Wicked Good Devilled Eggs

I'm a fan of devilled eggs.  I like them to taste good and look good.  Here is one of my favorite recipes for devilled eggs.

Start with some hard boiled eggs. I love my weird red egg thing that goes in the pan before you boil the eggs.  It tells you when the eggs are done in the middle. I got it at one of those kitchen stores.  It's reliable.  I learned a trick about peeling hard boiled eggs.  If you crack one end of them (just rap it on the side of the sink) before you run cold water over them, it releases that membrane that really wants to stick to your eggs, making them hard to peel.  I usually peel them under cold running water as well.  Seems to work. 

Here's the thing about the filling in devilled eggs; you don't want it to be lumpy.  They're just never gonna be pretty that way.  Here's what I do......I smash them through a small sieve with a fork or the back of a spoon.  Takes about 2 minutes and makes a huge difference in the outcome.

 

They turn out all powdery and fine like this picture on the right here.  Makes your filling all smooth and not lumpy.  I'm all for pretty eggs.

Now I add some mayo, mustard, a little horseradish (for zing) and get this.......about a tablespoon of sugar.  The sugar can be left out if you are so inclined, but it goes great with the zing of the horseradish and the bite of the mustard. 

I never measure the rest of the stuff, it's just to taste and consistency.  You don't want them too runny because you are going to pipe that filling into the eggs. (We're going for pretty and tasty, right?) 

I got my cake decorating kit at a dollar bin in the grocery store a hundred years ago.  The bag has long since torn and gone into the trash, but the tips are still good.  I just use a plastic food bag and I can throw it away when I'm done.  I like the wider tip for this filling.

Cut a corner in your plastic bag just big enough for the tip to fit into. I also like to stick the bag (with tip inserted) into a glass before filling.  Just makes it easier and keeps all the stuff from running out the tip end.

Pipe the filling in kind of a circular motion into the egg.  If you want to, you can sprinkle something on top of the finished eggs.  I like chives, but I have been know to put crumbled bacon on them too.  Today it's just chives, and I wish I had fresh ones, but it's winter in Missouri.  Now, aren't these pretty?  They're wicked good too!