My husband and I of necessity are beginning our own Christmas morning traditions this year, and I'm looking for the best, most delicious brunch recipes for our table. Ideally they could be made ahead and baked on Christmas morning. I'm eyeing Emma's pumpkin cinnamon rolls, or perhaps Nealey's famous monkey bread. Or Elizabeth's breakfast strata with pancetta and Gruyere, or a batch of cinnamon cream cheese breakfast bars. It's hard to narrow it down — here's a look at 15 of the best holiday brunch recipes in our archive. I can guarantee that you'll find something to make for your own holiday brunch tradition too!
What precipitated my brunch search? Christmas morning is, in my family, the hallowed moment of brunch. I and my seven younger siblings would creep downstairs on Christmas morning eager to open stockings and gifts, but lured by the aroma of my mother's gooey cinnamon rolls. Rolls, egg casserole, a big bowl of fruit salad fresh and cold — these are the tastes of Christmas morning.
This year, however, there is no Christmas morning at my parents' house. With my siblings increasingly married off, and all the to-and-froing that comes at the holidays, juggling multiple families, we are now gathering on Christmas afternoon. Afternoon?! What's up with that? Brunch must still be had — and here are the recipes that call to me the most!
ROLLS & MONKEY BREAD
How To Make Rolls & Buns Ahead of Time!
• Sleep In! How to Make Breakfast Rolls Ahead of Time
• The Best Way to Freeze Cinnamon Rolls: Parbake & Freeze Sweet Rolls Now
• 1 Kugelhopf Breakfast Rolls - Note directions at bottom of recipe for preparing these the night before.
• 2 Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze - A new take on cinnamon rolls. A favorite.
• 3 No-Knead Pumpkin Rolls with Brown Sugar Glaze
• 4 Monkey Bread with Bourbon Crème Anglaise
• 5 Apple Cinnamon Mini Monkey Breads
SAVORY CASSEROLES
• 6 Make-Ahead Brunch Recipe: "Ham & Cheese" Breakfast Casserole - This sits in the fridge overnight before baking in the morning.
• 7 Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar & Sun-Dried Tomatoes - Can be refrigerated overnight before baking.
• 8 Crustless Mini-Quiches - Easy to adapt (and make ahead).
SWEET CASSEROLES
• 9 Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Breakfast Bars
• 10 Lemon Brioche Baked French Toast
FOR THE MORNING
• 11 Sweet Potato Hash with Caramelized Onions, Sausage & Eggs
• 12 Eggs Florentine in Hash Brown Nests
• 13 Breakfast Grain Salad with Blueberries, Hazelnuts & Lemon
• 14 Roasted Cherry Dutch Baby with Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Sauce
• 15 Pumpkin Muffins with Eggnog Cream Cheese Swirl
What's your holiday brunch tradition? Do any of these fit into your menu, or do you have family favorites that reappear every year? I just met a woman who makes popovers every Christmas — it's the thing that her now grown kids still insist upon! (Doesn't that sound lovely?)
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)
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Can't wait to try some of these!! Printed out a few and back to look for more! Thanks!
I made the sweet potato hash last year and everyone LOVED it!
My favorite brunch recipe is the "Breakfast Strata with Potatoes, Rosemary, and Fontina" from Cook's Illustrated. It is online at http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/32573. You can double the recipe for a 9x13 pan.
The Kugelhopf rolls remind me of Starbucks' Morning Buns which I loved in my gluten-eating days and ate far too many.
When we were little, my mom always made this one kind of cinnamon coffee cake on Christmas morning, and we had it with cheesy scrambled eggs and orange juice. She'd put a candle in it and we'd sing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus. So, now that coffee cake is called "Baby Jesus Coffee Cake" in our family. :) I still make the coffee cake, sans candle. Thankfully, it freezes well, so I try to make it a few days in advance.
When I win the lottery, I am hiring interior decorator David Bromstad, celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves, makeup maven Bobbi Brown and The Kitchn's Faith Durand to run my household.
Fantastic assortment of recipes that I will definitely be trying at least 3 or 4 of over the holidays! We, too, need to evolve our holiday meals with our "maturing" family, and brunch is one of our favorite ways to create memories and family traditions of our own. Thanks for the great list!