Christmas Tree Devilled Eggs

Recipe: Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs Recipe »

Turn classic devilled or deviled eggs into adorable Christmas Tree Devilled Eggs! With a green pesto-pea filling, parmesan "snow" and tiny cheese stars, they're the perfect festive party appetiser or hors d'oeuvre. I'll also show you how to make easy peel boiled eggs!

About These Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs

Deviled or devilled eggs get a tasty Christmas makeover! Serve these delicious devilled eggs to a party for a super fun and delicious snack. They're great for a pot luck and are made easy with pesto, peas, parmesan and a touch of chilli of course! These are so tasty and not super spicy so great for a great range of guests including kids.

There is nothing more frustating with deviled eggs than when boiled eggs are hard to peel! I'll show you the best way to boil eggs so that they peel easily.

These Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs were inspired by The Food In My Beard but the filling is quite different.

Video How To Make Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs

Video: How to Make Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs

Ingredients For Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs

Eggs - Opt for larger eggs. Older eggs are better for peeling.

Peas - Fresh or frozen peas work here. I always have frozen peas in my freezer and I find these are often nicer than fresh peas that can be a bit dry and more variable.

Basil pesto - You can also use other green pestos like spinach or rocket pesto.

Mayonnaise - Use your favourite mayonnaise, full fat is better as this is a binding ingredient.

Parmesan cheese - Parmesan or Pecorino cheese works here. We use it in the filling as well as the snow.

Cream Cheese - Use full fat cream cheese, again because it is a binding agent.

Green colouring (optional) - This is purely optional if you want a bright green colour (IMHO it does make them look better).

Capsicum - Red capsicum works well. Make sure to cut into very small dices. You can also sub with tomatoes (de-seed first).

Cheese - Use your favourite sliced cheese for the stars (I used American cheese as it is more yellow/orange). You can sub with yellow capsicum but slice it thinly so that it isn't too heavy.

5 Tips For Making Easy To Peel Boiled Eggs

Video How To Boil an Egg

Video: How to Make Easy to Peel Boiled Eggs

1 - Use older eggs as they peel easier than fresh eggs.

2 - When boiling eggs, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to the water. Whtie vinegar dissolves the calcium carbonate in the eggshell and if it cracks it allows the egg to coagulate quickly.

3 - Also add 1 teaspoon of bicarb to the water. Bicarb raises the water's pH level and this weakens the bond between the egg white and the inner shell membrane making it easier to peel.

4 - I also add an unlit matchstick so that if there is any egg white don't run as much.

5 - Add eggs once the water is boiling. Lower carefully using tongs being careful to not crack the eggs. For hard boiled eggs, boil for 12 minutes (start the count once the eggs are added to the boiling water).

6 - Once the time is upon remove with tongs and place in a bowl of ice water. Wait 10 minutes and peel easily!

Tips For Making Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs

1 - When cooking peas from frozen, simmer for 3 minutes until cooked through but try not to overcook. Drain peas and then place in ice water to keep their bright green colour.

2 - Make sure that the peas are completely crushed and pureed. If there are large bits they will get stuck in the piping tip.

3 - It's important that the green filling mixture is thick enough to have integrity and stand up so refrigerate the filling for at least 1 hour to firm up.

4 - You can use either a 845 tip or a XL star tip to pipe the egg mixture.

5 - For the cheese stars, I use a Mondo Star plunger cutter that comes in a set of 3 at Spotlight.

6 - Slice off the thinnest amount from the egg white half so that it sits flat on the plate. This is very important as these are top heavy.

7 - Cut red capsicum into very tiny pieces and use as baubles.

8 - Sorry these are best eaten at home and are not great to transport as they are a bit top heavy.

If you love deviled eggs as much I do, try these ones next: Hot Pink Deviled Eggs, Pumpkin Devilled Eggs and two tone devilled eggs (I can see red and green ones for Christmas!).

Christmas Tree Deviled Eggs Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour refrigeration

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 12 deviled eggs

Ingredients Needed

For Eggs

• 6 eggs, boiled (see directions above)
• 100g/3.5ozs peas, frozen
• 75g/2.7ozs grated parmesan cheese
• 60g/2ozs basil pesto
• 50g/1.7ozs cream cheese
• 50g/1.7ozs mayonnaise
• Green chilli Sriracha or hot sauce to taste (optional)
• A few drops leaf green colouring (optional)

To decorate

• 2 tablespoons red capsicum, finely diced for baubles
• Slice of cheese for stars
• Parmesan or pecorino cheese for snow

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 PEAS - Cook the peas until until bright green and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain and place in ice water.

Step 2 BLEND - Drain peas well and blend with parmesan cheese, pesto, cream cheese, mayonnaise, green hot sauce and green colouring (if using) until smooth. Thermomix: 45 seconds, speed #4. Slice eggs in half and scoop out the yolks. Add yolks to the mixture in the food processor or Thermomix and blend again until smooth. Thermomix: 60 seconds, speed #4, scrape and repeat. Tip: make sure that the mixture is a smooth puree. Refrigerate for 1 hour minimum. Mixture should be firm and pipeable like mashed potato. Troubleshooting: if the mixture is still too soft, refrigerate for longer, around 4 hours.

Step 3 SLICE - Place a half egg on the chopping board. Place your fingers flat above the cut side of the egg and slide the knife along the base cutting a flat bottom for the egg.

Step 4 PIPE - Place mixture in a piping bag fitted with a 845 or 1M tip. Start with piping more filling at the base and then moving the piping bag upwards and keeping it vertical. The tip (especially the 845) will flute out a nice Christmas tree pattern.

Step 5 DECORATE - Add 3-4 tiny pieces of red capsicum per tree as baubles. Punch out little cheese stars with cutter and place on top. Grate parmesan or pecorino on top as snow.

Personal Note

As Christmas edges closer, the weather is getting warmer. I made these on a really, sweltering hot day. I was boiling the eggs and getting some ice from the ice dispenser in the fridge for the egg ice bath when the ice maker started to seize up. It had happened once before and we had to remove the unit from the freezer because there was basically a massive chunk of ice blocking everything. It's messy because ice does tend to fall out of the bottom and go all over the floor.

Last time Mr NQN helped but that day he seemed really busy so I thought I would do it myself. Really, how hard could it be? I unclipped the unit on both sides and then picked up the ice dispenser. And about two dozen ice cubes fell out of the bottom of the unit, most falling down the top of my dress and between my dress and my apron!

The ice was freezing cold and I let out a scream. Mr NQN heard me, "Are you ok?" he asked. While I was surprised when it happened, the heat and the cold ice sort of combined and the ice melted the ice quickly and cooled me down. "I'm....good?" I answered. It was far from a catatrophe and just what I needed to cool down!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you having a hot or cold Christmas where you are? Do you like deviled eggs?