CincyEats

I discovered baked eggs on a blog, which at this point in time I don’t know what blog it was. I have since read about them on probably 10 blogs. You could say that I have become slightly obsessed with them. If cooked correctly they are creamy deliciousness. For me each bite is a little bit of heaven.  To top it all off they are so easy and versatile.  I have made these as a quick weekend breakfast or to feed a group for brunch.

As always there were variations in the recipes that I read. Some say you need to bake them in a water bath, which I did a couple of time. Some recipes say that heavy cream is a must, which I use most of the time. The hardest part of the recipe is getting your time down.  My oven takes 12 minutes.  Once you learn your timing the possibilities are infinite.

Baked Eggs from Christmas Diner (you will need 4 ramekins)

4 eggs

1 T chopped  fresh thyme and rosemary

1/2 cup cream

1 cup Gruyere (grated on a micro plane)

4 T Parmesan (grated on a micro plane)

dash of nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

about 6 stripes of bacon (depends on the length of the bacon)

1. Preheat over to 350
2. put bacon in a glass bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap, microwave one minute.  Continue in 30 sec intervals until bacon is partially cook , but still pliable.  Please note the bacon and grease will be very hot!
3. Once the bacon has cooled, line the outside of your ramekin with bacon, then put a small piece in the bottom.
4. next sprinkle about 3 T of Gruyere in the ramekin, followed by a bit of pepper, herbs and nutmeg
5. crack one egg in each
6. top each with 1 T of Gruyere and 1 T of  Parmesan, followed by salt, pepper, and nutmeg
7. pour about 2 T of cream on top of each and a little dash of herbs (be careful not to overflow)
8. place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. The whites should be just set. If they are not check on them every two minutes
9. once removed from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes

Variations:  On a normal weekend I will fry the bacon, crumble it and add it with the cheese on the bottom. Say, you have sausage, just use it instead.  Meat really isn’t a necessity,  I have also added carmelized onion. Spinach would be good too.  Make the seasonings work for you. We like things a little smoky and spicy, a pinch of cyanne and paprika do the trick.  Don’t let the recipe inhibit you. The only thing that should inhibit you is the size of your ramekin.