Baked Eggs

Several weeks ago I started thinking about trying to bake eggs instead of frying them. I recently got a new gas cooktop with higher BTU burners and, for some reason, I've had trouble adapting to cooking eggs on it. DH is very picky about his eggs---he likes them over medium, with the egg yolks cooked to a gelatin-like consistency (not runny, but not fully cooked). Frankly, I like them that way, too, but I don't really mind if the yolk is a tiny bit runny. This requires constant watching on the cooktop and, for some reason, it's become more of a challenge with the new cooktop. An added advantage of baking, I thought, would be eliminating the small amount of butter/canola oil I use in the pan to cook the eggs (although the amount was negligible and I'm certainly not eliminating all oils from my daily intake).

Anyway, I decided to investigate baked eggs. I found a few references to cooking them in muffin pans, but it seemed like that would produce little hockey pucks. Some people said they had a terrible time getting them out of the pan.

I ended up using a muffin top pan, which I lightly sprayed with some vegetable oil. For our eggs, I cook them 8 minutes, then I puncture each egg yolk with a toothpick and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes longer. I end up with essentially over-medium eggs, only better. They come out perfectly by running a soft spatula (the type you might use to fold egg whites into a batter) around the edges and lifting them out. Clean up was a breeze. An added plus is that, while they are baking, I can make whatever else we are having with our eggs and don't need to hover over them to make sure they cook properly.