The Eggs Saved Me

Of all things, the eggs...if you have eggs, you can come up with something!  From my having no clue what I was making for this get together....I made 48 little mini quiches, and didn't even have to run to the store....love it when a last minute plan comes together.  Here's a way to make mini quiches with ingredients you probably already have on hand.

Okay, so I had breakfast sausage from what was going to be a breakfast casserole I was supposed to make over the weekend.  And, because I got a kitchen torch for my birthday when I lamented I didn't have one, I had four little cartons of heavy cream sitting there, ready to be used (I made Creme Brulee two weeks ago....and had to use the broiler to crisp the top....not the same all my family members told me, hence the torch).

Mini Quiches (makes 48)

1 cup butter, soft
6 oz cream cheese, soft (I had onions & chives, so used that)
2 cups flour
1 lb Italian sausage or bacon (I used breakfast sausage)
2 cups shredded cheese
2 TBS chives (left out)
4 eggs
2 cups half and half (I used cream....I know, more fattening)
1/2 tsp salt (oops, forgot to add that, so they were a bit bland)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I used regular...should've used cayenne for more flavor)

-Beat butter and cream cheese in bowl til creamy.  Slowly blend in flour.  Refrigerate dough one hour.  

Cook up your sausage or bacon and drain, set aside.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  

Remove and roll dough into 48, 1" balls.  Press each ball into a greased mini muffin pan (my pan held 24, so had to do this twice).  Keep pressing into each cup, until the dough comes up the sides, forming a reasonably straight topped cup.  Sprinkle sausage or bacon into each cup.  Sprinkle cheese and chives (I omitted chives as they were already in the cream cheese dough).  

In bowl, mix eggs, half and half, salt and pepper.  Blend well.  Use spoon to pour mix over each cup to 3/4 full.  Bake 20-30 minutes or until set.  You know they are done when they get slightly brown.

You can easily bake these the night before and then heat up in the oven the next morning before your event.  As I said, mine were a bit bland, but I think only because I forgot the salt!

What last minute dish have you brought to a potluck?