Which egg’s your favorite? Mine is the lilac colored egg with the butterflies. Of course, you already knew that since I gave it the best seat in the house!
I’ve always loved Easter and all the celebrations that came with it. In Lebanon, we have a beautiful custom that is called Chaa’nine which takes place on Palm Sunday. On this bright and sunny day, the air filled with the scents of spring, all the young ones come out dressed in white or pastel colored clothes, carrying very long candles that are intricately decorated with ribbons and flowers. The fathers then position their over-excited (or was it just me?!) young ones, in turns, on their shoulders before being led by the priests around the church in a procession.
It’s sounds like a blast huh? It’s a shame I’ve not been able to convince my dad to give me a shoulder ride in a long time. Not even one last time!
Easter egg coloring and decorating followed later on that week and just a couple of days before Easter Sunday. All us kids would get together and make a huge mess with all the colors. We would also create dyes, the traditional way, with the skins of red and yellow onions although in all honesty they never yielded very exciting results! Then come Easter Sunday we would all play the egg-cracking game which is meant to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave like the little chick that breaks out of the egg, alive.
I used some of these gel colors to reach all the outrageously beautiful colors above. I used violet, green, rose, yellow and brown. I also made sure to use the whitest of eggs for best results. For the eggs who’s destiny was to be stained with the brown dye I selected them darker. To get all the different patterns I used an assortment of stickers and white wax crayons for drawing before plunging the eggs into a color bath. You could also rub oil on the colored and dried egg for a more glossy effect or apply sprinkles.
Bonus egg recipe… I love boiled, perfectly runny eggs. I know it’s not everyone’s cuppa tea but it sure is mine! Here’s one way I enjoy them: sprinkled with cumin and a side of Arabian soldiers.
To get soft boiled eggs, bring a heavy bottomed pot filled half way with water to a boil. Once boiling remove off the flame and using a spoon gently lower each egg into the water. Place the pot back on the flame and let boil for five minutes. (exact timing will change depending on altitude). While the eggs are being boiled, cut some Arabic bread into thin strips and grill for 2-3 minutes, till crispy. By now egg is ready! Run it under cold water briefly, crack the top open, sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin. Find your soldier and dig in!
Hard Boiled Easter Eggs
Cast of Characters
- Eggs
- Vinegar
- Coloring gel
- Paper towels
- Egg carton
- Slotted spoon
1) Add eggs to a heavy bottomed pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove off heat, cover the pot and allow them to cook for about 9-10 minutes. This will yield hard boiled eggs. Once cooked, drain them and run them under cold water, then set aside to dry.
2) You will need several medium- large sized bowls depending on how many colors & eggs you are working with. The bowls need to be heat resistant. Be sure to spread as much newspaper around as possible. Aprons to be worn preferably. It’s about to get real dirty. Fill these bowls with boiling water.
3) Because I used gel colors I really didn’t need to use too much. I dipped a wooden skewer (toothpick will work) into my gel and then swirled it around in the hot water. I repeated it till I reached the desired color saturation. Next I added a teaspoon of vinegar and mixed it all together.
4) Now take the cooked and cooled, dry eggs, decorate accordingly by placing stickers of choice or drawing on them with wax crayons and using a spoon gently lower them into the hot colored water. Leave them in the color bath till desired color is reached. I twirled the eggs every minute or so and checked on the colors. Some like the yellow can take up to 10 minutes to reach significant discoloration.
5) Remove the eggs using a slotted spoon and place them in the egg carton or on a paper towel till dry. Once dry you can remove the stickers or should you find it necessary wipe off any excessive crayon wax.
6) Eggs are to be refrigerated and eaten within 2-3 days.
7) Play the egg cracking game! Each opponent holds an egg clenched between their thumb and the rest of their fingers- SECRET (lower the egg as much as possible so barely the head is showing. Your opponent will find it hard to crack it and you’ll win!) Is that cheating? Whomever’s egg that cracks first loses. OK. Now flip over and try again.
Oh Bethany, I LOVE this!!! 🙂 Such happy memories you brought back for me of spring afternoons at my grandparents, all us little kids scuttling about the yard searching for eggs. 🙂 I never thought of cumin on soft boiled eggs, but you’ve intrigued me! I can’t wait to try it! Tomorrow perchance! 🙂
Those eggs are beautiful and I love your photos!
these are some awesomely beautiful eggs! i have always loved easter too, have a happy one!
joanne
What great colours! I miss dunkin’ my eggs ‘…and i miss you toox
Lovely! The stickered ones especially are super-cute.
Darling those look soooooooooo pretty! I *love* the lilac butterfly one too. It’s funny – we never used stickers like that to while colouring eggs when I was younger. But we sure did play the egg cracking game (is it a lebanese thing?).
Thanks for such a bright and colourful post so early in the morning xxx
Hey Mowie- did a search and found this answer: Easter eggs symbolized new beginings and were given during spring in Middle Eastern region, China and Rome before christianity. they were later adopted to symbolize rebirth of jesus christ when Christianity spread. http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/origin-of-the-easter-egg-faq.htm
lovely lovely decorated east eggs. i have a boy so he is not into butterflies – “girlie stuff he says!” he did suggest we do transformer and pokemon eggs! let’s see ho i get around to that. great post and especially like the tray with the breakfast in bed!
I am absolutely in LOVE with your easter eggs and how you decorated them… and I love the idea of using cumin for the runny eggs. My favourite egg was the green one. Very classy!
How cute can cute be? What a beautiful way to dress ’em up Beth! Utterly gorgeous! I love the lilac one with the front seat! It is PRECIOUS!!
What a great idea to use stickers!
Beautiful pictures.
They look very pretty…Love all the different colours and designs! In Greek culture we dye them red, symbolising the blood, Christ spilt on the cross. Easter is a busy time!
Oh love them! I think I vaguely remember coloring eggs once with a college roommate for her nephews. I really want to come a decorate them with you and Mowie! Love the beautiful designs. And yum! who doesn’t love soft-boiled eggs with “soldiers” (that is typically british but for the life of me I can’t remember what they are called in the US).
you blow we away each time i visit this site. Creativity beyond imagination, I adore the prurple butterfly one but to be true they’re all amazingly detailed !
These are soooo gorgeous, they’d not last five minutes in my house of course because Ted would smash them to bits but I’m really enjoying looking at them. Cumin in dippy eggs sounds fabulous, I must try that.
Great ideas with the eggs and they look so beautiful.
Beautiful photos. I especially like the one with the tray and orchid.
Such a beautiful post. I really like your blog, and this post is so pretty that has led to me making my first comment! Loved reading about the Lebanese Easter traditions too.
So pretty. I love the pastel colours!
Soo beautiful and lovely to hear about the Easter traditions of your childhood.
Seriously gorgeous photos! Love it all! And it exemplifies spring in the freshest and most lovely way. Beautiful.
The art of the decorated Easter Egg is largely lost these days, as we rationalize that time is limited and choose a quick fix, but I still remember my grandmother making eggs the old fashion way – a true work of art – Thanks Bethany!
OMG your eggs are stunning and I love the purple butterflies best too! and hey did the apple in your banner change from red to green? Very spring “fresh” 🙂
Oh beth these eggs are gorgeous!!!! My favourite is the green one! Such a beautiful fresh colour. I love decorating eggs, we did every year when I was a kid. And I will definitely colour some eggs this year too. I so much miss proper czech Easter with all the traditions.
I love the photos of the tray in the bed! Wonderful. 🙂
So pretty!! For me it’s a toss-up between the lilac & the green one for best-looking Easter egg.
those are very pretty eggs! i love runny soft boiled eggs. i never seem to get it right when im boiling them but my trusty microwave egg contraption always does the job perfectly! =) happy easter!
Reminds me of when I was little and in school we had to paint our eggs for the Easter hunt, everyone just dabbed paint on, I took the longest time to get mine done, with tiny designs! love em! congrats…I also posted eggs but mine are deviled!
Oh, I love the delicate colours and designs on those eggs! And yes, in our house, the runnier the boiled egg yolk the better. Simply heaven on a lazy weekend morning!
nice eggs and colerful ones to the best aunty xoxoxo sorry comented late!
Bethany! Colouring Easter eggs was one of the favourite things we used to do as kids, but I have never seen anything as beautiful as your eggs with stickers for stencils! GORGEOUS! Makes me think I have to bring that tradition back with my nieces! Beautiful beautiful beautiful…
These eggs are miraculous! splendid easter colors!!
here’s another way to eat boiled eggs: crush them with olive oil, lemon and salt!
You will definitely enjoy it better with Lebanese bread (Lebanese Pita).
Sahtein and Al Masih qam!
Thank you Bethany for your marvelous ideas!
Can you use any foil stickers or do you need special stickers made for Easter egg dyeing? Where did you purchase the stickers? They are adorable. Thank you for your help.