Bacon, egg, and cheese...... things.

What the heck are these things called.  We can't wander around asking for 'Those Bacon, Egg, and Cheese things'.

Yup, I saw these things on a Facebook post.  One of those 'Look how easy these delicious Bacon cups are and here's forty eleven thousand links to go with it' posts that people share.  I fell for it... because bacon.  Quit looking at me like that.  I'm weak, because bacon, and stuff.

Anyway, one Sunday morning I was kicking breakfast ideas over in my head, and this one surfaced. I had just enough of everything to make a tray of them, and the time.

Boiled down to basics, we are lining a muffin tin with bacon, and then pouring eggs into it. Bake in the oven, and there it is.  It's almost... sorta.... kinda... that easy.  Here's how *I* made them.

First, roast the bacon about 75% done. Not crispy, but cooked through at least.  Close to crispy.  Not-crispy enough so it can be bent and twisted, if that makes sense.

I do bacon like this on a baking rack over a sheet pan in the oven at 375 degrees.  The grease drops off mostly, and it's a controlled cooking with no splatter, mess, and almost never burned bacon.  Set the timer for about 20 minutes, and then check it a few times. When it's to your liking, pull it and just set the rack someplace to cool.  

If there are bacon thieves in the house.... post a guard.

Using a non-stick muffin tin (Large muffins, not the tiny ones), grease the cups.  I use butter, because life is better with butter.  And Bacon. And Cheese.  Lets face it... these things are about life being better.

Now we are going to make circles of bread to fit the bottom of the muffin tins.  I used both whole wheat, and potato bread.... basically just using up the dribs and drabs of several leftover loaves of bread.  The ones everyone leaves behind after the last sandwich or stack of toast... and it drives me nuts.  This a GREAT way to use up those few slices of bread, or sandwich rolls, or biscuits, or....

I used a small whiskey glass, with an open end a bit bigger than the bottom of the muffin tin.  Just press out circles of bread, one for each.

Into each muffin tin, coil a piece of bacon as a liner.  Now what I did was to take one slice and use it to measure how long it needed to be, and then cut all the cooked bacon to that length.

With the tins lined, press a bread round into the bottom and make sure it's pushed down all the way around.  This leaves more room for eggs and such.

On top of the bread round, I put about a tablespoon of shredded Monterrey Jack cheese.   Here, I'm pretty sure I missed a bet.  It would have been the BEST time to add some spice or herbs, or maybe a teaspoon of salsa.   Next time...

I scrambled one egg at a time in a bowl, and poured each into one of the muffin tins on top of the bread and cheese.  Try not to over-fill it, as it's going to puff a bit as it bakes.

Once all have been assembled, kosher salt was sprinkled over all, and fresh black pepper ground on with a heavy hand.  That's it for assembly.

Slide the muffin tin sheet into the 375 degree oven and set the timer for 15 minutes.  When it 'Dings', slide it out and add a pinch more cheese on top of each one, now that the eggs are partly set.  Back in, and another 5 to 7 minutes on the timer (depending on your oven and how done you like your eggs),

Remove from the oven, and let cool to below 'Lava From Hell' temperatures.  Ring the breakfast bell and get out of the way before the hordes run you over.

Lessons learned for next time:  

• Do some as sunny side instead of scrambled.
• Add fresh herbs, and more spices. Garlic, Parsley, Fennel, etc.
• Try various cheeses. Maybe a set with cream cheese, maybe with Gouda.
• That bread component... there's room to play with that. Biscuit dough perhaps? 
• It doesn't HAVE to be bacon... I suppose.  How about ham?