They're Devilish!

Naturally I'm talking about Deviled Eggs, a staple hors d'oeuvres at Southern parties (and who knows, maybe elsewhere, too). The great thing about Deviled Eggs is that you can make them in advance and have them ready to pop onto a table, no heating required. Oh, and they're delicious and look pretty, too.  I'd been planning to make these to serve at my birthday for a while, and while out one day with Lovely Assistant Jen, I promised her mom that I'd get the recipe up on my blog. So here it is!

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large pot                                                                    Cutting board

Slotted spoon                                                              Fork or whisk

Large bowl                                                                 Egg plates (enough to hold 36 halves)

Knife                                                                           Decorator's bag *

Ingredients

18 large eggs                                                              1/2 tsp hot sauce

White vinegar                                                             Worcestershire sauce

4 tsp spicy brown mustard                                         Salt

2/3 cup mayonnaise                                                   Pepper 

1 Tbsp onion powder                                                  Paprika

Now Let's Make Deviled Eggs!

Start by placing your eggs gently in your large pot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the eggs and then some. I usually put enough water to be an inch over the eggs.  Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat on high. Add a generous dollop of white vinegar to the water; this will help prevent the whites from seeping should the eggs crack while cooking.  Bring the water to a boil.  As soon as the water boils, turn the heat down to maintain a rolling boil (about medium-high) and cook for 15 minutes.  

As soon as the timer goes off, remove the pot from the heat. Quickly, but gently, remove the eggs using your slotted spoon and transfer them to your large bowl.  Fill the bowl with cold water and set aside to allow the eggs to cool.  It will be much easier to peel the eggs when they're no longer hot.

When you're ready remove the eggs and begin cracking their shells. If they're still warm, run them under cold water for a second first. Begin by tapping the egg against a hard surface, rotating so that you get multiple spots on the surface of the egg. Then, sandwich the egg between the surface and your palm and gently roll the egg around applying very light pressure to crack the entire surface of the shell.  Repeat for all the eggs.  One at a time, begin peeling the shell away from the egg.  I recommend doing this under running cold water. This helps with the shell removal. Set the eggs aside as you finish.

Using a sharp knife with a clean edge (not serrated! We're slicing not sawing here), slice each egg in half along the length of the egg.  Over your large bowl, separate the egg yolk from the egg white.  To do this, gently run your fingers around the part of the white surrounding the yolk, barely pulling it away from the center. The yolk should fall out easily.  Let the yolk fall into the large bowl, and place the white curved side down in a slot on your egg plate. Repeat this process for all the eggs.

Set your egg plates full of whites aside for now.  Measure out 4 tsp spicy brown mustard, 2/3 cup mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp onion powder, and 1/2 tsp hot sauce and add them to your egg yolks.  Now the rest of the ingredients are added to taste, so the following amounts are approximations.  Add about 6 shakes of Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp of salt and lots of pepper. Whisk everything together with either a whisk or a fork. Try to get as smooth a texture as possible without any lumps of egg.  (That second photo is just plain appetizing, yes? Click to enlarge!).

Yes, I had an explosion.
Yes, it got everywhere. 

Now, a word of caution, if you're going to get fancy (and I tried, I really did), go ahead and run the mixture through a blender or food processor. You will not be able to get all the lumps of egg broken up by hand.  This is fine if you're simply going to spoon the stuff into your eggs and be done with it, but if you're going to pipe the mixture into your eggs you don't want any clumps to clog the tip and cause problems.  Why is that you ask? Because then you have to stop every five seconds to unclog or, well, see the photo.

Anyway, my kitchen adventures aside (I assure you much hilarity ensued, especially since I managed to splatter myself as well as the table cloth), I did manage to pipe out all of my eggs (like the kitchen ninja I truly am).  Insert your piping tip into the decorator's bag and spoon in the egg mixture. Seal the end of the bag and pipe the egg mixture into the hollows of the egg whites by lightly squeezing the large end of the decorator's bag. You'll want to heap it in so that you have little mounds; there'll be plenty of filling, trust me.  Once you're done piping, sprinkle paprika onto each of the deviled eggs. Try to concentrate the paprika over the filling if possible.  

Om nom nom!

If not serving right away, chill in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve. Make sure to proudly display your deviled eggs in a proper egg plate. And most of all, enjoy!

   

Where's the Rum Gone?

Into rum balls, of course (and, no, I can't help my dorky references to things)!  This is by far one of my favorite holiday season treats, and since I'm gearing up for my annual holiday baking frenzy (*twitch*), I thought I'd share with all of you.  I used to make these with my mom around Christmas, and it's a recipe that she used to do with her parents. It's quite the family tradition.  And if rummy chocolate goodness isn't enough of a reason to make these, they're also super-easy.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large mixing bowl                                                          Measuring spoons

Mixing spoon                                                                   Small bowl

Measuring cups (liquid and dry)                                    Cookie sheet
Cutting board                                                                  Knife for chopping

Ingredients

1 box Vanilla wafers                                                       2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup pecans                                                                    2 Tbsp Karo's light corn syrup

1 cup confectioner's sugar + some for rolling                1/4 cup rum

Now Let's Make Rum Balls!

Haley smash!

We'll start with a little prep work.  Put a handful of vanilla wafers into a sandwich baggie. Press out all the air, and crush the cookies by using a rolling pin. (Or, if you're short a rolling pen at the moment, anything that's handy, like your cookbook). You don't have to crush them to powder, but you don't want any large chunks of cookies, either.  Once you've crushed them, pour the crumbs into a measuring cup.  Repeat the process until you have 1 1/2 cups of crumbs.  A handful of wafers equals about 1/2 cup of crumbs, so you won't be using the entire box of vanilla wafers (so feel free to munch on a few). Add the crumbs to your mixing bowl once you have the required amount.

Demonstrating the lever motion

Next, put a handful of pecans on your cutting board and begin chopping them up.  I find a large knife works better for this, and you can rock it back and forth or use it with a lever motion to most effectively chop the nuts. (Whatever your method, just watch your fingers). Like the wafers, you don't want the nuts to get chopped too fine, but you don't want any large chunks either.  Chop enough pecans to make 1 cup and add them to your mixing bowl.

Now, add 2 Tbsp cocoa powder and 1 cup confectioner's sugar to your mixing bowl.  Stir the ingredients around a bit.  Then, add 2 Tbsp of Karo's light corn syrup (no Southern girl worth her salt would use anything else) and 1/4 cup of rum.  The brand of rum isn't important, but don't use anything spiced or flavored; just plain rum, thanks.

Mix this up until it's nice and goopy.  You'll have to really work at it, since it's a fairly dry recipe.  Your end product will be on the sticky side rather than the liquidy side.  Make sure to routinely scrape the sides of the bowl and fold over the dough to ensure a thorough mix.  The dry ingredients will want to stick to the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Set the dough aside.

Fill your small bowl with cold water.  Dip your fingers in the water to wet them, then take a pinch of the dough and form it into a small ball. The ball should be about the size of a large olive (according to my grandmother's recipe, which sounds a little snooty to me). When formed, place the ball on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Repeat this process until all the dough has been used, neatly lining the balls up on the sheet.  Make sure to periodically wet your fingers, as this will make forming the dough easier and prevent it from sticking too much to your hands. Place the cookie sheet of rum balls in the freezer until they are firm (about 30 minutes to an hour).

Rolling

Dump the water out of your small bowl and dry it thoroughly.  Fill the bowl with a small amount of confectioner's sugar (about 1/4 cup) for the rum balls to be rolled in.  (You can also use chocolate sprinkles if you prefer, but if you do you'll need to do this step before freezing). Remove the rum balls from the freezer and, one by one, roll them in the confectioner's sugar.  Place the finished rum balls in a sealable container as you go.

Refrigerate the rum balls until you are ready to serve them.  These are great around the holidays, and make for an excellent homemade Christmas gift.  This recipe can easily be adjusted to make rum balls in bulk. (I've been known to do quadruple batches).  As is, it make about 34 rum balls.  Enjoy!

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Titles are Cheesy

And really, who doesn't like cheese; it's a food group all on its own as far as I'm concerned.  Today's post features my recipe for pimento cheese. Pimento cheese is a primarily Southern food, often eaten in sandwich form on white bread.  It can also be used as a spread on crackers (my favorite), or, really, anywhere sliced cheese might make an appearance: hamburgers, grilled cheese, etc.  Growing up, I remember my mother eating pimento cheese sandwiches regularly, which I thought was disgusting (cause pimentos are weird and icky, duh).  Clearly I got over this and my southern roots proved true, because I certainly love the stuff now.  A word of caution, however, do not take the easy route and buy pimento cheese in a tub from the grocery (cause that will always be disgusting); this is one recipe that has to be homemade.

What You'll Need

Supplies

1 large mixing bowl                                                         A beloved mixing spoon

Measuring spoons                                                            Cling wrap or sealed container

Cutting board                                                                   Knife of choice

Ingredients

16 ounce block of sharp cheddar                                      1/2 tsp ground red pepper

7-8 ounce jar of diced pimentos                                        2 Tbsp mayonnaise

6 Tbsp sour cream                                                            Cracked pepper to taste

4 green onions

Now Let's Make Pimento Cheese

Mmmmmm... cheese!

Shred the entire 16 oz block of cheddar (do not use reduced fat, blegh) into your large mixing bowl. Try not to press down to much on the cheese while you do this; you don't want to squish or compact it - it needs to stay fluffy and shredded.  Also, do not attempt to take a short cut by using already shredded cheese, as this won't mix into the spread properly.  Whatever they do to packaged shredded cheese forces it to stay in little shredded pieces, and this will ruin your pimento cheese. (You don't want to ruin your pimento cheese, do you? DO YOU?!)

Sliced, not diced

Set your bowl of cheesy goodness (aka the shredded cheese) aside.  Place your four green onions onto your cutting board. It's okay if the onions each have multiple stalks; count out your four based on the roots not the tops.  Slice up your onions by starting at the green top and thinly slicing your way down to the white base.  Once you get to white part of the onion, stop slicing and discard the base.  You can slice your onions either one at a time or all together, whichever you're most comfortable with. Scrape your sliced onions into your bowl of cheese.

Already looks tasty

To your bowl of hand-shredded cheese (please tell me you didn't shred your hand!) and onions, add 6 Tbsp (some heaping) of sour cream and 1/2 tsp of ground red pepper. Most often, pimento cheese is made using mostly mayonnaise, but I don't really like too much mayo.  I find that using sour cream enhances the flavor and texture of the spread. I usually use light Daisy sour cream, as that brand has the best flavor and texture hands down. Using light sour cream will not effect the flavor of the pimento cheese at all, and will cut the calories significantly since you're reducing the amount of fat in the recipe.

Broken down. *sniffle*

Mix this all together until the cheese breaks down completely, transitioning from shredded to a more spread-like texture.  It's really important that you make sure all the cheese breaks down. Any remaining pockets of shredded cheese will effect the quality and texture of your spread.  It will also inhibit the mixing in of later ingredients. So, mix! (*cracks whip*)

Is pimentoey a word?

When your done mixing, drain the jar of pimentos by holding the lid partially open and tipping it over the sink. Try to drain away as much of the liquid as possible, but don't fret over it too much.  You won't be able to get all the liquid out, and it will add flavor to the pimento cheese.  Also, a small amount of liquid will help keep the spread from being too dry, which means you won't have to add as much mayo in the next step (which equals less fat). Add the pimentos to the cheese spread and mix in well; you want the pimentos to be even throughout the spread, without clumps.

I swear it gets prettier

Now, add about 2 Tbsp of mayonnaise (more if spread is dry) and the cracked pepper.  I use the new mayo made with olive oil, as this reduces fat but doesn't effect the flavor of the mayo or the spread.  If you don't have fresh peppercorns around just waiting to be cracked, don't worry about it.  Regular pepper will work just as well.  Be careful not to overdo it; you don't want to forget that you've already added some red pepper, which adds a good bit of spice.  I probably add 2-3 tsps of black pepper, but it's hard to tell, since I usually just eyeball it.  Anyway, mix the mayo and pepper in well.

Once your done mixing, you can either scrape the sides of the bowl and cover it with cling wrap, or you can scrape the pimento cheese in a tupperware container.  Either way, you'll want to refrigerate your cheese for at least an hour or two before serving in order to let the spread set. to the right consistency.  Serve your pimento cheese in the manner of your choice: sandwich triangles (if you're feeling fancy), grilled ham and cheese, hamburgers, cheese and crackers.  I chose a selection of crackers for my pimento cheese (but let's not kid ourselves, it's just a means of conveying the pimento cheese to your mouth). Of the crackers, I think Ritz pairs the best.  Whatever you're method, you're ready to nom away.

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