Chicks Dig It

I saw the cutest idea for Easter chicks deviled eggs, but as I wasn't cooking an Easter meal this year (as we traveled and ate with friends and family) I didn't make them...but I sure thought about it. Maybe I'll just make them for fun one of these times. My husband gives me a hard time because he thinks I want to take deviled eggs to any potluck, and I do...but they're so good! While I haven't given this a try yet, Janelle decided to go for it and had a bit of a Pinstrosity.

The Original Pin

Source: Uploaded by user via Maria on Pinterest

I've been looking around trying to find the original source for this picture (as the Pinterest link doesn't go anywhere and I really want to give credit where credit is due) and as far as I can figure out from Google Image search and the comments on the pin, the original pinner saw this picture of deviled eggs that her friend's daughter made on her Facebook page and uploaded it to Pinterest. I don't know where the idea came from, (one commenter claims her daughter made these up) but it's cute and I can see why Janelle gave them a try. Since it was just a photo though, and not a link to a tutorial or ingredient list or anything, Janelle had to wing it and ran into some slight problems.

The Pinstrosity

Not too bad really, in my opinion. I looked at the picture first (confession, I usually do) and I wasn't really sure what the problem was but once I read Janelle's email I understood. Here's the story in her own words:

"I wanted to make the really cute deviled eggs that looked like chicks for Easter. I realized quickly it wasn't as easy as it looked. Trying to get the yoke out of the small opening mostly meant that the white split. Or I would try to slit the top of the egg off only to find the yoke right there or at the other end. There was no consistency where the yoke was as evidenced by the odd shaped egg chicks in the picture."

"Also I had asked my husband to pick up olives for the eyes thinking this would be the best option. It probably would have been but he got me chopped (or minced) olives. I had to try to gather bits of the chopped olive to make eyes. They look horrible! Then I asked my 11yo son to cut the carrot noses because I was short on time and company was coming soon. He had no consistency to his method so all the noses are odd shaped too! (I can't really blame him, thankfully he doesn't have a lot of knifing experience!)"

"Then when I went to display the eggs on a plate, they all slipped, I had no way of displaying them in the up right position. So I put a piece of paper towel on the bottom at least they were face up."

So...how to help fix this for future tries? I've found a few ideas online. 

How to Fix It

I found the same idea on athriftymom.com where she has a tutorial on how to make these chicks deviled eggs and she gives some good tips. 

To help keep the whites from splitting as you get the yolks out, she suggests slicing into the yolk. I would imagine a paring knife would work best...but any little sharp knife should work. Then use a small spoon or fork to gently scoop the yolk out. 

For the eyes she suggests cutting up a pickle into small slices. Just an alternative for those that don't like olives. 

And then to make the eggs stand up and not roll over...cut a small slice off the bottom of the egg to make a flat resting surface. 

Another idea from mrsfieldssecrets.com is to cut the whites in a zig-zag pattern to look like a cartoon broken egg. This will be harder than just slicing the egg open, but it sure does look cute.

Another idea from familyfun.go.com is to put a sprig of parsley at the top, and they added a second carrot slice to the beak, and a carrot slice for feet. 

One final idea I'll link to is this one from allrecipes.com. Instead of using small slices of olives for the eyes, they've used cross sections slices for large owl-like eyes.