Comfort and Joy
December 1st, 2009 by Elizabeth Phillips
If your family celebrates Christmas, what’s your holiday breakfast tradition? I surveyed my Facebook friends recently, and found that though there are many ways of approaching the big morning, they can be divided into two broad approaches. The first saves the main action for the big family dinner. On waking, everyone bolts down a bowl of cereal, digs into stockings and gifts, and then tucks into a roast beast later on. The second approach favors a big, leisurely breakfast, perhaps in the break between rummaging through stockings and attacking the gifts under the tree.
Like many of my FB-ing friends, I’m an adherent of number 2. So if cereal is your thing, you don’t need my help. But if your family likes a big breakfast but you want a little peace of mind, read on.
I like the way lingering a bit allows my kids to savor their stocking gifts, but revs up anticipation for the loot waiting in the other room. I like the calm before the storm, and I like approaching challenging tasks like handing out gifts with a well-lined stomach. What I don’t like is flipping pancakes while my two small kids circle my ankles in a frenzy of impatient longing. So I’m planning ahead.
I start with the ballast. Several FB friends suggested variations on a combination of eggs, dairy, and bread: overnight French toast, bread pudding, or strata. In most cases, you combine the ingredients in a baking pan and let it all sit in the fridge overnight. Bake it in the morning and within an hour you’re all set.+
Or you can avoid almost all morning efforts by baking a coffee cake a day or two before. It won’t hog space in your fridge, but you’ll probably need to accompany it with some kind of savory — sausage and smoked fish don’t take much work — and fruit. Luxurious, kid-pleasing baked pears go beautifully with this coffee cake. They’re not hard to make, especially if you recruit the young ones to stuff the filling into the fruits’ hollow insides. If they resist, tell them Santa’s watching. They’ll be sure to help.
Liz Schenck Phillips blogs at peachesandbuttermilk.blogspot.com and also writes for Edible Memphis. Her sons Gus and Solly don’t always eat what she cooks, but she keeps on trying.
Baked Stuffed Pears
Adapted from The Breakfast Book by Marrion Cunningham (Knopf, 1987)
Filling
• ¼ cup raisins and 3 tablespoons chopped toasted pecans or ¼ cup chopped figs and 3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
To assemble
• 4 firm-ripe pears
• 2 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¼ water
• ¼ cup light corn syrup or agave nectar
Peel the pears but leave the stems on. Use a melon baller to core the pears from the bottom. Remove the seeds and their hard casings, making a nice little cavity for the filling. Don’t break through the side or top.
Mix fruit, nuts, sugar, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Divide the filling into 4 piles (kid task!) and stuff each into a pear. Place pears upright in a deep covered baking dish and pour mix of syrup and water in. Bake covered, using foil if necessary, 1 hour 15 minutes.
These will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. Serve at room temperature or reheat in the microwave. Don’t forget to douse them with their delicious syrup.
Quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake
My friend Laura Barrett, formerly of the Memphis Farmers Market’s Bun in the Oven, brought this tender coffee cake to a brunch-for-supper party we had on a recent Sunday evening. She found it in the mouthwatering cookbook Gale Gand’s Brunch! (Gale Gand with Christie Matheson, Clarkson Potter, 2009).
For the cake:
• Unsalted butter, for the baking dish
• 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (you can sub up to ½ cup whole wheat)
• 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 ripe pears (Bartletts are good for this and the preceding recipe) unpeeled, cored and chopped
For the streusel topping:
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Heat the oven to 400°. Butter and flour an 8”-square baking dish.
To make cake combine the flour with the baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In separate bowl, beat the eggs, then mix in the milk and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the pears and mix well. Pour this into the buttered baking dish.
To make the streusel, mix the sugar, flour, cold butter, and cinnamon in a bowl by pinching them together with your fingers until well combined. (You can also do this in a food processor or even a stand mixer.) Sprinkle over the top of the batter.
Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden and dry on top. Cool in the pan and then cut into squares. This cake keeps for up to four days covered at room temperature.