Building the Perfect Holiday Breakfast Board

Holiday mornings rarely go the way anybody pictured them.

Someone wakes up too early. Someone else refuses to get out of bed. Wrapping paper starts piling up before the coffee is done, and at least one person spends twenty minutes looking for the scissors even though the gifts are already wrapped.

Breakfast usually happens somewhere in the middle of all that.

We've had holiday breakfasts where the pancakes went cold, the bacon disappeared before it reached the table, and somebody forgot about the eggs until the skillet started smoking. Nobody seemed too bothered. There was coffee, there was food, and everybody stayed near the table longer than they meant to.

"Nobody remembers which present they opened first. They remember breakfast."

A holiday breakfast board works well because it doesn't ask everyone to sit down at the same time. You can set it out, keep a few warm things coming, and let people make a plate whenever they're ready. Somebody can eat before the gifts. Somebody else can come back for toast an hour later. The kids can grab berries between trips to the tree.

It doesn't need to look perfect. It just needs enough food, a little room on the table, and a coffee pot that hasn't been carried off to another room.

Start with the Table You've Got

You don't need a giant wooden board or one of those tables that looks like it belongs in a magazine. A sheet pan, cutting board, serving platter, or a few dinner plates pushed together will do the job.

We usually clear one end of the table and leave the rest alone. The napkins don't have to match. The coffee mugs probably won't. There may still be ribbon, tape, and a gift tag stuck to somebody's sleeve.

That's fine.

Give the warm food a place near the kitchen. Put the fruit and bread where kids can reach them. Keep coffee, juice, plates, and forks nearby so nobody has to ask where everything is.

The board is really just a place for breakfast to gather.

What to Put on a Holiday Breakfast Board

We like a mix of warm food, bread, fruit, something savory, and a few things people can spoon or spread on top. You don't need several versions of everything. One good choice from each group is plenty.

Pancakes, Waffles, or French Toast

Choose whichever one your family already likes. Holiday morning probably isn't the time to test a recipe you've never made before.

Small pancakes and quartered waffles are easier to fit on a board and easier for kids to grab. French toast can be cut into halves or strips. Keep the first batch warm in a low oven while you finish cooking the rest.

Set out soft butter and a bottle of Triple Berry Whole Fruit Syrup. Warm the syrup in a small saucepan if you've got an open burner. It only takes a few minutes, and warm syrup is always worth the extra pan.

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Toast, Biscuits, or Muffins

Toast is usually the first thing gone. It isn't exciting, but people know what to do with it.

Cut thick slices in half and stack them in a basket lined with a clean towel. Biscuits, English muffins, and small pieces of banana bread work too. Use whatever can be made or warmed without turning the kitchen into a mess.

Set out butter and a jar of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. It's sweet enough for the kids, a little tart for the grown-ups, and pretty good on just about anything warm.

Leave a spoon or butter knife beside the jar. Otherwise, somebody will use the knife from their own plate and leave it there for the rest of the morning.

Eggs, Bacon, and Something Salty

A breakfast board needs something savory, especially if the syrup has already made its way across half the table.

Scrambled eggs are easier than fried eggs when people are eating at different times. Bacon can be cooked ahead and kept warm. Sausage links, breakfast potatoes, or slices of ham work just as well.

If your family likes cheese with breakfast, add a small piece of cheddar or cream cheese with crackers and a spoonful of Raspberry Jalapeno Jam. It's a nice break from the sweeter side of the table and usually gets passed around more than anyone expects.

Fresh Fruit

Fruit fills the spaces and gives everybody something to pick at while breakfast is still cooking.

Berries, apple slices, orange wedges, and grapes are easy to eat without much work. Pomegranate seeds look nice around the holidays, though they tend to end up everywhere. If you're serving bananas or pears, cut them right before people eat so they don't sit around turning brown.

Don't spend half the morning arranging fruit into little rows. Put it in bowls or scatter it wherever there's room.

The Little Things

A few extras make the board feel finished without adding much work. Soft butter, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, chopped nuts, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and chocolate chips are all fair game.

You don't need all of them.

Pick two or three and call it good.

A Holiday Breakfast Board for Six to Eight People

This is about what we'd make for a table of six to eight people. Adjust it depending on how many kids are involved, whether breakfast is the main meal, and how long everyone plans to hang around.

• 16 to 20 small pancakes or waffle quarters
• 8 to 10 slices of toast, cut in half
• 10 to 12 scrambled eggs
• 12 to 16 strips of bacon or sausage links
• One large bowl of fresh fruit
• One jar of jam
• One bottle of whole fruit syrup
• Soft butter
• Coffee, juice, and plenty of water

There'll probably be leftovers. That's better than running out while somebody is standing near the empty platter holding a fork.

What to Make the Night Before

The best thing you can do for holiday breakfast is take care of a few jobs before everybody goes to bed.

Wash and cut the fruit. Set out the plates, serving dishes, and utensils. Mix the dry pancake ingredients in a bowl. Put the coffee near the machine and make sure someone remembered to buy filters.

Bacon can be cooked ahead and warmed in the oven. Muffins and quick breads are fine made a day early. You can also set the jam, syrup, and butter together in the refrigerator so they aren't hiding behind three casserole dishes in the morning.

Don't try to finish the whole board the night before. Bread gets dry, fruit gets tired, and refrigerated butter becomes nearly impossible to spread.

Do enough that morning feels easier.

Putting It All Together

Start with the larger plates and bowls. Warm pancakes on one side, eggs and bacon on the other, fruit somewhere near the middle. Fill the smaller spaces with toast, muffins, butter, jam, and anything else you decided to bring out.

Keep the things people use together near each other. Put the syrup beside the pancakes. Keep the jam near the toast. Leave forks near the eggs instead of at the far end of the table.

It sounds obvious until you're holding a hot skillet and somebody asks where the plates are.

Don't worry about getting everything on the table at once. Bring the fruit and bread out first. Add the warm food when it's ready. Refill the board from the kitchen instead of trying to pile everything into one place.

Breakfast can arrive in pieces.

Once Everybody Starts Eating

There'll be crumbs everywhere before long.

Somebody will set a coffee mug directly in front of the jam. A kid will take three strawberries and leave the pancakes untouched. The butter knife will disappear. One piece of bacon will sit by itself until everyone claims they're full, and then somebody will eat it while helping clean up.

Let the table look used.

That's what it's there for.

Keep another pot of coffee going. Warm a few more pancakes if people are still hungry. Move anything that needs refrigeration back to the kitchen once breakfast slows down.

Then sit for a minute before you start clearing plates.

The Quiet Part of the Morning

Holiday mornings are loud at first. Paper tearing. Kids talking over each other. Somebody calling from the kitchen because they can't find the cinnamon.

Then everybody settles in.

The gifts are open. Plates are half-finished. Coffee has been warmed up once or twice. Somebody leans back in their chair and says they couldn't eat another bite while reaching for the last piece of toast.

Years later, the details of the presents get mixed up. Nobody remembers which box came first or who opened what.

But they remember the breakfast table.

They remember the pancakes getting cold because nobody was ready at the same time. They remember the jam on the good tablecloth and the mug their grandpa always used. They remember being allowed to have syrup twice.

That's enough reason to make breakfast last a little longer.

Make enough for everybody to come back once. Somebody always does.