Madhouse recipe : Ham & Cheese Croissant Bake

As we've been on holiday for the past couple of weeks, the kids have been getting up later and later. Juliette tends to sleep right through until midday most days - it's a miracle how perfectly awake she is when the alarm goes off at 6.15am on a school day ! - so she's been getting out of bed just in time for lunch. I joked that sitting down for pasta or baked potatoes just after brushing her teeth must seem a bit weird and she'd probably be happier starting off with a bowl of cereal. This recipe for a croissant casserole sounded perfect as a brunch option to suit everyone. I used the recipe for Ham and Cheese Croissant Casserole on the Joyous Apron website and tweaked to suit what we had in the cupboards. It's not bad at all and could be modified to suit your tastes, maybe adding extra ingredients like mushrooms, tomatoes and bacon to give it some extra zing. 

Ham & Cheese Croissant Bake

ingredients :

6 croissants (don't panic if they're slightly stale)

 6 slices ham, chopped 

6 eggs

120ml milk

1 tsp garlic powder

 1/4 tsp mustard powder

 1/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp black pepper 

a good handful of grated cheddar

a good handful of grated mozzarella 

Preheat the oven to 180°C then start by chopping up your croissants. I cut them in half horizontally (to make two layers) then into four slices so each croissant gives eight pieces. Slightly stale croissants are fine, so this is a great way of using them up. Transfer to a baking dish. (You can grease the dish if you want, but I didn't bother.)

Whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic powder, mustard powder, salt and pepper. Pour it all over the croissant pieces. (This is where I would add some halved cherry tomatoes and mushroom slices to the mix.)

Sprinkle over the pieces of ham then top with the grated cheese.

The original recipe said to put it in the oven covered in foil for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and leave it for another 20 minutes. This does work and makes sure you have lovely soft, not crunchy, cheese, but I think you could get away with just putting it in for half an hour with no foil. It really depends on your own personal tastes.

And that's it ! Remove from the oven and tuck in.

It's not bad at all and was gobbled up enthusiastically, but the kids weren't keen on the eggy mixture at the bottom, which they found bland. I would personally add half of the cheese and the ham to the egg mixture before pouring it over the croissants, giving it a good mix, then topping with the remaining cheese. If you add extra breakfast ingredients - such as cherry tomatoes or fried mushrooms - the juices would add extra flavour to the dish too. It's got great potential though and I'm sure we'll make it again.