How to feed a hungry crowd at Christmas

 

 I'm a big proponent of planning ahead for any holiday, occasion or visit.  I'm always looking for ways to plan better and more intelligently.  

One of my favorite bloggers is Yvonne at Stonegable, and I have saved a ton of her ideas to share with you all.  Her post How to Feed a Hungry Crowd at Christmas is worth its weight in gold and could be easily adapted to feeding a crowd any time of year, especially when one has out-of-town guests staying in the home or nearby.  I intend to use some of Yvonne's ideas when we have family visiting for two weeks in August.  I think it could simplify things nicely.

I encourage you to read Yvonne's post for yourself, but I will share a few of her ideas that I gleaned.  A coffee bar to start the day, along with some pre-breakfast snacks and nibbles, sounds like a really good idea.  In a perfect world, one could adapt that idea for summer by making it a smoothie bar, but I don't have the space, the blender, or the wherewithal for that, so I would just use our existing coffee bar with its k-cups for coffee, hot chocolate, and spiced cider.  I can also make sure I have plenty of ice cubes prepared and ready for making any of these beverages iced.

This idea might work out very well during the family visit in that the snacks could tide us over till lunch, allowing us to bypass an actual breakfast on days we are headed to the beach or a car trip to a touristy destination.

For days at home when we might have a regular breakfast, we could make it a hearty brunch with meat, eggs, and potatoes, etc.  Then skip lunch and serve a midafternoon appetizer spread, maybe with iced tea or lemonade.

Yvonne suggests that Christmas supper be a meal in a bowl, maybe with sourdough bread on the side.  So for summer, I am thinking main-dish salads like macaroni with tuna, chicken salad, chef's salad, etc.  And also with sourdough bread on the side.  If we wanted dessert, it could be a cookie tray (my hubby is already baking and freezing cookies and fudge for the family's visit) and possibly some good ice cream.

Wow, I am so impressed by how this post has helped me to come up with some great ideas for our family's August visit.  I will talk these thoughts over with my local daughter, and we'll come up with some potential menus.

Hope Yvonne's ideas are useful to you as well!

Cinnamon Apples

 

 This year I made a little tweak to the cinnamon apples I usually prepare for our annual December breakfast tradition with four of our local grandkids.  I have most often used a skillet recipe for cinnamon apples.  

This year I tried a slow cooker version suggested by a friend, and really liked it.  There were also a couple of flavor tweaks that made a huge difference.

FAVORITE CINNAMON APPLES

1 3-pound bag apples (I used Cortland), cored and sliced but not peeled
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all in slow cooker and cook on Low for 3 hours.  

So yummy and they smell so good while cooking!  My other version uses cinnamon only -- I found that the nutmeg and the vanilla made such a difference in the flavor.  This will be my go-to from now on.

It might make a delicious addition to Christmas breakfast or brunch at your house!

Gingerbread Eggnog Coffeecake

 

 Here is another scrumptious coffeecake recipe.  My regular readers likely know that I am very prone to take muffin recipes and turn them into coffee cakes.  I just don't like going to the trouble of lining or greasing muffin tins, or washing them afterwards.  

That's just what happened with this recipe.  My hubby was looking for a way to use up about a half cup of eggnog.  I remembered this recipe which I had printed out a  couple years ago from Taste of the Frontier, apparently now called Yummi Haus.  But when I mentioned I thought muffins were too much trouble, he said, "Let's turn it into a coffee cake!"  My lazy ways are rubbing off on him, I guess.  Well, this coffeecake turned out absolutely delicious.  He took some to an outdoor event on Saturday, and came back with an empty plate and a request for the recipe.  So I knew my readers would like it too!

GINGERBREAD EGGNOG COFFEECAKE

Ingredients

Coffeecake

1 3/4 cups flour 

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup eggnog

1/3 cup molasses 

1 large egg

Streusel topping

2 tablespoons melted butter 

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar 

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze

1/2 cup confectioners sugar 

1 to 2 tablespoons eggnog

Pinch of nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2.   Grease a 13x9 pan with cooking spray 

3.  Sift together dry ingredients for coffeecake — flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

4.  In mixing bowl combine cooled melted butter, eggnog, and molasses.  Add the dry ingredients and then the egg, beating until just combined.

5.Pour batter into prepared pan.

6.  For streusel, melt butter in small bowl.  Add flour, brown sugar and cinnamon; stir with a fork until crumbly.

7.  Sprinkle streusel evenly on top of coffeecake batter in pan.

8.  Bake 30 minutes at 350º or until toothpick test is clean.

9.  Allow cake to cool completely.  

10.  Whisk the glaze ingredients together and drizzle over cooled coffeecake.

 

And there is a very delicious Gingerbread Eggnog Coffeecake for your enjoyment!

Blueberry Lemon Breakfast Cake

 

How sad that months have gone by since I posted here!  This weekend I tried a new recipe and thought it might be a fun possibility for Christmas breakfast or brunch, although I served it as a dessert.   So I thought I would put that recipe here!  It might also make a nice kitchen gift.

Blueberry Lemon Breakfast Cake is by Sue Moran at The View from Great Island.  I have learned that I can't go wrong with one of Sue's recipes.  

Blueberries were on sale this week and I also needed to find a dessert recipe to serve to guests at Sunday lunch.  I wanted to find something simple and good, not super fancy or a lot of work.  I turned to The View from Great Island as I often do.  The recipe index and search feature is so easy to use.

I had made Sue's cranberry breakfast cake previously and thought the blueberry lemon one sounded yummy.  I had bought a couple of lemons earlier in the week, so I even had a lemon in the house.  

The cake was easy to put together and smelled scrumptious while it baked.  Instead of sprinkling coarse or sparkling sugar over it, I reserved some of the lemon sugar from the recipe (which I had done without a food processor) to sprinkle on top.  Just a couple tablespoons.  It looked pretty when it came out of the oven and added a nice crunch to the top.

Since I was serving this as dessert, I wanted either vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream, to serve with it.  We are trying to watch our carbs, so I chose whipped cream.  I sweetened it with only 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon maple syrup.  That was plenty sweet enough and it was so good with the cake.  Our guests were impressed with homemade whipped cream -- and it really did turn a simple cake into a wonderful dessert.

This would make a yummy breakfast item any time of year.  Hope you enjoy the cake if you try the recipe!

A festive breakfast

  Prior to our candy making and craft adventures,   these four of our grands -- three teens and an 8-year-old -- came to our house for breakfast.  (The photo is from the fall.)  Astute readers will notice a resemblance (but not an exact one) to last year's menu.

I kept breakfast simple but hearty with breakfast sliders and a Hash Brown Casserole.  The hash brown casserole is always a big favorite with this crowd.  The little one wasn't sure ... but she tried a serving and came back for more!

The sliders were from Jamie at My Baking Addiction.  I had made these for our friends Syd and Cyndy back in November and we all loved them, including some of these very same teens who snacked on the leftovers.  I made homemade sausage patties instead of using purchased sausage.  I used sliced cheddar for the cheese component.

Photo by Jamie at My Baking Addiction

I imagine some readers might like to have the homemade sausage recipe.  I have posted it here before, but it's been a few years.  So here it is:

HOMEMADE SAUSAGE PATTIES

1/4 cup water
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
2 lb. ground pork

In a bowl, stir together water and seasonings. Add pork and mix well. Shape meat mixture into eight 4” patties (or a larger amount of smaller ones). In a skillet over medium heat, cook patties for 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the center.

This is such a yummy recipe for homemade sausage! I often cut the amounts in half to make a smaller batch. This sausage is very lean and not at all greasy.  For these sliders, I used about 1 1/4 pounds of ground pork, which is what I had, and used half the amount of seasonings specified here.

 Along with the sliders and hash brown casserole, I also served some Cinnamon Fried Apples.  This is a recipe which my Nevada daughter sent me.  It tastes similar to, maybe better than, the Cracker Barrel fried apples.

As before,  every scrap was eaten.  I just made a couple of changes to the recipe as written: rather than cut the apples in bite size pieces, I sliced them; and I used only 2/3 the amount of cinnamon called for.  I used three Ginger Gold apples and 2 Cortlands, all a little on the soft side.  I didn't peel them.  A good use for apples that are on their way out.

That was our breakfast!  It fueled us up for a fun and busy day.

Cranberry Breakfast Cake

 

Recently I was looking for an easy coffeecake to bake for a ladies' brunch at church.  (Long story -- the brunch was scheduled for May, but first sickness and then other events -- our merger service for example -- kept pushing the date back until here we are near the end of July and just now having the brunch.  It's no one's fault, but there it is.)  

The weather has been exceedingly hot and humid and I couldn't have felt less like baking.  I went searching for something a little different and found this Cranberry Breakfast Cake which looked quite simple and seemed as if it would be delicious any time of year.

Photo by The View from Great Island

 
I've learned that I can't go wrong with a recipe from Sue Moran at The View from Great Island.  Foods made from her recipes are always delicious and enticing!  I had almost everything I needed on hand to bake this cake.  The only thing I didn't have was the sparkling sugar for the top.

I couldn't bring myself to bake during the day so decided I would start early the next morning.  I sifted the dry ingredients together the night before and left them in a quart-size ziptop bag, to save time in the morning.  If I had thought of it, I would also have placed a stick of butter in a covered bowl to soften.

Then in the morning it was a quick matter to get everything together.  Sue warns that the batter (really more like dough) will be quite thick, and it truly was.  Adding the frozen cranberries really stiffened it up.  It was quite a challenge to spread the batter evenly in the pan, but with the help of a small sandwich spreader I was able to do so.  I did sprinkle a handful of the berries on top as Sue suggested.  Since I had no sparkling sugar (a situation I will try to remedy), I sprinkled on a bit of regular white sugar instead.

This came out so delicious and was so easy!  It would be a great choice for Christmas breakfast or any festive breakfast or brunch time during the holiday season.  And it's good in July too, if you can bring yourself to turn the oven on!

On the second day of Christmas ...

...  in July, that is.  

 

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

I thought it would be fun to try a coffeecake recipe that would work well for Christmas breakfast or brunch.  This Cherry Crisp Coffee Cake from Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life looks absolutely delicious.   Jocelyn is one of my most trusted sources for desserts and baked goods.  I've used many, many of her recipes over the years and they are always fabulous.

Coffee cakes of any kind are a huge favorite with my family and friends, so I'm always on the lookout for new coffee cake recipes.  When I find one that looks holiday-worthy, it's even better.  

 I'm sharing this near the very beginning of July so that if there's a day this month that seems cool enough to do some baking, this coffee cake could find its way into your breakfast plans.  It's pretty, festive, and looks absolutely scrumptious.  If we get a cool day this month, you can be sure that I'm going to be baking one of these!

Recipe to try for Christmas breakfast!

Photo from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

I'm always on the lookout for potential Christmas breakfast or brunch recipes.  This one from Jamie Sanders at  Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom sounds just about perfect.  How could you go wrong with something called Biscuits and Gravy Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole?

Jamie says that her dad prepares this dish for Thanksgiving breakfast, but I think it could be even more perfect for Christmas breakfast.  The recipe looks a lot quicker and easier than I would have thought, and it only includes 6 ingredients!  Buttermilk biscuit dough,  sausage, eggs, cheese, milk, and peppered gravy mix (or 2 cups of homemade). 

An important point for me with breakfast casseroles, especially for special breakfasts like Easter or Christmas or a potluck brunch at church, is whether or not they can be assembled the night before.  This one can!  And it can also be made ahead and frozen.

If we get a cool day (or special guests for brunch!) in July, you can be sure I'll be trying this one out.

How to make your own breakfast sausage, quickly and easily

I mentioned in the recipe for the breakfast cups a few days ago that I had made my own bulk turkey breakfast sausage. In case some are interested, I thought I would share how I did it.  I've been using this recipe for years with pork, and decided to try it with turkey.

HOMEMADE BREAKFAST SAUSAGE

2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1 pound either ground turkey or ground pork

In a bowl, combine water and seasonings.  Add ground meat and mix very well. 

This can be formed into patties and cooked immediately, for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or it may be crumbled and used in any recipe that calls for bulk breakfast sausage. 

I hope you'll enjoy this yummy breakfast sausage as much as we do!

An idea to consider for Christmas breakfast

Photo from Taste of Home

As I mentioned yesterday, most of the ladies brought food to the Christmas brunch this past Saturday.  I decided early on to take a cranberry coffeecake, but had been uncertain what to bring for an egg dish -- we were keeping it to easy-to-eat foods that might require only the use of fingers or a fork.

One day while walking with my friend, we were talking about Christmas breakfast,  and she mentioned a recipe she had tried and liked, made in a 13x9 pan.  When she brought me a copy of the recipe the next day, she had also clipped to it this recipe: Amazing Muffin Cups.

Instantly I knew what I would bring to the brunch.  These are so good!  There's a hash brown crust and then an egg filling made with sausage, cheese and chopped red pepper.  I left out the chives because I didn't have any, but it certainly would help to add a Christmasy touch.   Using some red and some green pepper would achieve the same effect.

The recipe calls for link sausages, cut up, but I made my own bulk sausage using ground turkey and then cooked it prior to using in the egg filling.

I doubled the batch to make 24 muffin cups for the brunch, though in retrospect 12 would have been plenty.  There was SO much food there.  So many choices!

This is a delicious recipe that I'm likely to make again and again.  If you're looking for something a little different for Christmas breakfast, may I suggest Amazing Muffin Cups?

The rest of the story on the Almond Joy Muffins

(As if you couldn't tell, the above illustration is a screenshot of my Christmas breakfast Pinterest board.  It has loads of great ideas for that special breakfast or brunch.)

When sharing the recipe for my Almond Joy Muffins, I commented that it had been published in Simple & Delicious magazine under a slightly different name.  That was in the November/December 2006 issue.  If you happen to have it in your stash somewhere, you can find my recipe, re-titled Coconut Almond Muffins for, most likely, copyright reasons.

And if you have that issue and open it up, you will be seeing it as I saw it for the first time in print, completely surprised.  I had not realized that my recipe was about to be published -- and I first saw the magazine in Elko, Nevada, in October 2006.  We had traveled out by Amtrak to visit our newborn grandson, Darrin.

When we visit out there in the fall, my daughter often has a Christmas issue of a lovely magazine just waiting to greet me.  I'm guessing (though I don't remember clearly) that's how I happened to come into possession of this issue.  At any rate, as I leafed through it, I was astounded to see my own name in print, and my recipe, under an assumed name.  That was exciting, and my daughter enjoyed the fun surprise as well.

But there's more to the story!  Back in New Hampshire, in another part of the state, an old friend of mine with whom I had worked years ago at a Christian school was browsing through her new copy of Simple & Delicious.  The name "New Hampshire" in the address of a recipe contributor caught her eye.  She glanced further for the name of the town, thinking that it wouldn't be a town she was familiar with.  But it was!  She glanced further for the contributor's name, thinking, "It'll be someone I've never heard of.  It always is."

And it was my name!  That moved my friend, a few days later, to dig out my snail mail address and to write me a letter, telling me about the serendipitous finding of my recipe in her new magazine.  She also caught me up to date on her own life and family and encouraged me to get back in touch.  I did, though neither of us are the best correspondents and it's been a few years now since we've caught up with one another. 

Later I received my notification of the recipe being published, and a free copy of the magazine too.

That's a lot of fun from one recipe submitted to a magazine!  And the muffins are pretty tasty, too.

Almond Joy Muffins

I can hardly believe this, but apparently I have never posted this recipe here in my Christmas kitchen.  It appears several places on my regular blog, but I could not find it in a search here. 

Since you really need this muffin recipe in your baking repertoire,  I am sharing it today.

ALMOND JOY MUFFINS

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream OR plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Almonds (either chopped, sliced, or whole) and sugar for tops of muffins

Preheat oven to 375º. Grease 12 muffin cups. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, combine margarine, eggs, sour cream (OR yogurt), and extract. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients until just combined well. The batter will be lumpy. Stir in the coconut and chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the greased muffin cups. Top each with a sprinkle of chopped or sliced almonds (or 3 whole almonds) and a little sugar. Bake in preheated 375º oven for 18 minutes or until muffins test done. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Almond Joy Muffins are a great favorite in our family. They would be perfect for Christmas breakfast, but would make a wonderful addition to any special-occasion or holiday breakfast or brunch. I found the recipe in an old newspaper years ago and  tweaked it a bit to better suit our tastes.

Several years ago, this recipe was published in Simple and Delicious magazine under a slightly different name.   It's a story for another day -- how I was surprised by my own recipe while browsing a magazine in a distant state, not to mention how I reconnected with an old friend by means of that published recipe.  Meanwhile, if the weather is cool enough where you are, why not bake up a batch of these muffins and see how you like them?

Welcome to my Christmas kitchen for Christmas in July!

I'm swinging open the door here in the Christmas kitchen this morning!  The coffee is brewing, and I certainly wish I had a gorgeous blue snowflake coffee service, like the one above,  to use.   (It's from an A&P ad of years gone by.)   There's a teakettle on the stove, too,  if you prefer tea.

That delicious aroma wafting out the screen door is my fabulous Cranberry Coffee Cake, cooling on the counter,

and there are Almond Joy muffins (I'll share that recipe tomorrow) in the oven.  Either of these would be a wonderful addition to your Christmas breakfast plans.   If we get a cool day this month, try one of these treats on a weekend and see what you think.  These are both great favorites with my family.

A quick baking tip that will work with either of these and many other of your favorite Christmas recipes: if someone in your household must eat gluten free, simply substitute the Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for the regular flour in the recipes.  This baking blend works wonderfully in cookies and bars, cakes, coffeecakes, muffins, scones, and biscuits. 

It does NOT work with yeast doughs, which I found out the hard way (not having read the label thoroughly) trying to make pizza crust. 

I have never tried making pie crust with this gluten free blend either.  My best advice on gluten free pie crust is here: Gluten Free Pie Crust.

 Throughout the month, I hope to share other recipes, planning ideas, memories, poems, vintage cards and other vintage Christmas finds, plus some craft, gift, ornament, and wrapping ideas.   Often when I celebrate Christmas in July here in my Christmas kitchen, I write and schedule the posts far ahead, or at least have a very good idea what I am doing.  This year I'm not quite that organized, so I don't know for sure what I'll be sharing or even if I will manage to get here every day.  But I certainly hope to!  See you then.

Egg casserole for Christmas breakfast

(Photo by Skip to My Lou.)

Quick, while you are doing your last-minute grocery shopping, pick up an avocado or two, and some tomatoes if you don't ordinarily keep them on hand.  You will need these items for a wonderful egg bake that's perfect for Christmas breakfast.

Here is the link to the recipe:  California Egg Casserole. I wasn't sure about the recipe when I first thought about trying it.  I really had no idea how the avocados would behave as I was planning to prepare the casserole (without baking it) the night before, refrigerate it,  and bake it in the morning so it was ready just as we went out the door to a sunrise breakfast at church one Easter.  I was somewhat concerned that the avocados might discolor, but I pushed them down into the egg mixture as much as I could, covered the top of the casserole with bacon bits (just in case) and hoped for the best.  I was so pleasantly surprised.  The avocados stayed nice and green.  I plunked the casserole on a warming tray when we got to church and so it was just right when we were ready to eat. 

So this has become a  keeper recipe for me.  Simply wonderful!

(I should add here that I do not use all of the cheese this recipe calls for. I use a total of perhaps 1-1/2 cups, and I usually use cheddar.  For cream cheese, I substitute the lower fat Neufchatel.)

 

I made this dish for our ladies' Christmas fellowship brunch and realized how the colors, with the red tomato, green avocado, and white cream cheese, were just perfect for Christmas.  Maybe this will fit into your Christmas morning plans, too!

Thinking ahead to Christmas breakfast

I seldom post the same things in both of my blogs in a given season.  But because it's such a great recipe, I want to share my Cranberry Coffeecake recipe today.  It would be perfect for Christmas breakfast! 

Also, I know that not all of my readers read both of my blogs, and I don't want anyone to miss this.  There's still time, I hope, to be sure you have the ingredients in the pantry for this festive treat.

This is a coffeecake that I cobbled together from two different recipes,  and I was so pleased with the results.  I'd seen a recipe on line that looked good, but I wanted my cranberry coffeecake to taste like one I remembered from my younger years.  My mother's friend Evelyn had shared the cake (made in a small tube pan) and the recipe.  Hers did not have the orange component to it that this one does, though it was delicious.  However, I like the added zing of orange flavor.

I prefer to make cakes in a 13x9 pan rather than a tube pan, but since Evelyn's recipe called for a small tube pan I needed to increase the quantities.  1 1/2 times the recipe worked perfectly.  Her recipe also called for almond flavoring but I changed it to vanilla, to go better with the orange component I was adding.

Jellied cranberry sauce was the only kind I had on hand and it worked very well.  I didn't have any oranges, so I went with the orange extract in the cranberry sauce and it worked out perfectly.

CRANBERRY COFFEE CAKE
3/4 cup margarine or butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream
15-16-ounce can cranberry sauce (either jellied or whole berry will work)
2 Tblsp. grated orange rind OR 2 scant tsp. pure orange extract

Cream together the margarine and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Add unbeaten eggs one at a time, beating after each, at medium speed.  Beat in vanilla.  Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Grease or spray a 13x9-inch pan.  Pour half of the batter into the pan.

Stir together the cranberry sauce (I used a fork to break it up as I stirred) and the orange rind OR extract.  Spread half of this mixture carefully over the batter in the pan.  Then layer on the remaining batter and then the remaining cranberry sauce mixture.  Use a knife to gently swirl the cranberry sauce into the batter.

Bake the coffeecake for 50 to 60 minutes at 350º or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before glazing.

GLAZE:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tblsp. orange juice (more if needed)
1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries

Combine the powdered sugar and the orange juice, adding more juice a teaspoon at a time if needed to make a glaze of drizzling consistency.  Drizzle the glaze evenly over the cooled cake.  Sprinkle the chopped dried cranberries evenly over the drizzled glaze.  Allow glaze to set up before cutting cake.
Makes 1 13x9-inch coffee cake.  Servings depend upon how large one cuts the squares.

I picked up more cranberry sauce so there is plenty of it in the pantry.  My hubby liked this coffee cake so much that I need to make at least one more during the Christmas season.  And I am planning that one of those times will be for Christmas breakfast.

Eggnog Coffee Cake -- a great idea for Christmas breakfast

Photo from Crumbs and Chaos

This coffee cake sounds like a  fantastic idea for Christmas breakfast.  Here's the link: Eggnog Coffee Cake.  It's from Becca at Crumbs and Chaos.

This delicious-looking coffee cake contains real eggnog in the cake and in the glaze.  I personally think a good coffee cake is a wonderful addition to any special breakfast, but this one would be perfect for Christmas.  I had pinned it to my original Christmas board on Pinterest long before I had such a thing as a Christmas Breakfast board.  So now I have pinned this Eggnog Coffee Cake to that board, too.  That way I can't lose track of it!  If I find myself with time to bake on a cool summer morning (assuming we have some), I will be trying this recipe out ahead of time!

Found on The Simple, Sweet Life: Peppermint Mocha Doughnuts

Photo from Claire at The Simple, Sweet Life

This past holiday season I made a new Pinterest board just for Christmas breakfast.   So far I have only a few items pinned to it, but if you are interested in checking it out, here's the link: My Christmas Breakfast Pinterest board.  

I thought it would be fun to share something from this new board with you for Christmas in July, so I went to the board and made a selection.  These Peppermint Mocha Doughnuts from Claire at The Simple, Sweet Life look absolutely amazing!

Actually, I thought for years that I wouldn't care much for peppermint mocha anything.  It just didn't sound that great to me.  But either last Christmas or the year before, I forget which, I decided to try some coffee creamer in that flavor, and now I am hooked.  I'm sure these doughnuts (which I plan to try making this year) would be absolutely delicious.  They are a baked doughnut, so lower in fat -- always a plus, in my book.  You could try a batch this summer and just leave off the peppermint -- or, serve them on July 25th for Rudolph Day!

A nice idea for Christmas breakfast

Photo from Taste of Home

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for good ideas for Christmas breakfast.  We keep it very, very simple -- usually an egg bake of some kind; muffins, coffeecake or sweet rolls; and fruit.  This is the sort of breakfast I always served Christmas morning when our family was young and all still at home.  I felt it was important to have something hearty and healthy to balance out all of the excitement and sweets.  I love to make egg casseroles because they can be prepared the night before and simply baked in the morning.  I usually make the baked goods ahead too and simply reheat them, although if it is a very simple coffeecake, I might bake it that morning.

Now it is nearly always just my hubby and me at home for Christmas breakfast.  That's just fine with us; our children have their own families and we believe it's very important for them to have their own holiday traditions.  We would be the last people to ever insist our kids must be with us for Christmas.  We actually enjoy our own empty-nest traditions and we don't mind at all having Christmas breakfast on our own.  (And of course we would not mind having company, either.)

I recently came upon this recipe:Scrambled Egg Spinach Casserole and it looks delicious.  I think it will be this year's Christmas morning breakfast entree.  Maybe you would like to give it a try, too!