I also made a bunch of mini-quich....but not 600!!!
I use a breadcrumb crust....sort of!!
I butter my tins very well...lots of butter....and sprinkle in my home made toasted bread crumbs. I take ends and bits of bread, grate them in the food processor, toast in the oven at 300 until brown and store in a baggie. Because they are dry, they don't mold and because they are French bread without fat, they don't go rancid.
I season some bread crumbs with some dry crushed parsley and a bit of garlic powder and maybe some chili powder.
I put bread crumbs in the buttered muffin tins, shake around to see all is crumbed and dump our any excess, or not.
Then I do as Annie does and fill the muffin cups with "stuff"...grated cheese, usually I make a combo of Swiss, cheddar and Parmesan. And then stuff like sauteed mushrooms, or steamed broccoli, small cooked shrimp, surimi crab, crumbled bacon and an assortment of stuff like sauteed onions and red and green peppers.
My milk egg mix is 3 eggs per cup of milk but I use grocery store eggs so it likely comes out about the same as Annie's.....adn I season the egg mix with a dash of worchestershire....and if I am not using lots of cheese, a bit of salt.
And bake them until done!
Really easy and fast once you get the "production line" going.

I would make a frittata rather than a quiche -- in those little muffin pans and then you don't have to worry about crust, etc. And frittata are good at room temperature. You can even bake them in a sheet pan and cut into squares instead of putting them in the mini quiche pans. One of my favorite frittata (crustless quiche) recipes is Ina's potato and basil frittata: Gruyere is hard to find here so I sub Swiss.

Martha

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
• 2 cups peeled and 1/2-inch diced boiling potatoes (4 potatoes)
• 8 extra-large eggs
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• 3/4 pound Gruyere cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a 10-inch ovenproof omelet pan over medium-low heat. Add the potatoes and fry them until cooked through, turning often, about 10 to 15 minutes. Melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter in a small dish in the microwave.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, then stir in the ricotta, Gruyere, melted butter, salt, pepper, and basil. Sprinkle on the flour and baking powder and stir into the egg mixture.

Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and place the pan in the center of the oven. Bake the frittata until it is browned and puffed, 50 minutes to 1 hour. It will be rounded and firm in the middle and a knife inserted in the frittata should come out clean. Serve hot.

Martha, that sounds like a nice breakfast for the gang at Thanksgiving. Just serve some rolls, bagels or muffins with it and maybe a little bacon or sausage. I think I will give it a try for this year. We will have only 5 for breakfast, so it can be a test run for the bigger crowd at Christmas.

Annie can't imagine coking for 600 nor a wedding reception with 600 people!! Sounds delicious as does Lindac, glad you told about 3 eggs compared to Annie's one! Can those quiche be left out after cooking and serve the next say at room temperature? The frittata sounds like a good option as well. Thank you.

I love Annie's j'ne sais quoi recipe, but I also, need particulars. I have a baby shower for 30 coming up and a mini quiche recipe would be ideal. I have a great recipe for a 13 x 9 pan, but help with individual servings would be nice.

This is my go-to. I switch out the onions and cheese...green chiles and jack cheese. Sundried tomatoes, a little pesto and parmesan, vegies, leftover ham or bacon...whatever. The dough is sturdy and easy to handle.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Caramelized Onion Mini Quiches

Recipe By :Katie, 2003

Serving Size : 48 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Appetizers

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

Dough:

2 cups flour

8 ounces cream cheese -- softened

3/4 cup butter

Filling:

2 large sweet onions -- chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 eggs -- beaten

1 cup milk or cream

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (4 oz)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

For dough: Cream butter and cream cheese. Mix in flour until smooth. Press into mini muffin pan cups.

For filling: Cook onions, 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. olive oil on low until brown and caramelized - 30-45 minutes. Cool.

Mix cooled onions and Swiss cheese and divide between muffin cups.

Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper and pour over cheese mixture.

Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes, until puffed and golden.

Serve warm, chilled, or at room temperature.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 70 Calories; 5g Fat (67.4% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 60mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

NOTES : These freeze very well.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

When I do mini quiches I get ready rolled pastry sheets and cut out circles with a fluted cookie cutter to press into the muffin cups. Then I add some kind of filling- chopped ham, cooked mushrooms, small dice of feta and slivers of sun dried tomatoes, whatever. Then I mix up the custard- 3 eggs, cup of milk, half and half or cream, a little salt and pepper- in a pouring jug and pour it into the quiches. I find one batch usually does 18-24 mini quiches. But, it's just eggs and milk so no great waste if I don't use it all.

I would not leave an egg custard unrefrigerated over night. I would re-warm....either in the micro or a slow oven.
And that's one reason to go crustless...it reheats better the next day.

Personally I want the crust for a party. There are lots of lovely recipes here!

Katie thank you, the recipe looks like would work and I would only have to make 2 batches! Coleenoz when you mention rolled pastry sheets, are those the round ones for pies? Lindac even if the egg custard is cooked, it is dangerous to leave out overnight? Yes is Islay they are lovely recipes!

Yes....even if the egg is cooked.
The FDA, albeit notably OCC about such stuff, says no more than 2 hours at room temp. I feel easy at 4 hours.
Would you eat scrambles eggs left out over night?
Even if the quiche were just eggs sugar and milk, I would refrigerate it....but a quiche also contains perhaps meats and vegetables....
My mother in law used to leave the turkey, with the leftover stuffing still in it, on the counter from 2 or so when dinner was until about 9 PM in case any one wanted a sandwich before bed. Several people got sick every year and blamed it on the "rich food". Others didn't get sick, because they skipped the leftover turkey and pumpkin pie, because "All that rich food upsets my stomach".

The main issue is clearing a space in your fridge. You can move uncut produce to a cool spot on the counter or a camping cooler.

They make big, flat disposable containers, but I've only found them as house brand, at Kroger and similar chain groceries. The Kroger ones are about 8"x12"x3" with rounded corners. Any other flat-ish containers would work, too. Cut some sheets of stiff cardboard to fit and cover with parchment paper or waxed paper, to put between layers. Use spacers if you need to. You can make them out of strips of cardboard or use spools or anything else handy. Wrap in plastic wrap.

Your mini quiche, once they reach almost room temp, still in their tins can go into picnic coolers. Stack them with small baking sheet spacers ( no need to cover the whole tin but just enough to keep them from "nesting") pack some ice around and use 2 coolers if you need to.
If your muffin tins hold 8 you will need 10....but I would make at least 8 more....most likely 16 more.

I don't know if you have the same rolled pastry sheets there; here they come in squares about 10"-12" square and five to a pack, in the freezer section. I imagine a circle one for a pie would work as well. I lay the scraps slightly overlapping each other and roll them together with a rolling pin to the original thickness to use them up.

My mini quiches are small and light enough that I pack them into Tupperware style boxes with just a layer of baker's parchment in between and they are fine to refrigerate, freeze or transport that way.

To warm them I just pop them onto a cookie sheet and warm them in the oven. If at another place that isn't my home I take my own cookie sheets so as not to impose on the host.