Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Cups

For my first recipe of 2011, I decided to make Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Cups. I wanted something to reheat for breakfasts before school, and I needed something high in protein, since I worry about not getting enough protein while I'm pregnant.

I used the recipe almost as written, with only a few minor changes. I used 4 oz. of cream cheese instead of 3, because I couldn't find a 3 oz. package, so I cut an 8 oz. block in half. I used 1 c. of whole-wheat flour and 1 1/2 c. of all-purpose flour. I thought about adding veggies for more healthfulness, but money's kind of low after Christmas, so I wanted to use what I had available. Also, I didn't feel like having veggies for breakfast. Sue me.

So first, I cooked the bacon. In order to speed the process, I cooked it on a foil-lined pan in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375. I pulled it out when the ends were starting to crisp. This was my first mistake. I should have waited until almost the whole slices were crisp. I ended up having to tear the bacon rather than crumble it, which took more time.

It looked delicious, though. Tasted good, too.

Then I mixed the biscuit dough, and the filling. I ran into trouble pressing the dough down into the muffin cups. I had trouble with it getting too thin on the bottom, and tearing, and after tasting the finished product, I know it was too thick all over. I should have rolled it out, cut circles, and pressed them down into the cups. It probably wouldn't have taken much longer, and it would have been more uniform.

When I poured the filling into the biscuit cups, I was following the original recipe recommendation of 1/4 c. of filling. I don't know how big the original cook's muffin cups were, but mine overflowed with 1/4 c. 1/8 c. was much closer. You can see the overflow below.

The recipe makes 2 dozen, but I stopped after the first dozen were baked. I needed to clean my pan, the whole process had already taken almost 3 hours, including cooking the bacon, and I was tired, so I just stuck the remaining dough and filling in the fridge.

Conclusion: These were yummy. As previously mentioned, the biscuit crust was a little thick, but the recipe was very tasty without any added spices, salt, pepper, anything. The bacon and the super sharp cheddar I used for the cheese added plenty of saltiness. I liked the fact that I made the biscuit dough and knew what was in it, although it did add to the prep time.

My main problem with this recipe was the time consuming-ness. If I make this again, what I will probably do is cook the bacon one night, and put it in the fridge for later crumbling, prep the biscuit dough on another night, roll out and cut in circles, then put them in the fridge, and do the assembling and baking on a third night. For a weekend, it's not too bad, but there's no way I'd have time to do it on a weeknight after school.

Edited to add: See the next post for what I learned when I cooked the rest of the dough and filling

So there you have it! One week and one recipe down, 51 more to go.