Smoked paprika is one of my favorite spices. When I saw Tammy Credicott's recipe for Sweet 'n' Smoky Deviled Eggs in her new cookbook, Make Ahead Paleo, I had to give these a try. They are in the "On the Go" chapter of the book. The picture of these eggs in the book looks so pretty. Spoilers, but I learned something about this cookbook by making this recipe that might be helpful to everyone.
I boiled the eggs the day before I assembled the recipe using my electric egg cooker. It's quick, easy, and always gives me perfect boiled eggs. I had an ice bath ready for them when they were done.
If I had planned better, I could have cooked the bacon needed for the recipe while I was peeling the eggs, but I wasn't thinking. I cooked the bacon before I got started.
After carefully peeling the eggs, I sliced them in half and put the yolks into my mini chopper. I then prepared and measured the remaining ingredients and added them to the mini chopper. What's great about this recipe is that it doesn't require you to make paleo mayonnaise as you might expect. It uses avocado instead. Or so I thought.
After processing the mixture, I used my makeshift piping bag to fill the egg white halves.
Here are a few of my finished eggs garnished with reserved bacon and smoked paprika.
Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients: You should be able to find everything you need for this recipe at your "big box" grocery store with the exception of maybe the smoked paprika. My "big box" grocery store doesn't carry it. I have to go to a more epicurean market to get it. Its well worth a special trip to the grocery store though.
Preparation & Cooking Time: I timed the various stages of putting these eggs together. You might be more time efficient than me if you multi-task better than I did.
Boiling the eggs took 16 minutes. Cooking the bacon took 4 minutes. It took me 6 minutes to peel the eggs. It then took me about 15 minutes to fill the mini chopper and process the yolk egg filling and then 4 minutes to fill the egg whites with filling.
Clean Up: Everything except my skillet that I used to cook the bacon and the piping tip went into the dishwasher.
The Paleo Review: Thumps Up for Flavor! I must say went I tasted the yolk mixture before filling the egg whites, I was a bit concerned as the flavors were very strong. That concern completely went away once I tried a finished deviled egg. The white balances out those strong flavors. Yum.
When I looked at my finished dish and compared it to Tammy's cookbook picture something is definitely off. Mine were not pretty and red. They were more avocado colored which makes since as they are made with avocado. I went back and read the ingredient list, and nope, I didn't miss anything.
Maybe I am alone, but when I see a pretty picture in a cookbook, I skip to the ingredients list. I rarely read any text outside of the recipe instructions with the recipe as its usually a story about how the recipe came to be. Don't get me wrong, its nice to know how recipes came about and sometimes there are alternate but not essential ingredients listed, but I tend to get down to business and usually that works out just fine.
I learned with this recipe, at least with this cookbook, I need to read the paragraphs, and so should you. In the paragraph, it talks about using a mixture of avocado and paleo mayo. Oops. I should have read the recipe instructions more carefully as they would have tipped me off as there is an "or mayo" mentioned there. I didn't pay that close of attention to the instructions, as other than measuring the ingredients, deviled eggs are usually just a dump and mix/process affair. I wish paleo mayo was listed in the ingredients list even if as an optional ingredient. My bad, but now you know -read everything!
I know some of you out there don't like paleo mayonnaise and may want to make it with all avocado, if you do, they will taste just fine. These eggs have an nice smoky sweetness to them.
Be aware that the filling will turn in color just like guacamole and I don't think adding lemon/lime juice would be a good idea flavor-wise to stop it. I took a picture of one of my eggs that turned in color, but I'll spare you that. Not pretty.
Aren't you glad you have me to test these things out so you wont end up with brown deviled eggs?
The next time I do this, I'm just going to use a spoon or maybe a small scoop to fill the egg whites. The piping experiment turned messy when the tip clogged with an unprocessed sun-dried tomato. My mixture was creamy so I thought it was done. I'll check it better next time.
I will make these again as I think they would be great for a party or "on the go" but I will experiment with a paleo mayo avocado mix. When I do, I'll update this post.
I've not seen where she has shared this recipe anywhere, so you'll have to get the book to enjoy and experiment with this recipe.