diff --git a/app/Transformers/Api/Application/EggTransformer.php b/app/Transformers/Api/Application/EggTransformer.php
index 59811cd6..90680152 100644
--- a/app/Transformers/Api/Application/EggTransformer.php
+++ b/app/Transformers/Api/Application/EggTransformer.php
@@ -28,18 +28,6 @@ class EggTransformer extends Transformer
 
     public function transform(Egg $model): array
     {
-        // Fixes PHP returning an empty array rather than an empty object.
-        // Removing associative = true would also fix this, but that causes
-        // the tests to fail and may have other undiscovered side effects.
-        $configFiles = json_decode($model->config_files, true);
-        if ($configFiles === []) {
-            $configFiles = new \stdClass();
-        }
-        $configStartup = json_decode($model->config_startup, true);
-        if ($configStartup === []) {
-            $configStartup = new \stdClass();
-        }
-
         return [
             'id' => $model->id,
             'uuid' => $model->uuid,
@@ -53,8 +41,8 @@ class EggTransformer extends Transformer
             'docker_image' => count($model->docker_images) > 0 ? $model->docker_images[0] : '',
             'docker_images' => $model->docker_images,
             'config' => [
-                'files' => $configFiles,
-                'startup' => $configStartup,
+                'files' => json_decode($model->config_files),
+                'startup' => json_decode($model->config_startup),
                 'stop' => $model->config_stop,
                 'file_denylist' => $model->file_denylist,
                 'extends' => $model->config_from,
diff --git a/tests/Integration/Api/Application/Eggs/EggControllerTest.php b/tests/Integration/Api/Application/Eggs/EggControllerTest.php
index f5d8386a..58755545 100644
--- a/tests/Integration/Api/Application/Eggs/EggControllerTest.php
+++ b/tests/Integration/Api/Application/Eggs/EggControllerTest.php
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class EggControllerTest extends ApplicationApiIntegrationTestCase
             $expected = json_encode(Arr::sortRecursive($datum['attributes']));
             $actual = json_encode(Arr::sortRecursive((new EggTransformer())->transform($egg)));
 
-            $this->assertSame(
+            $this->assertJsonStringEqualsJsonString(
                 $expected,
                 $actual,
                 'Unable to find JSON fragment: ' . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL . "[{$expected}]" . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL . 'within' . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL . "[{$actual}]."
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class EggControllerTest extends ApplicationApiIntegrationTestCase
 
         $response->assertJson([
             'object' => 'egg',
-            'attributes' => (new EggTransformer())->transform($egg),
+            'attributes' => json_decode(json_encode((new EggTransformer())->transform($egg)), true),
         ], true);
     }