Eggs Benedict

If I could, I'd swim in this breakfast. Seriously. It's SO good! My Fairy Godmother makes this once a year - on Christmas Day! I can't eat this in restaurants because it never tastes like this..it would just ruin the specialness of the recipe and the day.

So, since this is her specialty, I thought I'd let her write this blog post! Enjoy :)

I was delighted when Snow White asked me to write on her blog about our family's Christmas morning tradition of making Eggs Benedict after the presents have been opened.  So, now that the festivities have died down somewhat, I've laid my wand down for a few minutes and have taken to the keyboard to spell out the magic that describes what has become a very special treat for our family.  

Long ago and far away when all the dwarfs and Snow White were young and still at home in our little cottage I wanted to make a special Christmas breakfast - one of my very favorites.  I had qualms at first because I didn't know if they would all love Eggs Benedict as much as I did.  But I decided to pick my wand up one Christmas morning and give it a try.  They all loved it!  Fast forward to this year when I mildly mentioned that maybe it was a bit too much for me to prepare for the whole clan and there were groans and worried looks.  So, I bibbity-bobbitied my way sleepily into the kitchen after we opened presents and gave it my best wand wave once again.  Now, I can't say that I make the best Hollandaise sauce in town, and it's been known to curdle or "break" on me in a heartbeat if I turn my back even for an instant.  But with all the love in my heart I try and this year somehow my Christmas morning Hollandaise sauce came out like a dream.  

Eggs Benedict is a scrumptious concoction one makes by stacking toasted, buttered English muffins, Canadian bacon and gently fried eggs then slathering on the Hollandaise sauce.  Add a side dish of oven roasted seasoned potatoes and you are in for a treat of storybook proportions!  Yes, yes, you read it right.  Gently fried eggs, not poached.  I've found that if I wave my magic wand over each egg just slightly as it gently fries, then all is well and no poaching is needed.  Besides, it's awfully hard to poach enough eggs for our entire clan and have everyone eating un-curdled Hollandaise sauce at the same time!  Maybe your family will love it as much as my dwarfs and princesses do too!

Here is what you will need to have it all prepared just right:

Toasted, buttered English Muffins, most likely two halves per dwarf or princess (or in the case of some extra hungry dwarf you might need three!)

Gently warmed Canadian bacon slices - I put two slices on each toasted muffin half

One poached or fried egg per muffin half

A generous amount of Hollandaise sauce freshly prepared - I make a blender Hollandaise sauce from my trusty America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.

Here's my recipe:

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 cubes or sticks of butter, melted and kept warm

A pinch of cayenne pepper

In a blender place your egg yolks and lemon juice together and whirl until smooth.  Now here's the tricky part.  Put on some patience because this takes a bit of time!  Slowly and with the blender running on medium high trickle in your warm melted butter.  Just a dribble at a time. After you have about half the butter in, stop the blender and check your consistency - if it's looking thick already then add 2 teaspoons of hot water.  Continue to slowly add the rest of your butter.  At the end, you will will have a thick creamy sauce.  Whirl in your cayenne and a little salt and pepper and you are done!   

For our group of dwarfs and princesses I have been known to make up to 4 recipes of this sauce at a time and then make another recipe later for good measure!  That is a lot of eggs and butter - so plan ahead to have a little chat with your chickens and milk cow so they will play nicely for you. Good luck!   

Blogs I'm linked to: Diana Rambles, What's Cooking, Love?, Six Sisters' Stuff, Sweet Boutique, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Couponing & Cooking, Love Bakes Good Cakes