Egg & Cheese McMuffins

As I promised yesterday, today I'm sharing how I put my homemade english muffins to use. It's my version of the egg McMuffin! Am I allowed to use that word or will McDonald's sue me? Maybe I should just call it an "egg and cheese on an english muffin" and avoid that heartache altogether. Whatever.

Anyway, egg and cheese sandwiches are one of my favorite breakfasts ever. I feel like I say that a lot. What can I say? I love breakfast and there are so many amazing breakfast foods. As a current New Jerseyan, I can say that breakfast sandwiches are extremely important to the us, the residents of NJ. Everyone has their preferences for their ideal breakfast sammie, whether the bread should be toasted and buttered, taylor ham or bacon or sausage (or all three?), ketchup or no ketchup, it's all important. For me, the egg yolk must be runny, there needs to be plenty of fresh cracked black pepper, and the cheese needs to be melted; these three components are key to a Rach-thinks-this-is-delicious breakfast sandwich.

Ingredients [for 1]:
1 english muffin
1 egg
2 tablespoons grated cheese (I like cheddar but American, provolone, swiss, jack, havarti, are all great; there's no wrong type of cheese)
salt & pepper to taste
butter / oil
+ whatever else you might like on your sandwich - ketchup maybe?

Pull apart the english muffins using a fork. Don't just slice them! You want to pull them apart so that there are some peaks and valleys which will add texture. By the way, if you see the vaguely pink reflection on the marble, that's my t-shirt dress. It's crazy pink and I didn't realize it was picking up on camera so heavily until after I'd uploaded the photos to my computer. My bad! This is why I am not a pro photog; I'm the opposite, in fact.

Pop the muffins in the toaster just until they start to go crispy and brown on the edges and then butter them while they're still hot.

Meanwhile, you can work on the eggs. I decided to mimic the perfectly round eggs that you find in the fast food versions so I grabbed a biscuit cutter greased up the edges with a little butter. I also cracked the egg into a cup just so it would be a little easier to work with. You can go this route also or you can cook eggs normally in a pan like a regular, normal, sane human. It's your choice.

If you are going the circular egg route, put the greased cutter in a nonstick pan, add a little oil or butter into the center of the cutter, and then pour the egg right into the cutter. Cover the pan with a lid - or in my case, a piece of foil - and let it cook over low heat for a few minutes to allow the egg whites to set up. For an added boost, you can also sprinkle in a few drops of water before you lid the pan (just 1/4 teaspoon) and the steam will help set up the eggs a bit faster.

Once the whites look pretty set, you can remove the cutter. Just twist it back and forth until it separates itself from the egg and lift it carefully. Flip the egg and let it cook on the second side for just a minute to achieve "over easy" status. You may cook the egg for a few extra minutes if you prefer a set yolk, but I will judge you. Runny yolks rule! I'm kidding. I won't judge you because it's rude to judge people on their food preferences. But, seriously, runny yolks are the best. It's just one of those universal truths, like how the earth is round, how girls are better than boys, and how you must use your leftover foreign currency to buy a Toblerone chocolate bar at the airport. I'm kidding again. Gosh, I was just yolking around. Aren't I allowed to be wisecrack once in a while? Does no one appreciate this cheep humor? Okay, sorry, I'll stop being such a freak (for now).

To assemble the sandwich, plop the egg onto the english muffin (perfect fit!), sprinkle on a little salt and pepper, mound on the grated cheese, and top it with the second half of the muffin. The heat from the still-warm egg and the toasted muffins will melt the cheese.

If you are making more than one sandwich, you can keep the first one warm by wrapping it up in a little parchment paper. It'll look like you just popped through a classy drive-thru.

Looks good, right? That drippy yolk and melty cheese is one of the prettiest sights you'll ever see in the morning.

I served these faux mcmuffins with a few maple syrup glazed sausage links. The addition of the sausage to the plate negates the vegetarian-ness of the sandwich - sorry vegetarians - but I was in the mood for sausage, what can I say? This looks like a pretty heavy morning meal but that's the type of breakfast I tend to prefer, especially on weekends. It's full of protein so it keeps me full for a long time which means I can sit and edit a bunch of photos, work on some DIY projects, and blog for hours before I have to "refuel."

Drippy egg yolks are so glorious, are they not? Tuck in, make a mess, lick your fingers, and indulge in a second sandwich. Go for it. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right?

Here's the recipe page: