Eggs Baked in Phyllo with Goat Cheese and Bacon

For the next few recipes, I am going to share a few of my favourite brunch ideas. Ideas that I've used to entertain a couple times, but do plan to use again over the holidays. These are tried and true recipes, and come with my own twist. Not everything can be made when guests are arriving at the door, and who really wants that much work anyways? It's supposed to be a holiday!

I do love baked eggs. But it doesn't lend itself to entertaining for a crowd easily. At least, not without a lot of dishes, or a large casserole of scrambled goo. This was until I racked my brain to be able to serve a Mother's Day brunch for a bunch. The problem was needing some sort of vessel to hold the eggs.

Pastry is good, but not quite as light and flaky as phyllo dough. Plus, there's no reason to feel guilty about not making phyllo dough yourself, and it helps to be widely available at many large chain grocery stores. It works to be nice little packages of individually served eggs which are easily plated, and many people will oooh and ahhh at your supremely hard effort. If you are looking to wow your guests over the holidays, but don't want to leave everything until the morning of the show, this is a very versatile recipe that can actually allow you to even relax. Yes, even over the holidays.

Ok, the complicated part is making the phyllo shells, and it's not too bad. It is especially nice during the holidays to ply things with butter, as with extra dishes, and colder weather, our hands get dry. They will not be dry anymore. Plus, then it just leaves you with placing the eggs in the cups, with any other desired accoutrements such as goat cheese, bacon, parmigiano, herbs Can you see how buttery this is?

Soon it's beautifully golden like this:

I used a little more than a teaspoon of goat cheese, and a couple teaspoons of chopped bacon.

Break the eggs into an individual cup, and then gently pour into the phyllo. Bake for 5 minutes, or until the white of the egg has just begun to set. Then add a little chopped herbs, I used flat-leaf parsley, smoked paprika, and kosher salt. Bake again.  

Phyllo Baked Eggs with Goat Cheese and Bacon

1 package of phyllo dough, defrosted according to package directions eggs, as many or as few as your want

1/2 cup (at least) of butter bacon, cooked and diced
2 tsp per egg goat cheese (chevre)
1 tsp per egg finely chopped herbs
couple teaspoons, parsley, chives

smoked paprika, less than 1/2 a tsp salt, less than 1/2 a tsp

muffin tin

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 fahrenheit. Grease a muffin tin, or more muffin tins if more than 12 eggs are desired.

2. Melt the butter, and have a pastry brush, and 2 tea towels slightly dampened.

3. Open the package of phyllo dough, and immediately take 3 sheets to a large cutting board. Cover the remaining dough with a damp tea towel. Cut the 3 sheets into 8 equal pieces.

4. With a pastry brush, cover 2 of the sheets with butter. Layer the other 2 pieces on top, and cover with more melted butter.

5. Carefully place the square into a muffin cup, being careful to shape it into the bottom without tearing it.

6. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, just until barely golden as the cups will be baked again with the eggs. Keep the phyllo cups in the muffin tin.

7. When it is time to eat, pre-heat the oven again to 375 degrees fahrenheit, or even 350 degrees, if you want a bit more time to spare, or are concerned that the cups might become too dark in colour.
8. When it's about 15 minutes before it's time to eat, place 1 tsp of goat cheese, and 2 tsp of chopped bacon into each phyllo cup. Then break an egg, one at a time, into a small ramekin, and then pour each egg into a phyllo cup.
9. Place the muffin tin with the phyllo cups and eggs into the oven. Prepare the herbs, smoked paprika, and salt ready.
10. After about 7-8 minutes, or when the egg whites have just set, remove the muffin tin, and sprinkle a few of the herbs over the top of the egg, as well as salt and smoked paprika.
11. Place the muffin tin back into the oven, and continue to cook the eggs until desired doneness is reached; approximately 12-15 minutes for over-easy, and 15-20 minutes for well-done. Do check an egg if you are unsure, as these do have a tendency to appear completely raw on the outside of the yolk, but are actually quite cooked. Generally, when the whites appear fairly firm, pull the muffin tin from the oven, and allow it to sit a minute before serving.
12. To serve, carefully remove each phyllo cup from the muffin tin with a knife, and place on a platter or directly onto a plate. I have to admit that this elegant little cups are even pretty tasty the next day; if they last that long

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