Eggs Baked in Toast Cup

Oh what fun I had this morning!  Breakfast most mornings consists of Greek yogurt with blueberry granola for me and oatmeal & toast for Ken.  Weekends are our time to splurge and bring out all the stops!  I really had fun this morning making these baked eggs in toast cups!  My original thought was to make eggs in a nest or eggs in a frame or such (you cut out the enter of a slice of bread, break an egg into the hole, and fry it) but I came across a few recipes for eggs in toast cups that just sounded perfect.

This would make a fun time in the kitchen for those of you with small children who enjoy cooking!  It's simple, easy, and you can make it your way.  No fuss, no muss.

Here's a photo of an egg cup that I snapped quickly before it was gobbled down!

Ingredients per egg cup (ramekin or muffin tin)

• 1 egg
• 1 slice fresh bread (use your favorite… regular white, whole wheat, sour dough, cinnamon raison, etc.)
• butter
• shredded cheese (your choice: Cheddar, Swiss, Munster, Smoked Gouda, etc…  whatever makes you smile)
• Cooked chopped ham, sausage crumbles or crispy bacon, optional     
• 
  
  Preheat oven to 375 F
  Butter each slice of bread and press butter side down into lightly greased ramekin or muffin tin, pressing it against the sides so that the crust comes up at least to the rim, making room for the eggs.  Don’t worry if your bread tears; just be sure to cover the hole by patching it with a buttered piece (I usually butter one extra piece of bread in case this happens).
  
  
  Sprinkle about 1 Tablespoon of shredded cheese over the bread.  Top this with about 1 Tablespoon of chopped cooked bacon, ham or sausage.  Break one egg into each ramekin and sprinkle with salt & freshly ground pepper to taste (I like lots of pepper!).  Sprinkle with a little more shredded cheese. Here they are ready to pop into the oven!
  
  
  
  Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes for eggs that are cooked fully through or about 15 minutes for soft cooked (runny) eggs.  I like my eggs hard cooked & Ken likes soft cooked & runny, so I put mine in first and then put his in the oven about 10 minutes later so that they come out at the same time. 
  
  
  To serve, run a knife around the ramekin to loosen the egg cup and slide it onto a plate.  You can also serve directly from the ramekins but they may be a bit  hot for little hands!  Here they are just out of the oven!
  
  
  
  Variations:  you can lightly scramble your eggs before putting them in the cups rather than breaking a whole egg into each cup.  For a vegetarian option, add your favorite veggies instead of bacon, ham or sausage.  If you want to make this more like a quiche, then scramble the egg with a bit of milk before pouring it into the ramekin.
  
  
  Ramekins cone in different sizes; 1 egg fits  nicely in the smaller size and 2eggs fit into the larger size.  You can also make these in regular sized muffin tins, which works perfectly for the one egg size.