Yesterdish’s Brunch Eggs

Hi friends! I’m Dori, Adam’s sister. How do you feel about brunch?

I really love brunch. It’s by far the best meal. It includes three of my favorite things: 1. a portmanteau, 2. champagne during the day, and 3. eggs with runny yolks. [I’m real happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but dim sum is the best meal of all time. Of all time! — Adam]

I probably also love it because growing up, my mom made the most epic brunches. She’d wake up really early and prepare enough food for 12 people (there were 4 of us) and we’d get to wake up to the most amazing smells. Bacon, muffins, waffles, potatoes… Let me tell you, the woman can cook a breakfast potato. I will never share a breakfast potato recipe on here because I know I should leave that to her. Now I want breakfast potatoes.

Back to the recipe!

The yolk stays wonderfully runny, the white is cooked perfectly, and the crust is fantastic–especially dipped into the yolk.

Bunch is also a great meal to make when you’re entertaining a crowd. It’s easy, cheap, and most of the dishes can be made ahead. The one thing you can’t make ahead, of course, is the eggs with runny yolks. It’s the central problem of serving brunch. Do you make people wait? Eat in shifts? Reheat eggs? There are always frittatas, stradas, quiches, et cetera, and they have their charms, but they all involve scrambled eggs and that just isn’t the same.

Well, I figured out how to make perfect eggs with runny yolks for a crowd, all at once. I have solved brunch. You’re welcome.

I want to tell you that I came up with this recipe on my own, but I didn’t. It was a team effort. Apparently baking eggs is French? [Eggs en cocotte, for example.–Adam] I’m not sure, my mom suggested it. The dough was my brother’s suggestion. It’s a dumpling dough, or something? I like it because it’s simple. The muffin tin was all me!

We apparently make a great team because the end result is perfect. The yolk stays wonderfully runny, the white is cooked perfectly, and the crust is fantastic–especially dipped into the yolk. I love these so much, I make them for dinner all the time.

I think they’re also pretty elegant. I can tell you that guests get really excited about them. Here, I just served them on plates, but you can serve them in fancy cupcake cups (don’t bake them in the cups) if the mood strikes you.

It’s really easy to customize (or let your guests customize) each individual egg cup. Here I made one with bacon, egg, and cheddar cheese and another with spinach and fresh mozzarella. You can really add anything you’d put in an omelette, just make sure to cook it first (the egg cooks faster than most things that you’d add to it).

Try adding chopped ham and serving them with hollandaise sauce for a new twist on Eggs Benedict. Or salsa and beans for huevos rancheros! Or add corn! (I really love corn in my eggs but everyone else thinks that weird. I’m trying to start a trend.) [Dori, stop trying to make corn happen. It’s not going to happen. — Adam]

One thing I forgot to write on the card, grease the muffin tins. It will help the crusts brown. If your crusts are on the thick side, consider baking them for 3-4 minutes before adding the fillings and eggs. You can see my crusts are a little light.

From Yesterdish’s recipe box.

---