The Perfect Hard Boiled Egg

Such a simple thing to make. Eggs.

However, when I first got married, I couldn't hard boil them to save my life. They were always undercooked, overcooked, or the shell wouldn't peel off and they just got ruined.

Then Betty saved me.

Betty Crocker, that is.

I gave up trying all the ways people kept telling me to try and I went to the best source I knew.

Remember, I was newly married and newly cooking more than Mac & Cheese or Tater-tots.

Here is the kicker: The cookbook was my husbands.

He had a red, three-ring, Betty Crocker cookbook from 1986 that I'm sure he acquired from his mom when he moved out.

I really wish that I could tell you that it was mine, after all, I'm the wife, right? But, alas, that would be a lie.

Moving on.

So why is this relevant?

Since we have been trying to eat clean, I've been buying eggs much more frequently. We have them for breakfast a lot but I have also been hard boiling them to have for lunch or a snack. I have probably hard boiled more eggs in the last three weeks than I have in the 5 years I've been married.

Today as I was peeling the shells off, it occurred to me that every time I cook these, they are perfect. Flawless. Cooked to perfection and the shell slides right off. Betty, you've done it again.

I chewed on whether or not this was blog-worthy...but ultimately decided that if someone had told me 5 years ago to cook them this way, I would have been grateful. So I decided to share. Maybe there is some young mom that has the same trouble I did, or maybe this will just inspire you to eat more eggs!

So here you go:

Put your eggs in a medium sized pot. Fill with water until the water is an inch above the eggs. Turn the burner on high, cover and bring to a boil. When rapidly boiling, turn off the burner and keep lid on. Set timer for 20-24 minutes. I typically do 20.

When the timer goes off, drain the water from the pan and then fill with cold water. Or you can have a bowl of ice water waiting to put the eggs in. The point is to stop the eggs from cooking further. Let them sit in the cold water for a few minutes until they have cooled.

Once cooled, gently crack the shell by tapping it on a paper towel on the counter. Then, while holding the egg under gently running water, begin to peel off the shell.

Eat and smile.

The Perfect Hard Boiled Egg.