For the last week or so, my body just isn’t thinking about meat. So what’s a diva to do? I will have to eat meatless meals until the craving returns. Cheese, creamy dishes and pastries have been running around in my head, so I figured it was time for me to proactively release the pastry goddess.

These mini bites were just totally amazing….and even better the next day. In my opinion, any dish with cheese have a tendency to develop and become more flavorful on the next day. I baked them in a muffin pan, just because…..

Due to the overwhelming response and demand for the recipe, I decided to add it here to my website. While I prepared these scrumptious delights, I must confess that I hadn’t jotted down the recipe like I usually do, simply because I was not in my recipe developing mode. So between last night and this morning, I back tracked all that I had done and will now provide you with the ingredients.

I’m a garlic lover. It’s natures natural antibiotic. I use it lots more than the average person. I also added my homemade pesto sauce to the batter, which already includes garlic, so it is entirely up to you if you want to add the 2 garlic cloves included in the recipe.

I also added gruyere cheese, but if you are unable to locate gruyere  in your area, feel free to substitute with any cheese that can easily be melted.

I love fresh herbs. They are so aromatic and soothing. I enjoy chopping them (which I do a lot of in culinary school). They releases all their flavors and create sort of an addiction, that makes me want to keep chopping. For the basil, you just kind of roll up a few leaves, like a spliff (don’t get any ideas ok…I don’t smoke) and slice into a chiffonade. OMG I’m speaking culinary! Anyway, don’t stop there; keep running your knife back and forth until its finely chopped.
As for the thyme, all you need are the leaves. Just run your fingers down on the stem and the leaves will effortlessly fall off. Combine with the basil and keep chopping. Finely chopped is what we are aiming for.

Ingredients

6 eggs
2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of gruyere cheese grated
5 slices of sour dough bread (cubed)
1 cup of fresh baby spinach (chopped)
1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh basil and thyme (combined)
2 tablespoons of homemade pesto sauce
1 shallot diced
2 sun dried tomatoes finely chopped (optional)
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped (optional)
Olive oil for sauteing

Directions

Preheat oven to 350
Saute shallots, sun dried tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, on medium low heat, for approximately 5 minutes
Beat the eggs using a whisk
Add the heavy cream and whisk
Add the gruyere cheese and whisk
Fold in the sour dough bread cubes, making sure that all the cubes are covered in the batter.
Fold in the chopped spinach, then pesto sauce
Add the sauteed shallots, garlic and sun dried tomatoes(without the olive oil) and fold into the batter.
Using an ice cream scoop, pour into greased muffin pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Mini Bites will come out poofy but will deflate once out of the oven

Enjoy!