Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups

One day, I received an email from my husband with the strange subject line of, "OMG. I want".  I opened the email to find something very unexpected -- a huge photo of bacon cups cradling eggs over light.  Suddenly, the subject line made perfect sense.  I remembered seeing something similar on marthastewart.com and, while her recipe is very different than what I came up with, it was a great starting point.  These turned out fantastic!  If you are a bacon lover, I highly recommend them!

Ingredients:
Yields 6 servings

• 6 100% whole wheat bread slices
• 12 slices bacon 
• 12 large eggs
• Shredded cheddar cheese 
• Salt, to taste
• Ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using a cookie cutter (or a drinking glass), cut out 9 circles in the bread.  Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until it is partially cooked but not completely crispy and still bendable, about 5 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.  Cut 6 of the bacon slices in half.  

Press the bread circles down into the bottom of 6 greased muffin wells.  Curl two halves of the bacon slices around the bread, to form the sides of the cups.  Break up the remaining 6 whole pieces of bacon and lay them flat on top of the bread, to form the bases of the cups.

Sprinkle some cheddar cheese into each bacon cup.  Crack an egg on top of each cup, being careful not to break the yolk.

Bake in the oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the eggs are set to your preference.

Run a knife around the sides of each muffin well.  Carefully pop the bacon cups out using a fork.

Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!