4 Bacon Swiss Deviled Eggs

I love, love deviled eggs.  I make deviled eggs more than any normal person should.  I have several really great recipes, but the one I'm sharing today is a twist on a bacon and cheddar I do a lot.  I didn't have enough cheddar, so I used a really delicious, fruity Jarlsberg, which is very close to Swiss.

You'll need:

12 hard-cooked eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3-4 slices cooked bacon, minced
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 orange or red bell pepper, minced (optional)
pepper and salt to taste
minced green onion for garnish


To hard boil eggs, the best way is to cover the eggs in an inch of water, add a tsp of salt and a tsp of baking soda (yes, really!) and bring to a roiling boil.  Cover and remove from heat and continue to cook for 12 minutes. Remove from water, and then immediately chill in an ice bath. Chilling keeps the yokes from turning green. After chilling, crack eggs and return to ice water for a few minutes to loosen the shells from the egg.

Carefully shell eggs. Slice eggs in half lengthwise; remove yolks and set whites aside. 

In a small bowl, mash yolks with a fork, and any egg whites that didn't cooperate.

Fold in the mayonnaise, vinegar, dijon, bacon and minced peppers. 

Cheeeeeese.

Add the cheese to the mix - just add as much as you like, but not too much that it's dry.  You can always snack on the extra later ;)  Make sure you taste test the mix at this point for seasoning levels.  Need more mustard?  Too dry?  Add more mayo.  Too loose?  Add more cheese.  This is also the point where you can add salt, if it needs it.  The bacon and mayo tend to be pretty salty, so be judicious.

Now you can spoon or pipe the mix into the egg whites. To pipe, spoon mixture into a regular sized, self sealing sandwich bag. Seal and snip a corner off.  Squeeze bag into each egg white.  Today I used the spoon method, which isn't the prettiest, but it does get the job done.

When they're all filled, cover tightly and chill in the fridge (if you can keep your hands off them long enough.)

When you're ready to serve, sprinkle the tops with something colorful, like paprika (always a classic choice), more minced peppers, or some green onions.