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Simply satisfying elegant eggs in a toast basket with ham. Simple is good when your suffering brain drain first thing in the morning. This delight is from the kitchens of  narifox

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So, I love eggs. Loooove bread. Love cheese! And well, I'm a fox, so of course I love meats. The other day I realized I had never made eggs in a basket before. At first I was really hungry and decided I would make two, and when I went to the fridge to fetch the ingredients, lo and behold we also had ham and cheese. Now at this point, my mind is churning in a delicious mixture of ideas and bam! What if I made my two eggs in a basket... and put ham and cheese in the center!? Brilliant. When the bread grills, it gets deliciously crispy and paired with the gooey cheese and drippy yolk, you gets lots of interesting texture. You can also make a mini grilled cheese with the leftover circles of bread!



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Here's what you need:

3 T salted butter
Two large eggs
Two slices of white bread
3 slices of American cheese
1-2 slices of ham
Salt and pepper to taste
2 small lids

Here's how you make it:

1. In a non-stick frying pan, melt half a tablespoon of butter over medium heat.

2. While the butter is melting, stack your bread slices on top of one another and, using a pointed serrated knife, begin cutting a circle out of the middle of the bread. If you're unsure of your accuracy, you could use a small, circle-shaped pastry cutter if you have one in your kitchen or even a good-sized overturned cup! Save the bread circles.

3. Once the butter is nice and gently sizzling, put one of the holed bread slices in the pan and move it around so that all the butter gets absorbed by the down side while creating a small pool of butter on the inside of the circle (for the egg).

4. Crack your first egg and let it slip inside the bread circle. While the bottom of the egg is cooking, season the top of the egg with salt and pepper to your liking. If you don't have a non-stick pan, make sure you are constantly pushing the egg and bread around to make sure the whites of the egg don't stick to the pan. This could encourage yolk-breaking!

5. Place another half a tablespoon of butter on top of the bread and egg and prepare to flip it over once the underside begins to get golden brown. Be careful when flipping because if it lands too roughly, the egg will break! Once it is flipped over, let it sit for a few seconds so that the egg can set and then begin to push it around the pan, spreading the butter beneath it.

6. Once the underside is also a nice golden color, you can transfer the completed egg in a basket to a plate. As soon as you do this, place your two pieces of cheese and your ham on top of the egg in a basket and place a small lid over the plate. That way, the first one won't get cold and the cheese and ham will begin to heat and melt.

7. Repeat steps 1-5 to make the second egg in a basket. When finished, remove the lid from the plate and gently place the second slice on top of your ham and cheese'd slice. The heat from this second slice will help to further melt and heat the middle of the sandwich. Replace the lid. Now you're ready to make your tiny grilled cheese!

8. Take the third piece of cheese and fold it in half twice so that it will fit nicely on the bread circles. Melt the third tablespoon of butter in your pan and place both pieces of the bread in the butter, swirling the pieces around so that the undersides are completely covered in the butter. Place the tiny cheese squares evenly on the bread circles and place another small lid over the pan, letting them cook for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Flip one on top of the other and squee at the cuteness of your mini circular grilled cheese!

Once you remove the lid from your egg in a basket sandwich, everything should have melted together nicely. I don't advise microwaving this dish because if you leave it in long enough to melt the cheese, the yolk may cook itself hard! We don't want that, do we?



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Consider substituting the ham with cooked bacon or a sausage patty, and if you're not partial to runny yolk, you can always fry the eggs hard as well. Or if you're vegetarian, you could nix the meat altogether and fry up some green pepper and onion to put between the sandwiches. There are many variations that you could try with this recipe, so be open-minded and create something new! Given that this meal basically combines a breakfast sandwich and a grilled cheese, it makes a wonderful brunch meal!

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Allergy warning – recipe contains dairy & egg products