A Rainbow of Deviled Eggs

First---- How to cook a perfect egg without getting that awful gray/green ring around the yolk.  Most of the eggs pictured above were NOT done this way, and are wierd shaped because I tried a baking method I saw on the internet.  Don't do that.  It makes them rubbery and funny shaped.  The yellow one right in front and the pink ones were done the way I am going to describe: 

Do it this way:  Start with room temperature eggs.  Put them into a pan and cover with cold water (about an inch over the top of the eggs.)  Add some salt to the water just in case one of them is cracked.  Put them on MEDIUM heat on the stove.  When they come to a good rolling boil (this actually takes quite a long time especially with a huge pan of eggs like we did), take them off the heat, put a lid on and leave them alone for 12 minutes. (This is for our altitude at about 3500 to 4000 feet.  You will need to ajdust according to your altitude.  The higher you are, the longer you need to let them sit.  Christopher--  I would try 15 minutes to start.  Carol-- probably 8-10)   Pour the hot water off and immediately put them into very cold water.  This stops the cooking process.  Some people say to use ice water, but I just run the cold water from the tap into the pan and let it run out until it stays cold-- instead of warming up in the pan.  At this point, they peel really well.  (Oh-- hint.  Older eggs peel better)

Anyway, after you peel the eggs, carefully cut them lengthwise and pop the yolks out into a bowl.  Do little containers of food color the same way you do for coloring eggs--  about 1t. vinegar to 1/2 cup water, and as many drops of food color as you desire.  We used neon food color to do these.  The more vinegar you put in, the brighter the egg would be.  However, with 1teaspoon, there was not a vinegary taste to the eggs.  I don't know what would happen if you used more.  As with whole eggs, the longer you leave the egg in the color, the brighter it will be.  You need to handle them carefully with a spoon to keep from tearing them.  Drain them on a paper towel.  Use a new spot on the paper towel each time, or they will pick up the color from the last egg that was there.  Oh, and no-- ours did not turn our teeth blue or anything.

While they dry (I turned them over once to dry both sides) Mash up the yolks.  I cannot give you a recipe for the yolk mixture, I just do it to taste, but add a blob of mayonaise (enough to moisten them up good), as much mustard as you like, salt and pepper.  I also put hot dog relish in mine because I like the chunks of pickle and whatever else they have in there.  I always run the mixture through a pastry bag to make them look pretty, but you can just grab a spoon and smear it into the holes left by the yolks.

Next year, I will try to improve upon this.  This was our first attempt.