After about a year and half of thinking about it, I did it. I made the bacon-baskets. And, let me tell you. They were damn good. And easy. And cheap. AND puuurrrfffeecccct if you have surprise company (and buy eggs by the five dozen). Not to mention, on this particular day, I tried cooking bacon twice on the stove and burnt it twice. I’m not talking “just didn’t slow roast, let it get too crispy to fast” kind of burning. I’m talking about “went outside and completely forgot about the bacon and the house is filling with smoke” kind of burning. TWICE. So, I was feeling a little discouraged, and still hungry. Naturally, I figured if I throw my ingredients in the oven, it will be the oven’s fault if it burns again. I guess that’s some kind of logic. So there you have it. I made only three bacon-baskets, because I was home alone, but you can make as many as you’d like.
Here’s what you need:
- 1 piece of bread (per basket)
- 1 piece of bacon (per basket)
- 1 egg (per basket)
- maybe some salt and pepper to taste
- and, VALENTINA.
Oh, and cheese. Duh.
Preheat that oven to 400 degrees, and get to crafting.
I recommend starting the bacon before anything, because if you’re slow roasting it (which you should be) it takes about five minutes longer. I took a nice big picture so you could see what setting my burner is on. Three: my personal fave. And, don’t forget, it’ll be cooking longer in the oven too so don’t try and crisp it up right meow on the burner.
I take a picture for this step, because its always something I forget to do. Grease. The. Muffin. Pan. Butter, spray, oil, shortening, I don’t care what you use, but it’ll be one helluva mess if those eggs get stuck to the pan. Trust. Me.
If you have a sweet tool that can cut a hole in your bread that is more high-tech than mine, fine. But, I think the glass is the best thing since…well. sliced bread, I guess. Also, if you put the hole in the middle you can use the bread later for smushmortions-in-a-hole. Which I love.
But, didn’t think about until I was on my last piece of bread. Damn.
Does this step surprise you?
Next, grate some cheese (sharp cheddah is what we have here) and sprinkle some on your uncooked bread circles. Also, by now your bacon should be close to being done, so remove it from the heat, pat it off, and put it in your basket.
You should have something that looks a little bit like that. My bacon pieces don’t quite go ’round because I had center-cut that week. Which are teeny-weeny bacons. But, also. Really really really good. So, put this in the oven for about five minutes so the bacon can crisp up a little more, and the toast can become toasty.
This is important. If you want these to be perfect, this MUST BE THE HOT-SAUCE you use. I bet you can guess, the eggs and spicy-spice go in next. Now, for the sake of my boyfriend’s sensitive palette (and for my own practice) I have cracked one of the yolks and mixed up the egg/cheese/spicy-spice to see the difference in cooking time. The one with the cracked egg could have stood to be in about two minutes longer for the sake of a completely non-runny yolk.
I recommend not using a large portion of the egg white, because mine seemed like they would flood the cupcake holes if I did. And, they were way tasty without all that goo anyway. A little salt and pepper and those babies are ready to go back in the oven. And, just in time for me to want to smoke a cigarette.
After about 8 or so minutes, the white should be set and the yolk creamy (or…you should have a teeny scramble after about 10).
And, basically, there you have it. Be mindful when taking these guys out, you don’t want to get egg errywhere.
Ta-Da! Enjoy! (there’s only like 3 dishes to do later!)
wish i was a bacon people