Coffee Dyed Eggs

How happy are you the sun is finally beginning to peek around the clouds on a somewhat regular basis? We’re so delighted, we ran outside and gathered bowls of flowers, grass clippings, and leaves to use in dying some eggs. Whether or not you have a bunny that lays eggs in your garden every Spring, decorated eggs remain a beautiful symbol of rebirth and renewal, as nature sheds her warm blankets and rolls around on the green green grasses. We decided to celebrate with coffee dyed eggs.

You can do this project for almost no cost and it’s a lot of fun with kids. Let them get their hands into those used coffee grounds. So what if you end up with a broken egg or two? (We broke one after wrapping it in nylon and the nylon prevented the mess!) Try different patterns with different types of leaves and flowers. We wouldn’t have guessed it, but some of our favorite designs came from simple blades of grass.

Coffee Dye Eggs Recipe

2 tsp white vinegar

1 cup used coffee grounds

water

4 raw eggs

nylon stocking

4 rubber bands

flowers & leaves for decorating

Cut nylon into 4 square or rectangular pieces, about 3-5 inches. Wet the outside of an egg with water just slightly. This will help the flowers and leaves stick. Place flowers and leaves as you like on the surface of the egg. Tightly stretch a nylon piece around the egg and secure it with a rubber band.

After all eggs are wrapped, arrange them in a pot with the coffee grounds. Add vinegar and just enough water to cover the eggs completely.

Over medium high heat, slowly bring the pot to a simmer. Simmer 8 min, then remove from heat and allow to sit in the hot water 2 minutes more.

Gently remove eggs from liquid with a slotted spoon, placing them into a glass jar (we used a 1 quart mason jar for 4 eggs). Spoon coffee grounds over the eggs in the jar, then pour over with as much of the hot liquid as will comfortably fit in the jar. Refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.

Remove cold eggs from the liquid with a slotted spoon. Discard the used grounds and liquid. (The grounds are compostable!)

Carefully unwrap each egg, rinse with cold water to clean off, and dry with a towel. We think coffee dyed eggs are beautiful, we think you’ll see them the same way.

If you’re looking for other fun holiday ideas, we offer some fun Thanksgiving recipes and short-cuts.