Easter Eggs

 

I LOVE Easter! I think it has something to do with eggs, and the annual abstinence from meat.
My best friend sent me this awesome post 3 years ago and I have been trying to do this every year.
But we don’t eat eggs during the season of lent, and I always miss saving eggshells before Lent begins. And I didn’t really know how to go up to someone and say, “Hey, do you mind saving your eggshells for me? Make sure you break open the base very carefully without cracking the rest. Oh and also, please keep the opening smooth and even, ok pal?? “

So this year, I decided to do something I should have done years ago. It’s just that it was a very hard things for me to do. I broke open the eggs myself, kept the eggshells and gave away the eggs 🙁

I love eggs!

You can find the detailed process with better pictures here: notmartha

 But the egg breaking tool seems too intense. This is what I did. I used the lid of my contact lens case and drew a template with a pen. (The opening is always at the base of the egg, not at the pointy top)

 

Then I used a small knife to crack open the base well within the boundaries drawn. Then I pried the rest open carefully and gently so the opening was as big as the template drawn.

Remember to use a finger to clean out all the whites from inside because they will cook when you are sterilizing the shells and phew! Good luck after that!

Do not drop the eggs into boiling water for risk of breaking the eggs, instead place them in the water and then let them come to a gentle boil. Make sure the water doesn’t get too bubbly that the eggs knock against each other and crack in the process.

For the dye, I used a few drops of liquid blue food colour, and a pinch of apple green powder food color (well, because that’s all I had). I added the colours to the boiling water and vinegar solution (as mentioned by notmartha)

Please remember to let the dye cool down completely before adding the eggs. Personal experience: The hot vinegar based dye tends to be bubbly when hot, causing the dye to be streaky, as you can see.
And don’t move the shells around too much. That also has the same effect on the shells. So basically, you immerse them, and step away and let them do their thing!

I put them on skewers held up by a vase to dry. They were really pretty. I kinda feel bad now that we have to break these to get into the chocolate egg. I want to do this again and make a permanent centerpiece for the table.

I melted some milk chocolate and poured it into the eggshells, swirled them around to coat the eggs well, and let them dry on a wire rack.

 
That’s it! I’m actually not done with it, I still need to paint the eggs and make them cuter (if that’s even possible). I’ll post the final picture and how it looks inside next week, after Easter.

I just had to post these today, you know, to remind those who have yet to get started on theirs.
Good Luck!