Dutch Baked Egg

Directions

1. 1
   * The quantities are unspecified because you can use however much or little of them as you want. Quantities will also depend on the size of your ramekins.
2. 2
   Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. 3
   Lightly grease edges and bottom of two ramekins with butter, using a paper towel. This is just to prevent the edges from burning and sticking to the ramekins, which makes cleaning them a bit of a chore.
4. 4
   Dice ham steak into bite-sized cubes. Fill the bottom layer of each ramekin with ham.
5. 5
   Top with a layer of mushrooms, or tomatoes, or both (or leave them out completely). Feel free to get creative. However, I do offer this one piece of advice: steer clear of onions, or bell peppers, any vegetable with a strong flavor. Also, bacon doesn't cook well and usually becomes chewy and limp. I've tried several ways to include bacon, using several different types of bacon, to no avail. Now, as for putting crumbled crispy bacon on top of the finished product, well, that's a whole 'nother delicious story.
6. 6
   Break the two eggs on top of the ham/mushroom/whatever layers.
7. 7
   Then fill the remaining space with cream. Make sure it's a good, thick layer. Almost right to the top. Finish with a dash of salt and pepper.
8. 8
   Shred cheese of your choice (I used Gruyere) and sprinkle across the top. This will become a nice, crispy-baked crust, like on baked French onion soup. Yum, onion soup!
9. 9
   And that's it! Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the center rack for about 40 minutes. Start peeking in around that point, and watch the cheese. In the picture, you can see that I pulled mine out a few minutes too late. Please ignore the cheese that has burned slightly.
10. 10
    Eat immediately! It's sooo good when it's right out of the oven. The cream has turned into a fluffy, dreamy pillow of goodness. Dig in and enjoy!
11. 11
    *Note: If you hate a cooked egg yolk, take it out sooner or try lowering the temperature. You can also add the cheese just before you take it out. Test the yoke with a toothpick before adding the cheese. It will take about ten minutes for the cheese to turn into a nice crust. Of course, ovens vary, so cooking times may vary also.