Eggs-cuppable

Wow. What a crazy week. There was time to cook, but no time to blog. I have a list of meals to present. Let's start with breakfast several days ago.

I've had varied success with baked eggs in the past. Despite my general interest in complicated recipes, I never can bring myself to place the ramekins or other baking dish in a pan of water during cooking. I've also found that preparing eggs this way takes much longer than every cookbook I've read suggests. Still, about every six months or so, I make another attempt. This time, the results were pretty good.

The Method

• several thin slices of good bread (I used honey wheat from Three Sons Bakery)
• fresh eggs (Thank you OPO!)
• pre-cooked ham or other breakfast meat (optional)
• cheese (I used a terrific gouda from Sweet Grass Dairy)
• several TBs unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spray a cupcake pan with cooking spray
3. Cut the bread into sections to cover the bottom and sides of each "cup" in the pan
4. After arranging the bread, place a small piece of meat in the bottom of each cup.
5. Crack a single egg into each cup.
6. Place a few small pieces of cheese, and a 1/2 tsp of butter on each egg.
7. Bake for ... well, recipes generally say 5-7 minutes...for up to 30 minutes.
8. Check the eggs occasionally after the first several minutes. You want the whites to just set. (I left mine in too long this time.)

The Results

This is a fun way to prepare and present eggs. The result is a crispy, toasted cup filled with creamy egg. You can easily make these without the meat or cheese, but those add something to the dish. Substituting sauteed vegetables would be great, too.