The Breakfast Club – Croque Madame Muffins

The new year marked the start of a new event for a group of our friends; The Breakfast Club. We’re taking it in turns to host fortnightly breakfasts in an effort to get together more often outside of the pub on a Friday night. So far we’ve been treated to a good old fry up, an American style brunch of pancakes and corned beef hash, and another intercontinental fusion of Indian eggs and bacon.

This weekend it was our turn, and we both chose a dish each to make for our friends. James went for croque madame muffins for the savoury option, and I chose to make a blueberry monkey bread ring for those with a sweeter tooth. Here I’m sharing James’ recipe for the croque madame muffins; I think as part of a larger spread, one each would be enough, but as the main event, I’d recommend two per person. Recipe adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen on BBC. This recipe makes 12.

Oh my, cheesy chicken and bacon pie!

There’s nothing better on a cold, miserable evening than a nice warming pie – comfort food at its best. This is great for using up any left over chicken you have from your roast dinner, and it’s really simple to make. We actually served this between the two of us with just some steamed veg on the side (yes, we’re pigs) but it would easily feed four with a side of potatoes too. You could even make four individual pies in large ramekins – it’d make dishing up a little easier (less messy)!

Chocolate and Ginger Pinwheel Biscuits

I can't believe this is my first post of 2015, and it's been over two months since my last recipe! I needed the break though - the run-up to Christmas, and the festive period itself, was hectic and finding time to keep this up to date would have been one commitment too many I think! I've still baked a lot - mostly as Christmas gifts and desserts for big family dinners - but was so preoccupied with other things that I forgot to take any photographs of a lot of it! Doh! These cookies though, are one of the few things that I do have a badly taken photo of, so I thought I'd start here. I made these for all our neighbours, and the lovely ladies that serve me in the bank when I go for work, as a little Christmas gift, they looked super cute in little cello-bags, decorated with ribbons and bells!