So far my recipes for the A to Z blog challenge have included the oft-villainized cream cheese, breading, and bourbon.  If we’re going to continue down this highway to diet hell, why not throw in a good dose of deviling?

My Secrets from the Southern Living Test Kitchens book defines deviled this way: “A term that refers to highly seasoned food such as deviled eggs or deviled crab.  (Can I just insert my own salivating ‘Yum!’ here?)  The hot, spicy flavor might come from red pepper, mustard, hot sauce, chili powder, black pepper, or horseradish.”

The book goes on to provide a recipe which includes Dijon mustard and instant potato flakes.  It says the flakes make for a “full-bodied filling.”  Feel free to turn your eggs into voluptuous temptations, but for now I think I’ll stick to the boring basic-bodied variety.

In my opinion, one of the secrets to a heavenly deviled egg is starting off by mashing the yolks with a fork to a fine, crumbly consistency.  Lumpy deviled eggs are just dastardly.  Then I add a little salt, a little sweet pickle juice, Miracle Whip (NOT mayo) and plenty of mustard.  I cream this mixture with a hand mixer and then pipe it into the egg whites.  I prefer paprika for a garnish, but if you want to go Southern Living style, use fresh dill springs instead.

Isn’t deviling divine?