Bacon Egg and Toast Cups

In my mind, this recipe was the surprise favorite from my personal menu contributions for our Breakfast Themed Dinner Club.  Funny how that works since this one had such simple ingredients and was the easiest to make in bulk!  Or, maybe it's because this was a blog recipe (vs. All Recipes) and I generally have better luck with those.  You can bake up to 2 muffin tins (24 bacon egg and toast cups) at the same time so it's a great recipe to serve for to a crowd.  They're great snacking and finger foods which are generally popular in our dinner club crowd.  And, they can be saved and re-heated in the oven or toaster oven for later.  These made an awesome lazy breakfast the morning following our gorge fest.  Yum!

I'll say that I've always been slightly afraid of eating my eggs any way except for scrambled, hard boiled, or in an omelette because there's something about liquidy egg yolks that just gross me out...that and a fear of contracting samonella.  The eggs in this recipe when cooked as directed are still runny but you can cook them longer (watchout, this could result in a rubbery egg white though).  Since I did make this recipe, I gave the recipe a try...runny yolks and all.  I'm happy to report that I did not get sick and I actually enjoyed it!  This recipe has converted me..at least in this application.  I'm still not a sunny-side up girl and will stick to my fully cooked yolks, if at all, for other egg applications!

I can also see this recipe with a variet of twists - added ham bits, peppers, onions, mushrooms, different types of cheese and/or bread.  The possibilities are endless!

The Noshery, the blog from which I found this recipe, also has a version that is french toast cups stuffed with sausage and apples that I'd like to try sometime.  I think I'd have more luck with Chris eating that one over this one which is clearly eggy.  Of course, with all the other stuff I was making for this round of dinner club, that recipe will have to wait for me to make it another time!

Bacon Egg and Toast Cups
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Yields: 6 cups (can easily be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled for a crowd!)

Ingredients

• 6 slices of bread (I used wheat)
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheese
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with butter non-stick spray.
2. Using a cookie cutter or a wide-mouthed glass, cut circles out of bread slices about 3 inches in diameter.  Take bread circles and press them into the muffin pan, set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet on medium-high. Cook bacon on the skillet until partially cooked but still pliable, about 3 minutes. 
4. Shape bacon strips into the toast cups, fill with 1 Tablespoon of shredded cheese. Place in the oven for 5 minutes, allowing the bacon to toast just a little more. Remove from oven.
5. Crack an egg and drop a whole egg into the cup, sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.  Repeat for remaining cups.  Place back in the oven and cook until white begins to set, about another 8 – 10 minutes. The yolk should be creamy.  If a more fully cooked yolk is desired, continue cooking until desired done-ness is achieved.
6. Remove from oven when done and pop out using a spoon, serve warm.

Source: The Noshery