Baked Eggs with Bacon and Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 TBS plus 2 tsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 8 eggs
• 4 tsp heavy cream
• 1/4 cup cooked diced bacon
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 4 tsp scallions, thinly sliced diagonally (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have a pot of boiling water ready. Butter the bottoms and sides of four 6 oz ramekins with 2 TBS butter. Put 1/2 tsp butter in the bottom of each dish. Break 2 eggs into each ramekin, then top each with 1 tsp cream, one-fourth of the cooked bacon and cheese, and 1 tsp scallions. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the ramekins tightly with aluminum foil. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the dishes. Bake until the whites are just set and the yolks are runny, 18 to 22 minutes; for set whites and hard yolks, bake for 22 to 30 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the baking dish and remove the foil. Serve immediately with toast. 4 servings.