Eggs Benedict Tarts - A Fun New Take on a Brunch Classic

     Sometimes I am just in the mood for something delicious and decadent.  Ok, that is most times.  But I do try to only give in every so often.  It seems in the spring I think of brunch a bit more often than normal.  It must be that Easter and Mothers Day both seem to call for delicious brunch items.

    Breakfast food is always a favorite at our house, even if it is usually eaten for dinner.  We go through a lot of eggs.  More than I care to admit each week.  Luckily we have a couple of great sources of fresh eggs.  We normally get a couple dozen eggs a week from my cousin Cori.  Every few weeks we get a supplemental dozen or two from my father-in-law.  We are so spoiled that we can definitely tell the difference when we end up with store bought eggs in the mix.  I know, we really have it rough!

    Last week we did something sort of out of the ordinary for us.  We actually had brunch at brunch time!  It was a pretty day, so we had our brunch on the back porch.  I figured we do stuff like that so infrequently we better do it correctly.  To me, nothing screams leisurely brunch more than eggs benedict.

    Now here's the deal.  I didn't have any English muffins in the house.  So I got my wheels turning.  What did I want to use as the base?  Then it came to me!  A great way to have all of the flavors of eggs benedict in an even more fun presentation.  Plus it had the added bonus of not having to try to poach eggs and have them look pretty.  (I'm not great at that... yet!)

    I am so excited with how these egg benedict tarts turned out!  So was Jax.  He LOVED them.  He kept telling me how good it was the whole time he ate his and he didn't leave  morsel on his plate.  Yep. My two year old loves eggs benedict.  I'm totally screwed! ;-)

Printable Recipe

Eggs Benedict Tarts

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup good quality ham, chopped or shaved
4 eggs
salt & pepper
1/2 recipe Hollandaise sauce

1. Preheat oven 350 F.
2. Cut puff pastry into quarters.  Score a border around the edge of each piece, about 1/2 inch from the edge.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until puffy and lightly golden brown,
3. Gently push down the center of the puff pastry and top each square with a few leaves of spinach and some of the ham.
4. Place an egg in the center of each tart and season with salt and pepper.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to you liking.
6. Serve with a drizzle of Hollandaise and enjoy!