Recipe: Bacon and Egg Muffins

This might be one of the easiest breakfast foods I've ever made. It would feed a crowd brilliantly and quickly and it's so yummy! So here's what you'll need:

I didn't think I was going to blog this,
or I would have taken a better picture! This
is the finished product, prior to plating!

1 package of bacon
12 slices of bread
1 cup (approx) shredded cheese
12 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Start by preheating your oven to 400*. Then, cut the package of bacon up into small, bacon bit sized pieces, and stautee in a non-stick pan over medium/medium-high heat until they're cooked but not crispy. Don't over cook the bacon! It's going to cook some more in the oven so if you've already got it nice and crispy, it'll burn in the oven. When the bacon is almost done, remove and let drain on a plate with a paper towel.

While the bacon is cooking, grab a round cookie cutter or, I used one of our kitchen glasses, and cut circles out of the twelve slices of bread. Spray a muffin tin liberally with non-stick cooking spray and press the bread into the muffin cups. Add a *little* bit of cheese to each cup and I mean a little! These get full fast so just a pinch or two of shredded cheese is perfect.

After you add the cheese, carefully crack an egg into each muffin cup. Here's a suggestion: if you're buying eggs specifically for this recipe, I'd buy small or medium eggs. If you're just using what you have in the fridge, that's fine, but you made need to leave off part of the whites so that the cups don't over flow. Fair warning, at this point, the cups will be super full! Don't worry, the eggs should perch just nicely on top without overflowing as long as you heed my tip above. Once all the eggs are in the muffin cups, add a little salt and pepper and put bacon bits around the edge of the cups, leaving the yoke showing through in the center.

Put in the oven for 6-10 minutes. If you want runny yokes, pull out earlier. If you want solid yokes, leave them in longer. And if you have family members with different tastes, gently pop the yokes for the people who want their yolks done and leave the yolks for the runny folks intact, cooking them all for about 7 minutes. You ought to get the perfect consistency for everyone!

To remove, run a knife gently around the edge and they'll pop out easily.

If you're making this for a crowd or for kiddos, consider the assembly line method of putting these together. Have one person cut the bread circles and put them in the tin. Have someone else add the cheese, another person add the egg and another person top with bacon. It'll make it a super fun breakfast event! Happy eating!