What better way to wake up in the morning than to some Oeufs En Cocotte, or more commonly known as Baked Eggs, that’s easy to make and only require a few ingredients. They make for the perfect breakfast or brunch and what’s great is that you can mix and match with different ingredients to get to your liking!

These Oeufs En Cocotte take on the French method of baking eggs; going low and slow using a water bath which gives a velvety texture to the eggs. It’s traditionally cooked with ham, cheese and cream; I’ve added mushrooms, tomatoes and a smoky paprika butter to mine so definitely feel free to play around with different ingredients and flavour profiles.

Ingredients

Baked eggs

4 eggs
4-5 button mushrooms, sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 tbsp heavy cream
Cheese (Gruyere, Comté or Goat’s cheese, I used Feta), crumbled
Butter
Salt and pepper

Topping

4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp smoked paprika 
Parsley 
Bread (I used Ciabatta), toasted

The base is eggs, cream and cheese, but if you want to make it more fun, just think breakfast ingredients!

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. 
2. In a pan over medium heat, sauté the mushrooms and tomatoes until cooked. 
3. Butter the ramekins and divide the mushroom/tomato mixture evenly into each ramekin. Crack in 2 eggs each, divide the cream between the 2 ramekins and add as much cheese as your heart can take. 
4. Cover the ramekins and bake in a water bath for 12-15 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your eggs. 
5. While the eggs are cooking, prepare the paprika butter sauce by combining butter and paprika in a pan and toast until fragrant. 
6. To serve, uncover the eggs, drizzle with butter sauce and top with parsley and salt. Serve with toasted bread slices.