How to make marbled Easter eggs

These marbled eggs might look impressive, but they're really easy to make. Here's how to do it…

This simple technique gives raw eggs a marbled effect using onion skins, which have been used as a dye for centuries. During cooking, the natural pigment in the onion skins stain the porous egg shell, producing an effect that looks a lot like marble. Underneath, they are ordinary hard-boiled eggs. Serve them up as a treat this Easter — for a snack, at a picnic or for a kids' party.

[Related feature: The 2012 Easter egg taste test]

You will need:

Raw eggs (if you use paler shells you'll end up with more contrast)
Onion skins, red or brown — brown works better if you're dyeing the eggs
Elastic bands
Food colouring

How it's done

Place the onion skins in a bowl and pour over boiling water from a kettle. Leave for about 30 seconds. This will make the onion skins more flexible and easier for the next step…

Drain the water from the bowl and wrap each egg in the slightly cooled, soaked onion skins.

Secure gently with a couple of elastic bands. Keep going until you've covered all the eggs.

Fill a saucepan with water and gently add the wrapped eggs. Bring to the boil and cook for 8-10 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, remove the eggs to a bowl of cold water to cool down.

Gently remove the elastic bands and the onion skins to reveal a beautifully 'marbled' hard-boiled egg.

Finally, dip the cooked, marbled eggs into a bowl of water with a few drops of food colouring added.

We used green, blue, yellow and red. If you don't have a deep bowl or jug, just use shallow bowls but turn the eggs with a spoon to colour them evenly.

Do you fancy having at go at making these? What are your favourite Easter treats?