Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Bacon Egg and Cheese Muffin

   Saturday morning is my day to cook breakfast.  I have always been an early riser, getting up really early every day of the week.  During the work week that means I get to the office around 7:00-7:30 each morning which provides a lot of time to work, study, and get ready for the day.  Saturday, however means breakfast.  Kendra gives me a hard time because I get on such a rut that I don't' think of other things.  Worst part is, it's really true, I could eat waffles every Saturday morning for the rest of my life and not get tired of them at all.
   Last Saturday I was determined to come up with something new and different and really prove to my sweet wife that I could be different.  The idea to make a scrambled egg, meat, cheese, and some sort of bread "muffin" came to my head.  I'm not creative enough to just pull things out of thin air, well at least very often, so I hit the internet in my search for such a creation.  I was kind of heading in the bisquick direction, but quickly moved from that to these muffins.  I read a few recipe blogs and then synthesized these which turned out to be exactly what I wanted.  They are really good, quick to assemble and they aren't bad the next day either.  I think they could be frozen and reheated, though I didn't try that.
   This variation uses bacon, since that is the meat I had on hand, but you could use any protein you wanted.  I'll add some suggestions to just get your head spinning after the recipe is posted.  Be sure to spray your muffin pans really, really think pooling  well.  I used my hands to smoosh the biscuit dough out flat then used my fingers to get the dough to be evenly distributed in the pan.  I did learn that I need to add the filling and cheese to each pan then pour the egg mixture over, which the recipe reflects.  It just didn't work out of me when I mixed it all together and then tried to be fair to each little muffin well.

1 can refrigerated biscuits (I used Pillsbury)
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup cheddar cheese 
5 eggs
5 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a muffin pan very generously with non-stick cooking spray.  In a medium size bowl, prepare your egg mixture, set aside. Flatten biscuits and place one biscuit in each muffin well, distributing evenly up the sides.  Place a heaping spoonful of meat and cheese mixture over evenly into each muffin well.  Add egg mixture to fill just barely the top of each muffin well.  Sprinkle with additional cheese.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the eggs are set and not jiggly at all.

NOTES:
  • I tried mixing all of the ingredients together and spooning evenly, I had some egg mixture left over which meant I had to go back and fill some of the wells that just didn't look full enough.  It's really your call, if you want to do separate, go for it.  Or roll the dice and be fair to each well.
  • Be sure to cook whatever veggies you may want to add, the water will wreck this, except for green onions.
  • Some combinations I thought of: 
    • Sausage and Cheese
    • Chorizo, jalapeño, and cheddar jack
    • Veggie
    • Spinach (sautéed) ham, swiss
    • Grilled Chicken, sautéed mushrooms, and swiss
    • Red bell pepper, sautéed onion, artichoke, and black olives
  • These come right our of the pan, if you spray them well enough.
  • Basic ratio is one egg to one tablespoon of milk for the egg mixture.  then you'll want about 2 tablespoons of mixture (whatever you want) per well to fill up.  
I served this with cinnamon rolls and a fruit salad (chopped up fresh fruit drizzled with honey).  Everyone loved it and I hope you do too.  I think these would be great for a brunch or busy on the go family who doesn't want to hit a drive through.  You can nuke and go with a great breakfast all week long.