Baked Phyllo Egg Bites: Easy Suhoor

What an easy recipe for suhoor (pre-dawn meal before fasting) for your family or for large gatherings such as a qiyam-al-layl (staying up all night for prayer). You can make the phyllo shells the day before and they’ll be just fine to fill them in with the freshly cooked scrambled eggs.

For a savory appetizer using these wonderful, flaky homemade phyllo cups, see my recipe for Baked Phyllo Cups with Mushrooms and Warm Goat Cheese.

Baked Phyllo Shells with Scrambled Eggs

Makes 36 cups

Ingredients for the Baked Phyllo Cups

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme, marjoram, sage and oregano

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

12 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed (½ of a 16 oz. package)

Ingredients for the Scrambled Eggs

1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ red onion, minced

4 mini sweet peppers, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

7 small cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 mini sweet peppers, diced

freshly chopped parsley

1-2 tablespoons butter

Directions for the Baked Phyllo Cups

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Melt butter, and set aside.
3. Remove and roll out the entire phyllo dough from the 16 oz. package and cut the entire thing in half.
4. Place 1 sheet of the phyllo dough on a clean, dry surface; brush the entire surface generously with melted butter. Sprinkle lightly with a modest amount of the freshly cut herbs. Place another sheet of phyllo on top, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with another modest amount of the fresh herbs. Repeat with 2 more sheets of phyllo to total four sheets.
5. Cut the stack into twelve 3-inch squares. Gently mold each square into a 3 inch muffin tin cup.
6. Bake until the edges are just golden brown about 10 minutes. When done, set aside to cool.
7. Repeat step 2 with 4 more sheets of phyllo dough, melted butter, and fresh herbs. Repeat again, for a total of 36 cups.

Directions for the Scrambled Eggs

1. In a large sauté pan, warm the olive oil.
2. Add the red onions and sweet peppers and sauté for about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, salt and papper and cook until the tomatoes have softened.
3. Crack the eggs directly into pan and stir to scramble with the rest of the ingredients until the engtire mixture is blended and scrambled.
4. Set aside to cool.

Directions for Filling the Baked Phyllo Cups

1. While the baked phyllo cups are still in the muffin tins and cooled, place ½ teaspoon feta cheese in the bottom of each phyllo cup.
2. Place 1 teaspoon of the egg mixture on top of the feta cheese.
3. Bake until heated through, about 3 minutes.
4. Garnish with a small dollop of butter and a bit of fresh, flat leaf parsley for décor and taste.

*Note: if you need to re-heat these for any reason, do so in the oven or a small toaster oven for about 2-3 minutes. Re-heating in the microwave will cause the cups to soften too much and lose their crispiness.