~The Benefits of Baking Eggs & Bacon for Breakfast~

Sunday mornings in my kitchen involve taking the time to cook a sit-down, late-morning breakfast.  In the Summer we love to eat out on our deck and watch the joggers and bikers head up to Tussey Mountain, and, in the Winter we eat in the kitchen and watch the skiers come down "the mountain".  Joe and I have been empty nesters for about 19 years now, so perking some coffee, toasting some sort of bread, cooking a few eggs in any number of ways, and, frying some ham, bacon or sausage is a pretty easy thing to do for two.  But, it wasn't always this way:

Cooking breakfast for 3 teens + 1 hungry hubby = 1 dozen eggs! 

During the 1980's and 1990's we were raising three little boys with tiny appetites who turned into teenagers with tapeworms. Cooking breakfast for 3 teens + a hungry hubby = 1 dozen eggs.  It's shocking.  Scrambled egg days were a cinch... cook 'em in a big skillet and scoop 'em out.  However, in order to get everybody out the door at the same time, "sunny-side-up" egg days were  challenging!

During those years, I developed a couple of time-saving breakfast tricks that work great to date. Nowadays I use them both when we entertain a few overnight guests:

1)  My mess-free method for making a lot of bacon all at once, ~ Crispy Oven-Roasted Bacon ~ can be found in Categories 9, 15 or 20!

Place the bacon in a disposable aluminum broiling pan.  Roast in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Drain and serve.  How easy is that!

2)  Baking eggs in standard-sized muffin pans has been on B&B menus for years, which is where I first ate bacon-wrapped baked eggs.  It's a perfect way to make and serve a lot of eggs all at once.  My kids loved when I made them and they named them "bacon and egg muffins".  Then, one sunny-side-up-egg day, it occurred to me to use my muffin-top pans to bake sunny-side-up eggs too.  I never looked back!

Note:  There are lots of creative variations for eggs that are baked in muffin pans. "Baked eggs in birdsnests" for instance, line the muffin cups with hash brown potatoes.  Others contain toasted bread, cooked ham or sausage and/or sauted vegetables.  Here are my two go-to basic recipes:

How to make standard-size "Bacon and Baked Egg Muffins":

~ Step 1.  In a 375 degree oven, oven-roast, as directed above:

1 strip of thick-sliced bacon 

for every egg you are making, but, remove from oven after just 12-14 minutes.  Bacon will be partially-cooked.  Wrap each strip around the perimeter of each muffin cup.

Into each, carefully crack and add:

1  jumbo egg, at room temperature

freshly ground sea salt and peppercorn blend

~ Step 2.  In a 375 degree oven, bake until eggs are done to your liking.  My family likes them with soft runny yolks which takes 10 minutes.

Note:  Smaller-sized eggs bake in less time, so prepare for that if using extra-large or large eggs.  But take it from me: jumbo eggs fill each muffin cup almost to the brim and bake up perfectly every time!

Slide a thin spatuala down the side and underneath each egg, remove from pan and serve immediately:

 

How to make muffin-top "Baked Sunny-Side-Up Eggs":

~ Step 1.  In a 375 degree oven, oven-roast, as directed above:

1  strip of thick-sliced bacon

for every sunny-side-up egg you are making, about 20-25 minutes, or until fully-cooked to your liking. Remove from oven and set aside.

Into each muffin-top, crack & add:

1  jumbo egg, at room temperature

freshly ground sea salt and peppercorn blend

~ Step 2.  In a 375 degree oven, bake until eggs are done to your liking.  We like soft runny yolks, which takes about 6 minutes.

Note:  Smaller-sized eggs bake in less time, so prepare for that if using extra-large or large eggs.  But take it from me:  jumbo eggs fill each muffin-top cup almost to the brim and bake up perfectly each time!

Slide a thin spatula down the side and underneath each egg, remove from pan and serve immediately:

The Benefits of Baking Eggs for Breakfast/Brunch:  Recipe yields instructions for baking as many eggs and bacon, in either of two ways, as you want.

Special Equipment List:  11 3/4" x 8 1/2" x 1 1/4" disposable aluminum broiler pan(s), the kind w/corrugated bottom, standard-size muffin pan(s); standard-size muffin-top pan(s); thin spatula 

Cook's Note: Breakfast casseroles were invented for people who want to get all of the work done the night before.  You can find my recipe for ~ English Muffins, Sweet Sausage, Eggs & Cheese:  My Super-Simple Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole ~  in Categories 9, 17 or 20.  It feeds 12...  what's not to love about that!    

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2013)

Related articles

~Baked Eggs in Birds Nests (Hash Brown Potatoes)~

~ Traditional Eastern-European Easter Egg-Cheese ~

~ Simplicity: Creamy, Crunchy "Classic" Egg Salad ~

~ 'Moonstruck' Eggs in Brioche Toast (It's Amore)!!! (Not to be confused with English Toad-In-The-Hole) ~

~My Poached Egg & BLT Cheddar Biscuit Sandwich~