So a couple months ago, a publisher reached out to me with an idea for a cookbook concept, and asked me to flesh out some ideas and put together a proposal. While they ultimately decided not to move forward with the project (sort of a relief, I ultimately wasn’t super into the concept), I still have a few cool recipes that came from it. The working title was Cone You Dig It?!, and the book was going to be 75 recipes of food in cones. This one here is presented as it was written for the proposal.

Eggs Benedict is easily one of the most popular breakfast/brunch dishes in the US (seriously, every b brunch place ever seems to at least have a take on it), and when you start to break the dish down, it’s easy to see why: there is a perfect balance struck between carbs meat and eggs in the original, and then you top it with hollandaise, which is basically just butter sauce. But Eggs Benedict has been “done” so-to-speak, so despite its perfect simple elegance, it’s tough to impress anyone or have fun with eggs benedict unless you’re making some crazy variation of the original. It’s time to put some fun and appreciation back into the original!

Eggs Benedict Cones (Makes 4 Cones)

Ingredients

Lemon-Maple Waffle Cones

• 2/3 c all-purpose flour
• ¼ c maple syrup
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Zest from ½ a lemon
• ½ t salt

Eggs Benedict

• 2 English muffins
• 4 slices Canadian Bacon
• 2 quarts water
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives

Hollandiase Sauce

• Lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 T butter
• Salt

Directions

1. Turn on waffle iron
2. Mix all waffle cone ingredients together and whisk very well.
3. Ladle about ¼ c of batter into the waffle iron and close.
4. Cook the waffles for about 60 seconds each, or until golden brown.
5. As each waffle comes off the iron, transfer it to a clean kitchen towel.
6. Right away while the waffle is still very hot, place the pointy end of your mold about ½ inch from the edge of the waffle.
7. Use the towel to lift the first edge of the waffle up and over onto the mold.
8. Continue to roll the cone with the mold, using the towel to handle the hot waffle.
9. Once the cone is rolled, press on the edge to seal it, and then pinch the bottom to form a seal.
10. Cones can be made up to a week in advance if stored in sealed plastic bags; do not store them in the fridge, as they will become stale much quicker.
11. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees
12. Slice the English muffins in half (like you would for normal eggs benedict), then dice them into 1 cm cubes.
13. Dice the Canadian bacon into similarly sized cubes.
14. Mix the bread cubes and ham together, then lay out in a single layer in an oven safe dish
15. Toast the bread and ham mix for about 15 minutes, or until the edges of the bread are starting to brown
16. In the meantime, bring a pot with 2 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon white vinegar to a boil.
17. Crack the eggs into a prep bowl to ensure that there is no shell; if you want to go super pro, use a separate small bowl for each egg to ensure separate poached eggs in the pot.
18. Once water is boiling, drop the eggs in and set your timer for 4 minutes and 15 seconds.
19. While the eggs are cooking, start melting the butter for your hollandaise sauce on high heat; be careful not to let it burn.
20. While that is melting, mix the rest of your ingredients into a high-sided and relatively narrow glass or cocktail shaker that will fit your immersion blender.
21. Once butter is melted and there is no more foam, pop your immersion blender into your sauce mix, turn it on, and slowly add the hot butter until it’s all in there (take about 15 seconds to pour it in), and then blend until you have a thick creamy sauce.
22. If your eggs are finished before you finish with your sauce and other components, take them out of the boiling water when your timer goes off and set them aside while you finish the other components.
23. Fill your cones from the bottom up with the toasted bread and ham mix, egg, hollandaise, and then chives.