ombre easter eggs

My favorite Easter memory happened when I was about five or six. My mom and I went to a local high school for an Easter egg "hunt."  There was no hunting whatsoever, all the eggs were   placed on the football field in plain sight; it was more of a easter egg dash. All the kids stood around the edge of the field and when the whistle blew, we all ran to grab as many plastic eggs as possible.

As I was filling my basket, a younger girl asked if she could have a few of my eggs so I gave some to her. One of the volunteers at the event saw me giving the girl some eggs and gave me a special gold egg in return. I was able to trade the gold egg in for a huge easter basket, complete for candy and dollar store toys. Score! Lesson learned.

While easter egg hunts are kinda off limits to twenty-somethings who don't have children or aren't visiting family, decorating eggs is still acceptable. I saw a few ombre eggs floating around Pinterest, so I decided to give it a try! I think I found a technique that works pretty well.

You need:

Hard boiled eggs (I used this method)

Food coloring

White vinegar

Boiling hot water

Martini glass

Deep bowl/dish/cup

1. After eggs have been cooked, choose what colors you'd like to use. Fill bowl/dish/cup with about 6-9 drops of food coloring, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 cup hot water. Your egg should be submerged in dye (If not fully submerged, remember to stir around container continuously. Leave in dye for about 1-2 minutes, or until egg has taken on a light amount of color. Take egg out of dye, rinse and let pat dry.

** I recommend completing the previous step (and all following) on all eggs before moving on to the next. You don't want to keep making new dyes!

2. In the martini glass, prepare a slightly stronger mixture. Mix about a tablespoon vinegar and approx. ten drops of food coloring in to martini glass. Place egg in mixture, and add hot water until dye reaches the desired level on the egg. Let sit in dye for 2-3 minutes, or until egg has reached desired color.

3. Rinse egg off in water and pat dry. Make another dye (approx. 1 tablespoon vinegar, ten drops of color and hot water to desired level) and let egg sit for another 2-3 minutes (longer if color is not deep enough). Rinse and pat dry. Voila! Beautiful ombre eggs.