How to Prepare and Dye Easter Eggs

Ingredients:
  • Hard Boiled eggs, as many as you want to decorate
  • 1/4 teaspoon of each food color
  • 3/4 cup of boiling water for each color
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar for each color
  • Vegetable oil
Tools:
  • Saucepan, large enough to hold the eggs
  • Slotted spoon
  • Large bowl
  • empty egg cartons, saved from the eggs that you are about to boil
  • teakettle
  • Small glass bowls or cups, one for each color
  • Measuring cups
  • Teaspoons
  • Cooling racks or paper towels

    Fill a saucepan half full with warm water.  Lower the eggs into the water with a slotted spoon, being careful not to break or crack the shells.  Bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down to simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the eggs from the bowl with the slotted spoon and place them in a bowl filled with cold water.  When the eggs are cooled, place them in the egg carton and refigerate until you are ready to color them.

    For each color, mix food coloring, hot water and vinegar in a small glass container, in the amounts given above.  Mix well with a spoon.  It is best to have a spoon for each bowl, so as not to accidentally mix the colors. 

    Gently place an egg in a bowl of dye, turning with a spoon for even coloring. When the egg is dyed to the color that you want, use a teaspoon to lift the egg to a cooling rack to dry.  If you are using paper towels, carefully pat the egg dry so that it is not resting in a puddle of dye as it dries.

    For a 'marbled' effect, try adding a teaspoon of vegetable oil to one of the colors, and dip the egg briefly.

    You can write names on the eggs with ordinary wax crayons, or draw designs. You can mix the colors to make new colors.  You can have a wonderful time. Everybody should do this at least once.

    • Yields: As many eggs as you have chosen to dye.
    • Preparation Time: Take your time.  It's up to you.
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