Breakfast Buttercups

Here are the breakfast buttercups we made at girls' night! So delicious.

Breakfast Buttercups

Makes 10 buttercups.

Note that while most recipes call for large eggs, this recipe calls for medium eggs.

10 medium eggs

10 slices white or wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

10 thin slices deli Swiss or cheddar cheese (about 5 ounces)

5 thin slices deli ham (about 5 ounces), halved crosswise

salt and pepper

1) Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place eggs in large bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let sit 10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, following instructions 1 and 2 below, roll bread as thin as possible with rolling pin and press into 10 perimeter cups of 12-cup muffin tin, leaving 2 center cups empty. Brush bread cups with melted butter and bake until light golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

3) Top each cheese slice with a ham slice. Make cut from center to 1 side of each stack. Fold each ham and cheese stack into cone and press into toasted cup. Crack 1 egg into each cup and season with salt and pepper.

4) Return muffin tin to oven and bake until eggs whites are barely set and still appear slightly moist, 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Let sit 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Engineering the cup:

1) Roll the bread thin before pressing it into the muffin cups; this makes it easy to shape the bread without tearing it.

2) Pinch the opposite long sides of the bread and press each slice into a muffin cup. Brush with butter and bake until light brown.

3) Cut a slit from the center to one side of each ham and cheese stack.

4) Fold each ham and cheese stack into a cone and place each cone in a toasted cup. Now you're ready to drop in an egg.

Tips:

Use oversize sandwich bread for the toast cups for the best muffin-cup coverage.

(Source: Cook's Country.)