Over the years I have struggled with peeling hard boiled eggs. I have tried every suggestion that came across Face Book, or tips from chefs on television. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn’t. Since I have 2 daughter-in-laws that eat deviled eggs like they were chocolate truffles, I have made A LOT of deviled eggs this past year, since we moved closer to family. I have begun to really pay attention to how I cook them and what works more times than not, when peeling them. So after peeling 6 eggs today and having every one come out looking like a perfect little white egg, I want to share something that maybe you hadn’t thought of or heard.
They peel so easily when still warm. All I do is put the eggs in a pan, cover them in water and after water comes to a boil, I boil them uncovered for 4 minutes. I take the pan off the heat and place a lid on the pan. Allow to sit for 15 mintues. Pour the water off and run WARM water over the eggs, until you can comfortably handle the eggs. It is almost immediately that I begin to peal them. This allows you to peel them before the skin that is right under the shell to begin to stick to the egg. Thus, the shell comes off beautifully every time. At least 95% of the time. In the last several times of boiling eggs, I have had only one egg that was hard to peel.
Cake Mixes
Cake mixes can taste more like homemade if you make a couple of substitutions.
1. Substitute the water using milk.
2. Instead of the oil that is called for, use half oil and half melted butter. (And NO, using margarine doesn’t count, besides margarine not tasting very good, butter is better for you anyway.)
3. Add a little vanilla or any other extract such as almond, or butter, or well, you get the point. to the cake mix…about 1 teas
4. Add about 1/4 cup of sugar to cake mixes.
5. Never just bake them the time listed on the box. Watch closely and just when the top of the cake looks a little shiny in the middle, but when you shake it, it feels solid, take it out. Remember, to bake it according to your oven. Just because the box says bake 25-30 min, doesn’t mean that fits all ovens. So if you take them out just before they look dry on the top, they are much more moist.
6. Dark baking pans need to have the oven temp a little lower than shiny pans. Instead of 350, try 325.
7. One Duncan Hines cake mix makes 3 8″ loaf pans. You can then freeze 2 of them and pull them out as needed, always allowing you to have a cake in the freezer for those times when you don’t want to bake but company is a’comin!
Chocolate Castles as wel 