About eight or nine years ago, I decided to make some deviled eggs for Thanksgiving. Normally whenever someone did bring them, they ALWAYS had pickles in them. I despise pickles! So, I confirmed that the person who normally brought them wasn't bringing them this time, and then said that I would be bringing some. I knew I would have to find a good twist to give to them for people to like them. I set out on an Internet search for some good recipes. I didn't really find anything that I felt was perfect, but with my own cooking experiences, I took a recipe from allrecipes.com and tweaked it to make it my own.
What I came up with was a special Creamy Deviled Egg recipe. It seems to have worked out as I now make them for every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve celebration. Here is the recipe, along with some other tips I have learned over the last near-decade of making them at least twice a year.
For our celebrations I make about 3/4 of the eggs with pickle and the other 1/4 without pickle (for me and the few other sane ones who dislike pickles). I also skip the onions because most people in our family don't like them in there (my wife especially).
Ingredients:
18 extra large eggs
1/2 cup of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (Buttermilk or Original)
3/4 package of Philadelphia cream cheese (6 oz. of an 8 oz. package)
1.5 dill pickle spears or about 20 pickle slices, chopped finely
3/4 cup of onion, chopped finely (optional)
I know hard-boiling eggs may sound like a simple thing to do, but you would be surprised how many people have problems doing it. A long time ago while watching Emeril Lagasse's cooking show, I learned what has seemed to be the perfect method of boiling eggs. For those not old enough to even know who he is, he is the chef who always yelled "BAM!" after accomplishing small tasks like adding a tiny bit of salt to a dish. Anyway, here is how you should boil your eggs. Carefully place the eggs into your pot. When I make 18 eggs, I use two standard-sized sauce pans, but you can put them all into one larger pot. Cover them with cold water until they are entirely submerged, plus a little extra. There is no need to fill your pot to the top with water; it will just slow things down. Put the pot(s) over a high flame. Once your water reaches a rolling boil, set a timer for seven minutes and thirty seconds. That is all the time it will take. The biggest hurdle to clear when boiling eggs is to not overcook them. If your hard boiled eggs come out with green yolks, you are overcooking them. For deviled eggs, where the yolks truly become the star of the dish, you want them to remain a pleasant bright yellow.
Once your eggs are done, carefully drain them and put them in an ice bath to cool them down as quickly as possible and stop the cooking process. Another option, and the one I use, is to run them under cold water for a couple minutes and then put them in the freezer for about fifteen minutes. After that much cooling, they should be near the ideal temperature to make peeling a bit easier.
Peel your eggs, then carefully cut them in half. the method I use is to run the knife all the way around the egg without actually cutting the yolks at all. Place all of your yolks in a bowl or whatever food processor you plan to use to mix things. Your eggs whites, which are hopefully still in nice half-egg pieces, can be placed on a plate or into one of those trays made specifically for deviled eggs. Cover the whites and refrigerate until you are ready for them.
Add the ranch dressing and softened cream cheese to your egg yolks and mix well. I run the yolks through a food processor, and then use a hand mixer to incorporate first the cream cheese totally and then the ranch dressing. Once the filling is smooth and creamy, stir in your chopped pickles and onion if you'd like.
Next scoop part of your finished filling into a Ziplock or sandwich baggie. We use a one gallon Ziplock baggie. We use this as our piping bag. You can use an actual piping bag if you'd like, especially if you want use a special tip to add a nice design to the filling. For less mess, I always put the bag into a tall plastic cup, opening the top of the bag over the rim of the cup. Then I can just spoon the filling in without getting it all over my hands, shirt, counter, the dog, etc. Once your bag is filled and closed, squeeze your filling evenly into your egg whites.
Refrigerate filled eggs for at least an hour or up to overnight.
Feel free to sprinkle some paprika (or diced pickle leftovers) over the top of the eggs or just put the jar next to the serving tray like we do.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. The eggs truly are delectable and will keep your family and friends coming back for more. There's always some filling left over, by the way; this is a great base for egg salad. Just dice a few extra hard-boiled eggs, stir them into the leftover filling, and enjoy! My wife actually uses just the filling on crackers, as she doesn't like egg whites but loves the deviled egg filling (with extra pickles; EWWWWWWWW).
Let me know what you think about the Creamy Deviled Eggs and any extra twists you might add to your own.
