Hard boil your eggs in your microwave. No, really!

When I need a whole bunch of hard boiled eggs, I steam them on a rack, in a large, shallow pan. It works flawlessly. 

When I need just a few eggs, I turn to the microwave.

Yes, skeptical one. I said the microwave.

You may know that if you put an egg in the microwave, it will explode. And no one wants to clean that up. 

But with a little magic (or science, if you prefer) you can cook eggs in the microwave with very little fuss. 

I've had this microwave egg cooker for more years than I can remember (but Amazon says I bought it in 2016), and it's seriously the only way I "hard-boil" eggs when I need from 1-4 hard boiled eggs.

Before you go there, yes, I've tried cooking eggs in my Instant Pot, and ... no. Just no. I never found the exact formula for the right timing, and about half the time I got distracted and overcooked the eggs to death. 

The microwave gadget is easier. I just stick the thing in the microwave with eggs and water, set the time, and walk away. At worst, I get distracted and the eggs sit a little too long before I cool them off, but they're not continuing to cook at high temperature - they're busy cooling down. So although they might overcook a little bit, they're not on their way to becomes sauna eggs.

So, the science here is that the eggs aren't actually getting cooked via microwaves. They're shielded by the metal in the cooker, so the waves never reach them. Instead, the microwaves heat the water and turn it into the steam. The steam rises from the bottom reservoir and enters the chamber with the eggs. The eggs cook from steaming, just like the ones on the stove.

There are no adjustments or settings or buttons. It might take a few tries to get the timing perfect for eggs the way you like them, but after that, it's just a matter of setting the time on the microwave and then letting them rest a short time before cooling them in cold water - I just dump out the hot water in the reservoir and drop the eggs in there and add cold water.

Cleaning is simple. Unless an egg breaks (which rarely happens, but it can if an egg has a crack that I don't notice) there's not much to fuss with. I just rinse it off, and let it dry and I'm done.

The one I have is made by Nordicware and when I bought it, it was the only one available. Since then, other brands have produced similar microwave egg cookers. 

Nordicware is a quality brand, and I've been happy with my little egg cooker for a long time, so I recommend it. But if you find another one that appeals, I suspect there aren't a lot of differences. The bargain ones might be a tad less sturdy, but let's face it, this isn't a super-complicated device.