10 Make-Ahead Breakfasts for Christmas Day

David and I are hosting Christmas for my family this year.  While we’ve done this before, I was 8 months pregnant at the time, so I think expectations may have been a bit low.  Anyway, this time we are doing it up right with a giant Christmas dinner with all the requisite side dishes, cookies and milk for Santa, mistletoe, brown paper packages tied up with string, and David just threw out the word “charcuterie” (which will make my sister very happy, indeed).  The LAST thing I need to worry about is dirtying dishes first thing Christmas morning with a complicated breakfast.  What I would like is something that I can put together the night before in a disposable foil pan and throw into the oven in the morning when we put the coffee on.  But it has to taste awesome, because my family is full of major foodies who will not settle for a roll of Pillsbury Cinnamon Buns. And neither will I, to be honest.

If you have this same, admittedly specific, problem, this is your lucky day.  Below are 10 recipes for Christmas breakfasts that won’t dirty all your dishes or suck the jolly out of your morning.

 

This Pancetta and Gruyere Casserole is right up my family’s alley, and it’s just so beautiful! The ingredients make it special, but you prepare it the night before, so no extra kitchen work on Christmas.

 

These Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casseroles are really beautiful, and I bet you could use a casserole dish/foil pan instead of ramekins.  If I were to make this, I would not use “egg substitute”, whatever that is–I’d go for the real deal.  AND to bring low fat cheddar cheese into my home is an abomination–again, go with the real thing.

 

For the sweet toothed among us, this Apple Pie French Toast Casserole from Baked by Rachel looks delicious and lovely.   Even though you have to assemble this on the morning of, if you prepped everything the night before, it would just be a matter of dumping everything into a casserole.

 

Oatmeal may not seem like a very special breakfast, but there are some things you can do to take it to the next level.  This Make Ahead Apple Pie Oatmeal, which you make in the crock pot the night before, and then reheat in the morning, looks pretty tasty as-is, but I’d  probably use steel cut oats instead of regular (they cook up nice and plump) and I’d toast them before cooking them.

 

Okay, this one is a little weird, but it’s INTRIGUING! It’s a slow cooker breakfast pudding made of cornmeal and sweetened with molasses–I guess it’s kind of the sweeter version of grits? I doubt if this is “the one” for Christmas, but I think I might try it some time just to see what it’s all about.

Another slow cooker recipe–this one is for a wheat berry cereal, which looks very good to me.  I love the idea of having tons of different toppings out (blueberries, apples, cherries, almonds, walnuts, raisins, chocolate chips, dates, maple syrup, etc), but I have a thing for condiments, so I’m biased toward this kind of thing.

 

I trust Smitten Kitchen completely for any recipe ever.  This apple granola crisp would be great with some yogurt in the morning.

 

I am not a fan of rock-hard, bone-dry coffee shop scones, but home-made ones are an entirely different story.  These Raspberry Mega Scones from 101 Cookbooks (another go-to for me) look really good.

 

And, for those of us who prefer to drink our breakfasts (you know who you are), here’s an article all about how to make the perfect Bloody Mary from the American Chemical Society, of all places.  The key, according to them: mix it up just before you drink it, serve it ice cold, splurge on tomato juice and scrimp on vodka.  After that, you’ll be sure to make it through Christmas with a smile on your face.