Hobbit map wall hanging there, etc.). Needless to say, “no place like home” has definitely been on my mind. It didn’t take long for me to decide that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would be the perfect candidate for February’s book of the month! As a special shout-out to the film, all the recipes for this book will be in either black and white or Technicolor!

The appetizer I’ve chosen for Wizard of Oz is a fun variation on deviled eggs, in honor of some of my favorite people from the book: the little china people. I love how, despite being so delicate, they have the most indomitable spirit. The milkmaid takes no nonsense from anybody, and the jester doesn’t let a few cracks stop him from doing headstands. Gotta love it!

I made these multicolor “tea eggs” with hard boiled eggs and food coloring. Though there are lots of ways to apply this technique, my favorite is the one proposed by Barefoot Kitchen Witch, since it’s so easy to follow. They’re really fun to make, and when Easter rolls around, they make a terrific alternative to traditional dyed eggs.

Cracked China Deviled Eggs

“You see, here in our own country we live contentedly, and can talk and move around as we please. But whenever any of us are taken away our joints at once stiffen, and we can only stand straight and look pretty. Of course that is all that is expected of us when we are on mantle-shelves and cabinets and drawing-room tables, but our lives are much pleasanter here in our own country.”
— The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 dozen eggs
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tbsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 tsp chives
• paprika for sprinkling (optional)
• You will also need a 4-pack of liquid food coloring: blue, green, yellow, and red. (UPDATE: I’ve since discovered that using gel food coloring makes for much brighter colors and cleaner lines, as evidenced by the eggs pictured in our Special Easter Post. If using gels, use half the recommended amount of coloring.)
• Makes 24 deviled eggs
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. First, you’ll want to hard boil your eggs. I like to use the Simply Recipes method. The Mister eats three hard boiled eggs every day, so I need a recipe I can count on. These always come out evenly cooked and are easy to peel!
2. While you wait for the eggs, fill some well-sealed ceramic mugs about 2/3 of the way with cold water (avoid plastic or cracked ceramic, as the food coloring can easily stain them). Place the mugs on a cookie tray, to avoid staining anything if you spill.
3. In each mug, put about 6-8 drops of food coloring. So if you’re mixing two colors, use 3 or 4 drops of each. Don’t be afraid to use a lot–you want your colors to come out strong! I made (from the top left) blue, yellow, blue-green, green, red, and purple.
   
4. This next part is what makes these eggs so awesome. When the eggs are fully cooled, gently crack each one in several places. You can do this with your thumb or a spoon, but I’ve found the best way is just to tap them against the counter and rotate them as you tap, to get good cracks all around. You want a lot of cracks, but not so many that the shell is falling off.
5. Leaving the cracked shell in place, lower each egg in a mug of food coloring. You can fit two eggs in a good-sized mug (all I had was small cups, so I did two sets of six).
6. Put the mugs in the fridge for at least 7 hours. I did the staining in the evening and let them sit overnight, which worked just fine.
7. When you take out the eggs, pat them dry with a paper towel. They should look like this:
   
8. Then you can go ahead and peel off the shell. You should be left with a hard boiled egg that has bright veins of color spidering out across the surface. This part was a lot of fun! Each egg was like a tiny little surprise.
   P.S. Don’t freak out if every side doesn’t have perfect spidery crack marks. The splotches of color keep things interesting! 🙂
   
9. Now for the deviling! With a small knife, cut each egg in half lengthwise and set the yolk halves aside in a bowl. Set the white halves on a serving plate.
10. You can use pretty much any recipe you want for the filling. My own recipe is to take mayonnaise, mustard, parsley flakes, chives, and salt (in the proportions listed above) and mix them all together, mashing the yolks with a spoon to break them up. If you’re the sort who likes their filling super smooth, you can also blend it in a mixer.
11. Spoon about  1 1/2 teaspoons of filling into each egg, or pipe it in if you’ve gone the smooth filling route (chunky filling tends to get stuck in the piping tip). When you’re done, they should look like this:
    
12. If you like, sprinkle on some paprika. I chose to leave it off for the pictures, but I’ll probably add it later.
13. Enjoy while reading about the lively China People in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! 🙂

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