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Hi Everyone,

Wow, another Christmas is over. The days and years seem to fly by too fast.

I was quite busy preparing all the fish for our Christmas Eve “Feast of the Seven Fishes” dinner and didn’t have time to take pictures of my tablescape.

But Christmas morning was a different story. Every year we have our traditional breakfast and the main course is always Williams Sonoma croissants. I always order the combination of plain and chocolate.

Not to sound like an advertisement for this product, but they are delivered frozen, you take the quantity you want out the night before you want to eat them to let them rise for 9 hours. In the morning you bake them and the house smells “Wonderful”. Nothing like the smell of fresh baked goods.

The other additions to our breakfast table are eggnog muffins with rum. If you are serving children, omit the rum, increase the eggnog and add vanilla. I love these muffins. Delicious and easy.

( Recipe at the end of the post).

Of course we had to have Panettone on our breakfast table. For those of you who are not familiar with it, Panettone is an Italian Christmas Cake with candied orange peel, raisins and citron. You must try it at least once.

Every year I buy a different variety to change things up a bit; sometimes traditional, sometimes pear, chestnut and my favorite chocolate. This year it was chocolate. The company I love the best is Bonifanti – fantastic. I usually order mine from Eataly, NYC.

You can eat Panettone at breakfast with coffee, as a snack with berries and whipped cream and at dinner with wine. This year I made Panettone two ways.

I served it sliced from the package and then I made overnight Panettone French toast.

I had never tried to make the overnight French toast before so this was a new experience. I have made Panettone French toast on the griddle in the past, but I was trying to make life easier. If you prepare this, keep in mind it takes 40 – 45 minutes to bake, so you have to plan your time accordingly.

Add a nice dusting of powdered sugar before serving for a pretty presentation. It must have been too early in the morning for me because I forgot to do that.

(Recipe at the end of the post).

 Bob and I liked the French toast a lot and it will be back on our Christmas breakfast table next year.

And I always add my Honey Bow Tie cookies to the breakfast table – another family tradition. The recipe and the story behind it was in my previous post of the same name, posted 12/21/16.

This year Bob surprised me and bought me one of my favorite snack items to add to my breakfast plate. I very rarely eat them but I have loved them since I was a child.

“Hostess Sno Balls”

Has anyone had these?  Pink or white it doesn’t matter. 

There is just something about the coconut and marshmallow chocolate covered cake with a creamy center that I love. Twinkies can move aside.

Well, with a Christmas breakfast, you have to have a Christmas tablescape.

We use the same dishes each year for this occasion. Another part of our tradition.

I am using dishes and mugs from Williams Sonoma called “Christmas Carols”. An off white porcelain dish rimmed in red with a variety of scenes depicting lyrics to Christmas songs.

But before the dishes, I started out with the matching off white tablecloth 

and napkins with red and green woven napkin holders.

Followed by red charger plates and green dinner plates just to use the Christmas colors.

The glassware that I am using is another exclusive to Williams Sonoma and they are called “Santa and Reindeer”.

They are sold as juice glasses but they are 14 oz. and I think that is a little too much for a juice glass. I would normally serve water or soda in a glass this size.

My flatware is red of course for Christmas.

To serve our breakfast goodies, I am using a white cake plate with red ribbon .

The three tiered cake stand that matches the dishes.

And the cutest red sleigh cupcake holders for the eggnog muffins displayed on a Christmas tree cutting board that was hand made by my cousin Frank- he is so talented.

My centerpiece is a tabletop size real Christmas Pine Tree that I have been watering every day and keeping it alive (with Bob’s help of course). It was touch and go for a while when some of the pine needles started to fall off, but I kept the faith and it’s still alive. (I have a reputation for killing ALL plants, shrubs, and bouquets I come in contact with).

The last addition to the breakfast table was a Willow Tree figurine -“Treasure 2016”. This year has been very important for us and we wanted her on the table to remind us of our blessings.

I collect these figurines. I just love them.

Place Setting

Well, that was our Christmas breakfast table. I hope I gave you some ideas to incorporate into your Christmas morning breakfast table for next year or a New Years Day breakfast table- wishing you many blessings in 2017.

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Diane

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Don’t forget the recipes.

Eggnog Muffins
(Makes 12 muffins)

Serve these muffins with butter or jam … very yummy! If you plan on serving them to children, leave out the rum, increase the amount of eggnog, and add vanilla extract.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2/3-cup sugar
1-tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup prepared eggnog
1/2 cup dark rum
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease one 12-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Spoon into prepared pan.
Bake about 20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
Cool slightly before serving.

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Overnight Panettone French toast

Courtesy of Naptime Recipes

Ingredients

1	loaf panettone (about 2 lbs. on the box)
6	large eggs
2 ½	cups milk
2	tablespoons granulated sugar
1	tablespoon vanilla extract
½	teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

1. Slice the loaf of panettone into about 8 to 10 even sized slices. Generously butter a 13 x 9 baking dish and fit the panettone slices in, allowing them to overlap. You may have to turn some slices sideways to make everything fit snugly – this is fine!
2. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl and pour the mixture evenly over the bread in the baking dish. Push the bread down so it soaks up as much of the custard as possible. Cover the baking dish and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 6 hours, or up to 12.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and allow the bread and custard to come to room temperature. Then sprinkle the top lightly with some granulated sugar and bake it in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the French toast is puffed up. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving with warm maple syrup.

This tasty treat appeals to both kids and adults and is even great for entertaining! To dress it up a bit try dusting the top with confectioners’ sugar.

Naptime Stopwatch

20 minutes prep time, 40 minutes cook time

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Table Details

 “Christmas Carols” dishes and mugs from Williams Sonoma

“Christmas Carols” tablecloth and napkins from Williams Sonoma

Three tier “Christmas Carols” cake stand from Williams Sonoma

“Santa and Reindeer” glassware from Williams Sonoma

Red and green woven napkin rings from Bed, Bath and Beyond

Red chargers from Bed, Bath and Beyond

Green dinner plates (Gibson)-pattern Green Aruba from Amazon

Red flatware from Homegoods

White cake plate with red ribbon was a “good luck” gift when I started the blog in 2015

Red Sleigh Cupcake holders  from Crate and Barrel

Willow Tree “Treasure 2016” from Hallmark

Panettone from Eataly, NYC

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