Molding Hard-Boiled Eggs

Really, how cute is that? 

A few years ago, a friend pulled out a hard-boiled out for lunch. No big deal, right? Wrong! The egg was cow-shaped. Cow Shaped! I actually sat there gawking. I did not know that you could have cow-shaped eggs. Once I stopped staring, I had to ask, “How the heck did you do that?” Turns out, egg molds were the key.

My friend had molds from Japan. And while I searched for them locally for years, I was never able to find them. I made do because I could not resist the siren call of shaped hard-boiled eggs.  Several people on-line suggested using ice cream sandwich molds for eggs. I bought a bunch and with the help of rubber bands, I, too, had cow-shaped eggs. (Pig, heart and, of all things, cowboy hat-shapes too!)

The other day I noticed that Amazon was carrying the Japanese egg molds. Unlike my makeshift molds which, to be honest, were a bit of work, these molds promised easy egg molding.

After I posted a pic of my teddy bear-egg on Facebook and Twitter a few people asked, “How’d you do that?” Here's how!

1. Hard-boil your eggs. (For tips on how to perfectly hard-boil an egg, click here.) Remove eggs from hot water. Run quickly under cold water.

2. Tap egg, large side down, on the counter to crack the shell.

3. Ah! Perfect. You really just need to whack the egg once or twice to crack the shell on the bottom.

4. There is a membrane between the egg and the shell. This membrane is your friend. Run your thumb over the membrane to rupture it. Once you've loosened the membrane, peel it back. The shell will come with it.

5. Pop egg into molds. (Imagine the eggs are in the mold above. I forgot to take a picture. Thank goodness for imaginations, right?) Snap the mold shut.

6. Submerge egg mold in a bowl of cold water to cool, about 15-20 minutes. (Usually I forget the eggs are in the cold water and come back an hour later. This works too!)

7. Unmold eggs.

8. Stare at the cuteness. Post pics of egg on Facebook and Twitter. Wait for people to say, “How’d you do that?”*
9. Enjoy!  
   

*Optional step but highly recommended.

The Egg Molds are available here on Amazon.com