Hash Brown Egg Cups

On the Today show Siri Daly whipped these up and I thought what a great breakfast -- since I ended up with extra hash brown cups -- we saved them without cooking the egg and he just added a poached egg to it for a quick and easy breakfast during the week. As you can see by the firmness of the yolk I would cook them less next time. Also we used frozen hash browns and added chopped red pepper and cheddar to the mixture! Also added chopped tomato with the avocado topping!

• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 4 cups frozen sweet potato tots, thawed
• 2 cups frozen potato tots, thawed
• Cooking spray
• 8 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• Diced avocado (optional)
• Hot sauce (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high. Add the onion, and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the potato tots, and cook, using a wooden spoon to stir and break up the potatoes so they resemble hash browns, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Line a large colander with a few paper towels, and add the hash brown mixture. Wrap up the hash browns with paper towels, and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

3. Coat 8 cups in a muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the hash brown mixture evenly among the muffins cups (a few tablespoons each). Using fingers or a rubber spatula, push the potato mixture onto the bottom  and up the sides of each cup, creating a tight nest. Spray once more with  cooking spray.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and crack 1 egg into each cup. Sprinkle evenly with the salt and pepper. Return to the oven, and bake until the whites of the eggs are set and the yolks are to desired degree of doneness, 6 to 8 minutes (you can cook for longer if you prefer a firmer yolk). Sprinkle with avocado and hot sauce for extra flavor hits,  if you wish.