- Hey, guys.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked you
what type of video would be most helpful to post
this close to Christmas, and over 40% of you
said a Christmas morning breakfast.
Well, I'm gonna do you one step better
and show you how to create a make-ahead Christmas
morning breakfast in the form of these delicious
ham, leek, and cheese breakfast bakes.
The best part is, you can put it all together
the day before, and then all you have to do
on Christmas morning is pop then in the oven and bake.
How easy is that?
And special thanks to Olive Oils from Spain
for sponsoring and collaborating with me on this video.
They're world leaders in quality and quantity
of olive oil produced and sold in Spain.
You can look for Olive Oils from Spain while shopping
while looking at the label for its origin.
To lean more of, you can visit their website.
The link is in the description below.
The thing that I love most about these
breakfast bakes is the texture.
It's somewhere between a souffle and a bread pudding.
They are rich and decadent, and just so comforting
and perfect for a chilly morning like Christmas Day.
So to get that texture, we're going to be using some
rustic bread, and you wanna cut it into one-inch cubes.
And then you really wanna dry it out, because bread pudding
is really best made when you have bread
that's either stale or a little bit dried.
That will prevent it from getting too mushy,
and will give you more of a custard-y finish.
So, we are going to place these cubes on a baking sheet
and bake them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit,
for about 15 minutes, just until they're
golden brown and a little bit dried out.
And then you can set those aside to cool.
Then you're gonna saute up our leeks,
which is one of the main ingredients in our breakfast bakes.
So in a large skillet, I'm gonna add
two tablespoons of my extra virgin olive oil from Spain.
I'm using the Arbequina variety, which is known
for its lightness and fruity flavor.
This pairs beautifully with the leeks and will give
our breakfast bakes a really nice, rich flavor.
But this is also a great olive oil to use for cold dishes,
too, things like salad dressings, chilled salads,
or even baked goods, like my olive oil pistachio cakes.
So allow your leeks to saute until they become
crispy and golden brown, and then you can
transfer them to a plate to cool.
Then you're gonna spray one-cup ramekins
with some baking spray.
Now, I like to serve them in individual ramekins,
because I think there's something a little bit
more fancy and festive about serving them this way,
especially for a day like Christmas.
However, you could take this whole recipe
and put it in a nine-by-13 casserole dish as well.
Then you can place your ramekins
on a baking sheet and set that aside.
Then in a large bowl, we're going to add six eggs
and two cups of heavy cream, and then I also
like to add three tablespoons of a dry white wine.
Don't worry, these aren't gonna be boozy breakfast bakes.
You're not actually gonna taste the alcohol.
It's really more just to give
the pudding batter a little bit more flavor.
But if you don't drink, that's okay.
You could totally leave it out, and I would just add
three tablespoons more of the heavy cream.
So you can whisk that all up until combined,
and into our batter, we are going to add a cup
of grated Swiss cheese, four slices of Black Forest ham
that has just been chopped, our cooled leeks,
two tablespoons of freshly-snipped chives, and some
freshly cracked pepper, and then you can stir that all up.
Then you're gonna fold in your bread cubes, making sure
that those cubes are soaking up all of that egg batter.
And then when it comes time to fill your ramekins,
take out an ice cream scoop, and your first scoop
is going to be mostly batter, a little bit of bread,
and then the second scoop is gonna be
mostly bread with not so much batter.
And this will allow for you to have a really nice
bread pudding consistency underneath,
and then that crispy bread on top.
And then one top of each ramekin, you can add
a little bit more grated Swiss cheese,
just so that that cheese melts and gets crispy
with the bread cubes, and it's so good.
Okay, so watch how easy this is.
So we've done this all the day before.
We're going to group our ramekins together on the baking
tray, and then we're gonna take one sheet of aluminum foil
and just kind of place it on top and then pinch the sides.
That way, you don't have to use a bunch of aluminum foil
to cover the entire baking sheet,
and it keeps the ramekins from drying out.
Then you can just take this whole tray
and pop it in your fridge until the following day.
And then, when everybody gets up and it's time
to bake these off, all you're gonna do is
remove your foil, spread out those ramekins.
Then you wanna bake these for 20 to 25 minutes,
just until those bread cubes start to become
golden brown and your cheese is melted.
And at that point, just go ahead with your finger
and press the pudding down, and you should not
see any more liquid egg coming up through.
If you do, then I would take a clean piece of foil,
put it on top of your puddings,
and go for another five to 10 minutes.
You just wanna make sure all of that egg is cooked through.
And then once you're done, you can choose to either
serve them in the ramekins, or you can also take them
out of the ramekins and serve them on a plate, and you'll
see, they have a really pretty little shape to them.
And then when you bite into these,
you will just see how delicious they are.
The texture is so decadent and comforting,
and flavored with all of that delicious cheese and the ham,
and of course the chives.
I hope you guys give this one a try and let me know
what you think, and special thanks to Olive Oils from Spain
for sponsoring and collaborating with me on this episode.
And if I don't see all of you before then,
have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year,
and I will see you all back here in 2019.
All right, until then, bye.