Christmas Morning Egg Nests

Christmas Morning Egg Nests

Here are some Ham ones I made in mini loaf tins, right before I cracked the egg on top to bake them.

Special Tools:

Four 4 inch in diameter ramekins that are oven safe. Slightly larger or slightly smaller will also work, but it needs to be a small vessel that is larger than a traditional muffin cup. If you happen to own a "muffin top only" style muffin pan it might also work well. Or I own a couple mini spring form pans that are seriously the best ever for this recipe,  the edges will spring off easily, and then all you need to do is lift the nest off the bottom.

Conversely you could prepare this as a more traditional casserole. I'll leave the instructions for what I would do if making it as a casserole and you can make your own choice how you want to make it.

Ingredients:

• About 1 pound or 2 1/2 cups of frozen mini hash browns, thawed or small diced potatoes
• 2-3 Stalks Green Onion, sliced
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 Egg Whites
• 1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• Cooking Spray
• About 1 1/2 Cups Shredded Ham, Bacon, or Sausage etc
• 4 Eggs
• About 1 cup Shredded Cheese, like Cheddar, Swiss or your favorite cheese

Instructions:

Make Ahead!

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a medium bowl combined the thawed hash browns or potatoes, egg whites, garlic, and onion powder together and season with salt and pepper.
3.  Add the sliced green onion and stir to mix evenly. 
4. Spray the ramekins with cooking spray and press the hash brown mixture into each ramekin, pushing it against the bottom and sides to make a little nest inside the ramekin. 
5. Bake the ramekin hash browns for about 15 minutes, or 20 minutes if you used fresh potatoes, until just slightly brown and set. 
6. Set aside.
7. Prepare the meat for the nests by either cooking and crumbling the bacon, cooking the sausage and crumbling, or shredding leftover Christmas ham. 
8. Divide the breakfast meat between the four ramekins and set aside again.
9. Shred the cheese and divide the cheese between the four ramekins, making sure the cheese goes right to the edge of the ramekin. Cover the ramekins and set in the fridge until 30-60 minutes before breakfast time.
10. 30 minutes before making breakfast, remove the ramekins from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
11. Preheat oven to 400°F.
12. Remove the plastic wrap from the ramekins and working one at a time crack a whole egg into the center of the nest. I personally am a TERRIBLE egg cracker, so I crack the eggs into a small bowl, check to make sure I did not get any shells in it, then pour the egg into the nests. But if you are a braver or better person than I am you can just go ahead and crack the egg over the top of the nests.
13. Once you have an egg cracked over each nest, season with salt and pepper and bake at 400°F for about 13-15 minutes, or until the eggs are set to your preferred done-ness level.
14. Serve hot from the oven either in the ramekin, or you can use a butter knife to loosen the nests around the edges of the ramekin and carefully lift the nests out.

Enjoy!

Make Right Now!

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a medium bowl combined the thawed hash browns or potatoes, egg whites, garlic, and onion powder together and season with salt and pepper. 
3. Add the sliced green onion and stir to mix evenly. 
4. Spray the ramekins with cooking spray and press the hash brown mixture into each ramekin, pushing it against the bottom and sides to make a little nest inside the ramekin. 
5. Bake the ramekin hash browns for about 15 minutes, or 20 minutes if you used fresh potatoes, until just slightly brown and set.
6. While your nests are starting to cook, Prepare the meat for the nests by either cooking and crumbling the bacon, cooking the sausage and crumbling, or shredding leftover Christmas ham. Also shred the cheese you plan to use.
7. Once the hash brown nests are set, remove from oven and divide the breakfast meat between the four ramekins, and then the shredded cheese over the tops of the nests.
8. Working one at a time crack a whole egg into the center of the nest. I personally am a TERRIBLE egg cracker, so I crack the eggs into a small bowl, check to make sure I did not get any shells in it, then pour the egg into the nests. But if you are a braver or better person than I am you can just go ahead and crack the egg over the top of the nests.
9. Once you have an egg cracked over each nest, season with salt and pepper and bake at 400°F for about 13-15 minutes, or until the eggs are set to your preferred done-ness level.
10. Serve hot from the oven either in the ramekin, or you can use a butter knife to loosen the nests around the edges of the ramekin and carefully lift the nests out. 

Enjoy!

Casserole Tips:

Follow the instructions above for either make ahead or make now, but instead of dividing everything between four ramekins, use one medium sized casserole dish, and crack an egg towards each corner or over the top. To serve simple slice and lift up out of the casserole dish.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Christmas in October! I am pretty much on department store time here, but there is a slight method to my madness, this time anyways. I had made these last Christmas, ten months ago for my soon to be mother-in-law for our Christmas morning breakfast. As it was tradition in my family for breakfast to be something that was prepared the day before so Christmas morning could be about family time for everyone, not family time for everyone but my mother while she scrambled in the kitchen to make something to feed us. So to encourage the blending of our two family traditions I said I have breakfast covered.

These little breakfast nests were delightful, I had seen a recipe for a similar breakfast next on pintrest a few times, and once in the Sobey's "Occasions" holiday book for 2012. But I am never happy to just trust in a recipe and so a few changes were made.

Now, I only started the blog in March 2013, so Christmas 2012 didn't quite make it on my list of recipes, and Miss Busy Bee has been using this blog for the selfish reason of keeping all my good recipes in one place. My system of loose leaf notes of recipes jammed underneath my stand mixer wasn't working for me anymore. So honestly I had lost this recipe and all my notes for it and was quite upset that I would have to try and wing it if I ever wanted them again. But I was a slightly better organizer than I had thought and I found all my  notes for Christmas Morning Egg Nests! Happy times! I made mine last Christmas with bacon and leftover shredded ham, but any shredded breakfast meat will be great in these.

So I'm going to write this one down in a slightly safer place now. Loose leaf didn't work for my notes in high school, not sure why I was convinced it was the best way to keep recipes I liked. But live and learn and try and do better is all one can do.

PS: You don't have to use meat in these at all, you could also make a vegetarian option by switching out the breakfast meat with mushrooms and diced bell peppers.