Food Network stars are here to help!

Whether you like it or not, Christmas is coming. The season of holiday parties, family dinners, cookie exchanges and eating until you sleep, only to wake up to eat some more.

Chances are over the next few weeks, you will do some sort of cooking or baking, and we want to help you out. We've got some tips from the pros on how to best deal with your eggs whether you're frying, baking, poaching or whatever!

Food Network star Alton Brown says for the perfect over easy egg:

"Never crack eggs directly into a pan - always crack them into a cup or ramekin. Its the only way to make sure they cook evenly, and you can pour them into the pan right where you want them."

Inta Garten of Barefoot Contessa says:

"For best results when you're baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight."

Eggs are a protein food and, like dairy foods, meat, fish and poultry, should not be left unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours. Instead of leaving them at room temperature, place them (in their shell) in a bowl of warm water for 15 or 20 minutes before using them in baking. Even letting them sit on the counter while you gather and prep the other ingredients in the recipe will help take the chill off them.

Martha Stewart brings a tip on an easy way to remove the shell from a hard-cooked egg:

"Start at the broad end of the egg, which is usually where the air pocket is. Older eggs are easier to shell, generally, than freshly laid eggs."

Here at Egg Farmers of Ontario, we often get asked for a tip about peeling hard-cooked eggs easily. The trick is not to use eggs that are super fresh. Once you buy them, they should sit in your fridge for about a week before you cook them. This allows time for air to enter the egg through tiny pores in the shell. When you want to peel the egg, tap it all over on a flat surface to break up the shell. Then start peeling at the wide end of the egg. Peeling the egg under running water will also help to loosen the shell.

Click on this link to watch egg farmer Diana Schenk demonstrate how to peel a hard-boiled egg.