Mini Egg Soufflées

One weekend morning I was rooting through my fridge to see what I could make Percy and I for breakfast. Next to the fruit bowl was half a whole wheat baguette from the previous night's dinner that had gone stale. It brought to mind this delicious baked breakfast strata that I sometimes make (from Chef at Home) that uses stale bread, eggs, layers of peppers and onions, cheese and ham or bacon, all baked together in a bain marie. But I didn't have over an hour to let it bake, nor did I have on hand some of the ingredients I like to use. So I improvised and came up with these individual portion sized mini soufflées - I hope you enjoy them! They puff of nicely and hold their shape.

These would make the perfect brunch item as you could assemble them ahead of time, just adding the eggs at the last minute.

Mini Egg Soufflées

I baked these in a muffin tin. So when preparing your ingredients think: 1 egg per cup plus 3-4 chunks of bread per cup.

• Stale whole wheat bread, baguette, buns, whatever you have on hand, cut into half inch cubes. Remember that if you are using whole grain bread to expect the flavour of the different grains to impact the overall taste. (You can prepare the bread the night before and leave it out in a bowl so that it goes stale).
• Beaten eggs, one for every cup.
• Freshly grated Asiago, enough to add about 1 heaping Tbsp to each cup.
• Chipotle sauce, a few drops per cup
• Sea salt and pepper

You can of course play with these ingredients. Some to try are:

• Chopped green onions
• Any type of pepper or chile (think bell peppers, roasted peppers, or smoky flavours like chipotles in adobo)
• Chopped olives, any type that you like
• Freshly chopped herbs like oregano, tarragon, basil or dill.
• Bacon pieces
• Sausage slices

I used a silicon muffin tin (seems strange to call it a tin when it's made from silicon!), so I didn't have to grease the cups. If you are using a regular muffin tin, lightly grease or spray the cups with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Arrange 3-4 chunks of bread in each cup (when deciding how much bread to add think about how much room you need for your other ingredients and the egg).

Sprinkle all other ingredients into the cups. Lastly, add one beaten egg to each cup and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (I beat all the eggs together and then just slowly pour into each cup, leveling them all off).

Place in oven and bake for 20-30 minutes or until soufflées are puffed up and and slightly firm to the touch. Using a spoon, pop out each soufflé, plate, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!