I was wasting time on Pinterest, last night (the opening words of so many blog posts these days), when I spotted a link to The Burlap Bag's instructions for how to "Make 'Hard Boiled' Eggs in the Oven!"
I've got to tell you, the idea really appealed to me. I love hard boiled eggs, but with six children swirling through the house, it's been a very long time since I've felt free to leave a pot of boiling water on the stove.
Eggs in the oven though, that sounded like a good alternative - after all, if colored eggs can be baked into braided loaves of Easter bread, then why not plain old, everyday eggs in a mini-muffin tin to keep them from rolling around? I was certainly willing to give it a try. So, following the instructions from the Burlap Bag, I placed my egg filled muffin tin into the oven, and turned the temperature up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes...
...after which time, I lifted the "browned" eggs out of the pan with a potholder...
...and dropped them gently into a bowl of ice water, to stop the cooking process.
Once they'd had a few minutes to cool, I lifted one out, and peeled it (with more than the usual ease, I might add - the shell came right off)...
...and took a bite.
Perfection! Even if my picture is blurry, the eggs turned out just as wonderful as the Pinterest pinned pictures promised.
I should note though, after baking these eggs, I did a quick Internet search to see if there were any additional tips for roasting eggs, anywhere out there. It seems that pretty well the entire online Jewish community, with Passover Seder plates in mind, advises against roasting raw eggs in the oven without boiling them first (this wasn't a scientific survey, just the impression I got from the Google search engine). Apparently, raw eggs baked this way can crack, or even explode.
All of the eggs I baked, roasted to a "hard boiled" consistency in the 30 minutes, without even a hint of a crack in their shells. I'm not sure if it was the muffin tin, or the fact that I started the eggs in a cold oven, and let the heat rise around them, but it's certainly a method I will be using more often, without fear. Should you try it however (keeping in mind that egg sizes, and oven temperatures, and therefore cooking times vary), and end up with an oven full of goo - don't say I didn't warn you.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
We have never had one of our bread eggs ever even crack.
ReplyDeleteThat looks easier than the other method of perfect eggs I've seen recently.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I was instantly thinking they'd explode too. I wonder if they are in the muffin tin if you can poke a hole {pin size} in the top where the air would be. But, if they don't explode I suppose there's no need..
ReplyDeleteI'm so going to do this for lunch tomorrow! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI did this last week and I'd say 9 out of the 12 cracked. I had planned to dye them for Easter but since they cracked, DS just ate them. They did seem easier to peel and were perfectly cooked.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! My Aunt cooks her scrambled eggs in the oven, and I just LOVE them, so why NOT boil them in the oven too!
ReplyDeleteI did this for the first time this year too, via Pinterest and Alton Brown's instructions. I placed 30 directly onto the oven racks, and only 3 cracked, two of which sort of exploded (I heard the noise), but because they were already cooking, there was no mess at all, just two small pieces of egg shell to pick up off the bottom of the oven.
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