Creative food craft ideas
Love this slideshow of movie-scene-inspired foods at Martha Stewart in honor of the upcoming Oscars. Such goodies as Lady and the Tramp spaghetti and meatballs, Annie Hall lobsters, The Thin Man martinis, Mystic Pizza, well, pizza, Pulp Fiction cheeseburgers, Kramer vs. Kramer French toast, When Harry Met Sally apple pie, Like Water for Chocolate wedding cake….too many great ones to list.
[tags]Oscars, movies, Martha Stewart, apple pie, hamburger, cocktails, menus[/tags]
Some mornings, breakfast needs to involve slightly less thinking. Preferably something warm and savoury that doesn’t leave a frying pan in the sink before the first cup of coffee.
This easy egg bites recipe turns eggs, cottage cheese, cheddar and chives into little baked breakfast portions you can prepare ahead. Blend the base, pour it into a muffin tin and let the oven do the work.
The cottage cheese blends into the eggs, so you won’t be biting into obvious curds. Cheddar adds a familiar cheesy flavour, while chives give the mixture a little lift without needing to chop and cook a whole collection of vegetables.
These are oven-baked egg bites with a tender, lightly set texture. You don’t need a sous vide machine, individual jars or a complicated water bath.
If you’re planning a weekend breakfast table, you’ll also find plenty of sweet and savoury options in our make-ahead brunch ideas.
Two bites make a modest breakfast portion. Add toast, fruit or another side to suit your appetite.
Measurement note: Cup quantities use a 240 ml measuring cup. The weights are useful if you’re cooking with Australian measuring cups.
Full-fat cottage cheese is a good choice for a richer egg mixture. Lower-fat cottage cheese can also be used, although the finished texture may differ.
If there is loose liquid sitting on top of the cottage cheese, pour that off before measuring. Don’t squeeze the cheese dry.
Yes. Replace the cheddar with an equal weight of grated Gouda, Swiss cheese or Gruyère.
The cheese changes the flavour and saltiness, so adjust the added salt accordingly. A particularly salty cheese needs very little help.
Preheat the oven to 170°C conventional or 150°C fan-forced.
Grease all 12 wells of a standard nonstick muffin tin, including the sides. Eggs can cling to a pan with remarkable determination, so give this step a little attention.
Alternatively, use lightly greased silicone muffin cups supported on a baking tray. Ordinary paper cupcake liners can stick to baked eggs.
Place the eggs, cottage cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a blender.
Blend just until smooth and the cottage cheese curds have broken down. Avoid blending for several minutes, which introduces unnecessary air.
Let any thick foam settle briefly, then stir in the cheddar and chives.
Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 prepared wells, filling each approximately halfway to two-thirds full.
Leave space at the top. The bites will puff as they cook, even though they don’t contain baking powder.
If your muffin wells are unusually small, bake any extra mixture in a separate greased ovenproof dish rather than overfilling them.
Bake on the middle rack for approximately 20–25 minutes, beginning your checks at 18 minutes.
The centres should be set, with no liquid egg visible. For the plain cheese-and-chive version, a food thermometer inserted into the centre should reach 71°C or 160°F.
Silicone cups, different muffin tins and individual ovens can change the cooking time. Use the doneness checks alongside the timer.
Avoid waiting for heavily browned tops. These are little baked egg portions, and extended cooking can make them firm and rubbery.
Leave the egg bites in the tin for 5 minutes.
Gently loosen the edges with a silicone spatula and lift them out. Some settling after baking is normal.
Serve warm, or refrigerate promptly if you’re preparing them for another day.
Keep the egg and cottage cheese base the same, then choose one variation below. These are suggested adaptations; additions can affect baking time and texture.
Add ? cup cooked, finely chopped bacon alongside the cheddar.
Cool and blot the bacon before adding it. Reduce or omit the salt, and cook the finished bites to 74°C or 165°F because this version contains meat.
Replace the cheddar with ½ cup crumbled feta and add ? cup cooked, finely chopped spinach, measured after squeezing out excess moisture.
Reduce the salt. Wet spinach is one of the quickest routes to watery egg bites.
Replace the cheddar with the same weight of Swiss cheese.
Add ½ cup finely chopped cooked mushrooms, measured after cooking. Sauté the mushrooms until their released liquid has evaporated, then cool before adding.
Add ½ cup cooked, finely chopped broccoli to the cheddar-and-egg mixture.
Drain well and keep the pieces small so they distribute evenly.
Add ? cup finely diced roasted red pepper, drained and patted dry.
For an Australian shopping list, look for roasted capsicum. Jarred peppers work nicely once their excess liquid has been removed.
The most likely causes are overbaking or overheating during reheating.
Eggs continue to firm as they cook. Start checking early and remove the bites once their centres are set and they have reached the appropriate temperature.
When reheating, use short bursts rather than setting the microwave for several minutes and hoping for the best.
Look at the ingredients before blaming the oven.
Common causes include:
Cook and drain watery vegetables first. Let them cool before stirring them into the egg mixture.
A little sinking is expected. The mixture expands in the oven, then settles as it cools.
If the bites collapse dramatically, the mixture may have been very foamy, the wells may have been overfilled, or the centres may still have been undercooked.
Blend briefly, leave room in the muffin cups and check the middle of a bite before removing the batch.
Transfer the cooked bites to a shallow container and refrigerate promptly. Don’t leave them on the bench waiting to become completely cold.
Refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking, or within 1 hour when the temperature is above 32°C.
Keep the refrigerator at 4°C or below, and use the egg bites within 3–4 days.
If you’re making breakfast for an entire working week, freeze the portions you won’t eat within that time.
Yes. Chill the cooked bites promptly, then freeze them in a single layer until firm.
Transfer to a freezer-safe container or bag, separating layers with baking paper. Label with the flavour and date.
Use within 2–3 months for best quality. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Freezing in two-bite portions makes it easier to take out only what you need.
Place two chilled egg bites on a microwave-safe plate and cover with a microwave-safe lid.
Heat for 30 seconds, then continue in short bursts until the centres reach 74°C or 165°F. Allow a brief standing time before checking.
The total time depends on your microwave and the size of the bites.
Place the chilled bites in a small ovenproof dish, cover with foil and warm at 160°C conventional or 140°C fan-forced.
Begin checking after approximately 10 minutes. Continue heating until the centres reach 74°C or 165°F.
The foil helps protect the tops while the middle warms through.
These little breakfast portions are easy to build a meal around.
Try them with:
For something more substantial, serve them alongside our homemade freezer biscuits. Those are American-style savoury biscuits, lovely for splitting and filling with warm egg and cheese.
They offer a similar convenient breakfast format, but this is an oven-baked recipe with its own ingredients and method.
Expect tender baked eggs rather than an exact copy of a café product.
You can whisk the eggs and cottage cheese together, but the finished bites will contain small curds.
For a smoother mixture, blend the cottage cheese separately with a stick blender, then whisk it into the eggs.
Removing it changes both the volume and texture of this recipe. It isn’t a direct omission.
If you want a cottage-cheese-free breakfast, choose an egg muffin recipe designed without it rather than replacing the cheese with an equal amount of milk.
Yes. Use 4 eggs and halve all the remaining ingredients to make approximately 6 bites.
Keep the same oven temperature and start checking at 18 minutes. A smaller batch doesn’t necessarily cook in half the time.
Yes, but the yield and baking time will change.
Fill the wells approximately two-thirds full and begin checking at 10 minutes. Check that the centres are set and have reached the appropriate temperature.
The plain ingredients contain no wheat flour. If you need a strictly gluten-free meal, check the labels on seasonings, cheeses and any additions, and avoid cross-contact during preparation.
What appeals to me about egg bites is their manageable size. You can keep a few in the fridge, freeze the extras and change the flavours without turning breakfast into another big project.
Start with cheddar and chives, then try one variation at a time. Dry fillings, careful greasing and sensible cooking times will do more for the result than a long list of fancy ingredients.
A warm breakfast waiting in the fridge is a small kindness to tomorrow’s self. Especially when tomorrow’s self is already looking for the coffee.