I love breakfast food. We’ve known many a weekend brunch around here, and even have breakfast for dinner sometimes. German pancakes, all puffy and golden with sliced apples sautéed in butter, sugar, and cinnamon and zesty orange popovers with creamy orange flavored sweet butter are just some of the many amazing things that have sprung forth from my kitchen to the delight of my family.

But, trying to cook first thing in the morning when I’m sleepy is hard. I’m one of those people who need to wake up slowly…with coffee. When I was in my 20s, I was able to roll out of bed, get ready, and be at work in about an hour. Now, I need to be up for an hour before I have any kind of a meaningful conversation. Or at least one I’m likely to remember.

Therefore, I needed to come up with something easy that is both delicious and homemade. While looking at the book for my bread machine (I call it my dough maker) I decided to try combining the recipe for ‘cheese and bacon bread’ with the technique for making rolls.

BREAKFAST BISCUITS

Ingredients:

1 Cup, 2 Tablespoons Water

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt

1 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 Cup Finely Grated Cheese (I use Sharp Cheddar)

3 Cups Flour (All-Purpose)

2 Teaspoons Dry Active Yeast

*3 Tablespoons Minced Bacon (Turkey Bacon)

*Melted Butter (Optional)

1. Add ingredients to the bread pan in order, except the bacon and butter. Set the bread maker to the ‘dough’ setting.
2. After 35 minutes, add the bacon to the pan so that it gets incorporated into the dough during one of the kneading cycles (my maker has an hour and a half dough making process.)
3. Remove dough from pan with a spatula, onto a floured surface.
4. Divide dough into 12-15 portions. Roll into balls, and place on a greased baking sheet.
5. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise for 45 minutes – or until doubled in size.
6. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until browned.
7. Immediately after removing from the oven, brush with melted butter.

Cut in half, add a zapped egg, and you have a meal that is quick and portable. Grab a mug that roughly matches the size of the biscuits, lightly spray the inside with oil, add an egg (either scrambled or whole with a pierced yolk-to prevent explosion,) cover with a small plate, and cook at half-power for about 2 minutes, What you actually want is for the egg to be almost done. Remove the mug from the microwave (careful of the hot handle and all), and let stand with the plate on for about a minute and the whites are solid. I like to add some spices to the egg (while scrambling or just before cooking) such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, poultry seasoning, cayenne pepper, or anything that sounds good.

The other day I went to get some biscuits out to heat up, and realized that we were out. Knowing it takes hours to make more, I decided to improvise using a pop-open buttermilk biscuit tin. I pulled each biscuit apart, until they were mostly in halves, added a pinch of a mixture of grated cheese and bacon bits spread evenly in the middle (not touching the edges, and sealed the dough back into a biscuit shape. I brushed the tops in a couple of tablespoons of melted butter (with a pinch of garlic and onion powders) and baked as directed on the package. Got asked to make those again.

*Edit: Picture added for fun.