First things first, I am not here to talk about the cult 80s movie (although it is a gem), I am here to talk about the most important meal of the day and also my favourite meal of the day: breakfast.
I was thinking the other day ‘what’s my dream breakfast?’. Now that is a million dollar question, because I came up with around a million answers (bircher muesli/poached eggs/blueberry pancakes/ham and cheese crepe/bacon sandwich… etcetera etcetera). In order to focus my scattered line of thought I narrowed it to flavour: ‘what’s my favourite breakfast flavour?’. Now this helped, I LOVE cinnamon and I chuck it in porridge, smoothies, granola, even on toast with butter. My favourite cinnamon-based food item? Cinnamon buns. Now that is the dream.
My sister and her boyfriend invited me for breakfast to see their beautiful new pad and I decided to come armed with goodies – naturally this involved cinnamon buns. What did the tasty low sugar brekkie entail? See below…
- Super Green Juice
- My foolproof Bircher Muesli (which they are both now huge fans of)
- Low sugar cereal mix: homemade granola, mini Shredded Wheat and Weetabix
- Low sugar cereal accompaniments: homemade rhubarb compote, roasted almonds, berries and Greek yoghurt
- Cinnamon buns
- Croque Madame Muffins
We all ended up so full that we had to walk it off afterwards! Then we didn’t end up eating again until dinner… probably a good thing as I expect we ate three days worth of breakfasts.
I am going to start of with the Croque Madame Muffins, little beauties. We are essentially talking about a fancier and cuter ham and cheese sandwich, in the shape of a muffin, with an egg yolk. So quite different I guess. This Frenchy treat is simple to make and great for entertaining as they can be easily made in bulk and in advance. Check back later this week for the delicious cinnamon buns!
Ingredients Makes 6
- 6 slices of white bread, no crusts
- 3 tbsp melted butter
- 75g ham cut into strips
- 6 small eggs
Sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 200ml full fat milk
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 30g mature cheddar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- For the sauce, melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat
- Add the flour and stir to form a smooth paste (roux). Gradually add the milk, whisking continuously
- Add the nutmeg and mustard and continue stirring until the sauce is thick. Take off the heat and add the cheese mixing well (keep some cheese to put on top of the muffins!)
- Preheat the oven to 180c. Flatten the slices of bread with a rolling pin and brush butter over both sides
- Line a 6-hole muffin tin with the bread, pressing them in the bottom with a small glass. Divide the ham between the muffin cases followed by the egg (if the eggs are too large pour away some of the white)
- Add the cheese sauce evenly over the top of the eggs, then sprinkle with the left over cheese and some pepper
- Bake for 10-15 mins depending on how you like your eggs. Serve hot!
Beyond the Sugar Veil 
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