Bread cups with sisig ang cheesy spinach filling

They’re not cupcakes nor muffins. They’re not mini-pies either because they aren’t made with pie crust. They are bread cups. The casing is made with bread dough and the filling consists of two parts — sisig, that delightful dish made with chopped pig’s head, and a spinach and cream cheese filling. For the finishing touch, a generous sprinkle of grated sharp cheddar.

Where did the idea come from? As with eighty per cent of the dishes that get cooked in my house, these bread cups were inspired by extra this and extra that. Excess bread dough, store-bought frozen sisig, and extra spinach and cream cheese filling.

Of course, you don’t have to wait for that unforeseeable time in the future when you’ll have excess bread dough and spinach and cream cheese. You can start from scratch and bake more than the four pieces that I made. With the basic bread recipe, you’ll probably be able to make two dozen bread cups. But how much sisig and the spinach spread you’ll need, you’ll have to eyeball that part.

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So, once you have your bread dough, sisig (thawed) and spinach and cream cheese filling, here’s how to make the bread cups.

Start by preheating the oven to 350F.

Smear with softened butter the bottom and sides of all the ramekins that you will use.

Tear the dough into pieces, about the size of golf balls, flatten each piece and press into the ramekins.

Fill each of the dough-lined ramekins with about 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of sisig…

… followed by another two heaping tablespoonfuls of the spinach and cream cheese filling.

Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.

Take the ramekins out of the oven.

Sprinkle — generously — grated sharp cheddar on top of each bread cup.

Bake for another eight to ten minutes.

As soon as you can handle the ramekins, lift out the bread cups (they should come out easily if you didn’t forget to butter the ramekins), transfer to plates and serve immediately.

Please remember to allot more than one piece per person because these bread cups are so good that seconds will be required.