Ham and Egg Cups

These are fun and even kind of pretty, if flowers made of lunch meat can be described as “pretty.” They’re also surprisingly quick and easy to make; you can make a lot of them at once to eat at your grab-and-go leisure. Plus, you can customize as you like with different seasonings and/or chopped vegetables – just make sure not to use any that will give up a bunch of liquid and make the eggs watery (mushrooms and spinach need to be cooked first for this reason; peppers can be added raw).

Recipe Details: Ham and Egg Cups

From Catherine Newman

Makes: 6 servings of 2 egg cups each

Total Carbohydrates: 1 gram per serving

Hands-on Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Recipe Notes

If you’re looking to:

Lower the fat: Grease the muffin tins well and skip the ham.

Lower the salt: Use half the amount of salt as called for in the recipe.

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 12 slices ham (around ¾ pound)
• 10 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Black pepper
• 1 cup grated cheese (I use pepper jack, but cheddar works well, as does any cheese that melts)
• 1 scallion, finely slivered, to garnish (or a bit of chopped parsley or chives – or skip this, if the pop of green isn’t important to you!)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12-well muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Beat the eggs with the water, salt, and pepper.
3. Place a ham slice inside each well of the muffin tin, and press it down gently into the bottom so that it forms a flowery little cup shape.
4. Put a tablespoon or so of cheese into each ham cup, and then roughly ¼ cup of the egg mixture (you want to use all the cheese and all the egg mixture for the entire pan).
5. Put the pan in the oven and bake until the eggs are puffed and just set, around 20 minutes. Eat right away, or let them cool, cover, and refrigerate. If you like, reheat briefly in the microwave before eating.