Spicy Eggs in a Hole

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(from Bethany’s recipe box)

Makes 6 toasts
You will need two heavy-bottomed rimmed baking sheets for this recipe; our favorite is the Wear-Ever Half Size Heavy Duty Sheet Pan (13 Gauge) by Vollrath. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, cut the toast holes with a sturdy drinking glass.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To adapt this classic skillet breakfast to the oven, we start by toasting bread (with a hole cut out) on both sides in a hot oven. A preheated, buttered baking sheet ensures that the bread browns without sticking, and cracking the eggs onto the hot pan helps them set up right away, preventing the whites from running all over. Adding a second, room-temperature baking pan to the setup acts as insulation, so when the eggs are returned to the oven they cook quickly but gently for a tender white and runny yolk every time.

Source: Cook's Country December/January 2013

Categories: Eggs and Breakfast

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 teaspoons hot sauce
  • 6 slices hearty white sandwich bread
  • 6 large eggs
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, shredded (1/2 cup)

Directions

  1. Adjust oven racks to lowest and top positions, place rimmed baking sheet on lowest rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine 2½ tablespoons butter with hot sauce. Spread 1 side of bread slices evenly with hot sauce–butter mixture. Using 2½-inch biscuit cutter, cut and remove circle from center of each bread slice.

  2. Remove hot sheet from oven and melt remaining 2½ tablespoons butter on it, tilting sheet to distribute evenly. Place bread circles down center of sheet and bread slices on either side of circles, buttered side up, in single layer. Return sheet to lowest oven rack and bake until bread is golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes, flipping bread and rotating sheet halfway through baking.

  3. Remove sheet from oven and set inside second (room-temperature) rimmed baking sheet. Crack 1 egg into each bread hole, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle eggs with pepper Jack. Bake on top oven rack until whites are barely set, 4 to 6 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking.

  4. Place sheets on wire rack and let sit until whites are completely set, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

  5. DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE: A RUNNY MESS If you crack the eggs into untoasted bread on a cold sheet pan, you’ll have problems—undertoasted bread and messy, overcooked whites that leak out underneath. No thanks.

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