A healthy take on not so healthy Scotch egg

Frankly, it’s hard to produce a healthy rendering of a Scotch egg. But we decided to give it a go, because these delicious little calorie bombs are just too tempting.
For anyone not familiar with them, a Scotch egg is a hard-boiled egg that is coated in sausage, then deep-fried. They can be eaten cold or — to add a few more calories — hot with a side of gravy.
As we looked at the recipe, we found really only one place to cut back — the frying. If you cut the egg or the sausage, it simply isn’t a Scotch egg.
And it turned out that baking the eggs in a very hot oven worked nicely, producing a perfectly crisp outer coating without overcooking the tender egg inside.
BAKED SCOTCH EGGS
Start to finish: 1 hour
7 eggs, divided
1 pound loose breakfast sausage meat
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
Salt and ground black pepper
Place 6 eggs in a medium saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover and remove pan from heat.
Allow to sit for 8 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water until chilled.
Divide sausage into 6 equal patties, using about 1/3-cup each, then set aside. In a small bowl, whisk remaining egg with flour until smooth. Place panko in another small bowl.
When eggs are cool, heat oven to 450 F. Carefully remove egg shells and use paper towels to blot the eggs dry. One at a time, place each egg on one of the sausage patties. Use your hands to flatten and wrap the sausage around the egg until completely enclosed in sausage.
Dip each sausage covered egg first in the beaten egg, then in the panko. Mist each egg with cooking spray and arranging them on a baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and the sausage is cooked through.
Serve immediately.
Servings: 6