Croque Madame Muffin

I’ve made this particular recipe before and really enjoyed it.  As a matter of fact, after watching The Little Paris Kitchen episode, I did my best to recreate the dish. This time I was able to use the actual recipe. While it’s stated to take 20 minutes to prepare it took me an additional 10 minutes. The ingredients are simple and all of which I had on hand. I love the fact that Rachel gives alternative ingredients on the chance you can’t find an item or prefer something a bit different.  In this recipe Rachel calls for a Mornay cheese, when I had mature white cheddar on hand.  I found that a full 10 minutes simmering of the Béchamel wasn’t necessary, the result was perfectly delicious. I do have a thermometer in my oven as it’s not a new model and wanted to ensure I was cooking at the appropriate temperature.  My version wasn’t as pretty as Rachel’s. Next time I will use a bit less than the 2T of sauce, so you can see how beautiful the egg looks perched on top of the ham. My disappointment was that the white bread I found wasn’t large enough, which didn’t provide the beautiful brown crunchy crust I wanted.  My bad.  This is a wonderful recipe and I love the way it tastes.