Fun, Easy Valentine’s Day Breakfast

I know I just wrote about another egg-themed breakfast idea, but this one’s even easier, and sure to be a hit with the kids (or kids at heart) for Valentine’s Day. It’s a heart-shaped egg-in-frame (or toad-in-the-hole, whatever you want to call it): an egg cooked in a hole cut out of a piece of bread. You only need a few minutes to make this breakfast (could also work as a lunch or more substantial snack), and it’s a great way to get kids who are leery of eggs to try them. I copied the idea from Cute Food for Kids — she makes amazing meals and snacks for her son. My imitations definitely don’t hold a candle to the original product, but Jack and Derek don’t seem to mind. 🙂 Perhaps someday I’ll be more skilled!

Heart-Shaped Egg-In-Frame

Makes one serving

Ingredients

• Piece of bread
• Medium-sized heart-shaped cookie cutter
• One egg

Instructions

Cut a heart shape out of the bread. If you’re making two eggs-in-frame, you can reserve the two heart cut outs to make a little jelly sandwich.

Start by cutting a heart shape out of a piece of bread

Heat a nonstick pan over low heat. Use a little butter or oil to grease the pan, if desired (it’s not necessary, but a tiny bit of butter or margarine adds a nice, rich flavor to the bread). It’s important for the heat to be on low so that you don’t burn the bread.When the pan is heated, place the bread in it, then crack the egg and pour it into the heart-shaped hole.

Crack the egg into the heart-shaped hole in the bread

Here, you have room for some variations. Derek doesn’t like runny eggs, and he prefers the whites, so when I made his, I put only put the whites into the hole. You can also crack the egg into a separate bowl, beat it, then fill the heart-shaped hole into it. That way, you won’t run into the runny yolk issue. Cook on low heat until the egg is set (it’ll still be somewhat jiggly and liquid on top, but the bottom will be opaque), then, using a spatula, carefully and quickly flip the egg-in-frame over to cook the other side of the egg. When it’s done, turn off the heat and transfer onto a plate with the spatula. Garnish with the heart cutout and/or some fruit, if desired. One side of the egg-in-frame will probably be better looking than the other, and as you can see from the photos in this entry, it’s hard for us amateurs to get clean edges! But it’ll still be cute (and delicious). The one below is the all-whites one that Derek had:

And this is Jack’s, with the runny yolk (he ate every last crumb!):

Yum!