Eggs a la Goldenrod

I bet making breakfast on last night's basketball game. I won the bet, so my husband got up early this morning to make my request: Eggs a la Goldenrod. This was one of his favorites growing up. My mother-in-law introduced me to it when Cody and I got married. I thought my husband would be okay figuring it out, or at least ask me when he needed help, but it ended a rather epic failure. Fortunately, I was able to spell him and he took care of kids and watched TV while I started over and made the family favorite. I am now writing down the recipe, so he will have something to follow, and we will hopefully avoid future Goldenrod disasters. You'll notice this recipe isn't the traditional Eggs a la Goldenrod. This one is packed with flavor, hearty, and delicious.

Eggs a la Goldenrod
6 hard boiled eggs
1/2-1 pound bulk breakfast sausage, or links cut into small pieces (use as much as you want to feed your family)
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 TBSP maple syrup
1/2 tsp hot sauce
buttered toast
shredded cheddar cheese

1)If you haven't already, hard boil the eggs: Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water (cold promotes even cooking, since the water and the eggs all start the same temperature). Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover with lid and turn the heat OFF. Let stand for 15 minutes exactly. Then remove eggs to a bowl of ice water and let chill for 5-10 minutes. Peel off shell and rinse.
2) In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat. Crush it with a spoon to make little pieces.
3) Heat milk in the microwave for 3 minutes.
4) Add the butter to the skillet with the sausage and let melt (still over medium-high heat). *If you had a particularly fatty type of sausage, and there's a lot of rendered fat in the pan, reduce butter to 3 tbsp.*
5) Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and butter and stir 30 seconds, scraping the bottom of the pan, and making sure the flour and the butter are fully incorporated.
6) Add milk and stir often until the mixture comes to a boil and the milk rapidly thickens. Reduce heat to low.
7) Chop the boiled eggs--white and yolk together--into large chunks.
8) Mix the eggs and the seasonings into the sausage gravy and stir to combine. Let cook for about 1 minute.
9) Serve sausage and egg gravy over buttered toast and sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese.