Deviled Chicks

When faced with a lot of leftover hard-boiled eggs, we often resort to making deviled eggs. These are delicious and can be made plain or spicy, but the results are often the same… a platter of halved eggs with a spoonful of stuffing, sometimes sprinkled with paprika or a splash of Sriracha sauce.

As tempting as these can be, I like to change things up a bit. Recently I’ve seen egg plates for sale that require the eggs be placed bottom down (rather than halved). I’ve wondered how to make something appealing that can be put into this odd shape aside from plain old colored eggs.

Here’s the solution! Make deviled eggs that look like chicks!

The only difficult part of the recipe is carefully scooping out the yolk while being careful not to cut through the white. You need to remove just a little top off the white. Then, cut the yolk a bit with a pointed knife, then use a serrated grapefruit spoon to remove the yolk. Don’t worry about scooping it all out – if some of the yolk remains in the egg the result will be just as delicious.

Garnish the chicks with a couple of whole peppercorns for the eyes and a beak made from a slice of carrot. Although these guys are prone to “wobble” if not put into an egg cup, you could also prop them up on little carrot-cutout feet.

I rarely ever measure ingredients for making deviled eggs, I just add little bits at a time until it tastes just right. For my basic recipe, I combine hard-boiled egg yolks, mayonnaise, a little whole grain mustard, some finely minced red onion, and a dash of salt and pepper. Make sure you mash up the yolk into a very smooth consistency for the best-looking chicks.