christmas brunch decorating ideas

hey guys today, we're making a festive christmas brunch and the best part is most of it can be made in advance and special thanks to my friends at the inspired home website for sponsoring and collaborating with me on these holiday menus if you're not familiar with the inspired home website i encourage you to head on over there and check it out there you will find great ideas for the home from recipes and design trends to organizational tips and wellness advice you'll also get some great ideas for new products for the home there you will also find all of the printable recipes for this menu as well as more information on the products i'll be using in this episode ok let me show you how to make one fantastic christmas brunch we're gonna kick things off with my cranberry orange crumb cake a

delicious breakfast treat that's perfect to serve with morning coffee or hot cocoa then i'm going to show you how to create an easy oatmeal bar a great option for something warm and comforting on a chilly winters morning, then it's on to the main event my italian egg bake that is as light as a souffle and loaded with italian sausage red peppers and mozzarella cheese then my crispy hash brown cuts with parmesan cheese and green onions and then for a bit of decadence my maple glazed bacon with fresh rosemary it's a delicious menu that pleases just about everybody and in my game plan at the end of the show i'm going to show you how to pull it all off with ease even with all the chaos of christmas morning let me show you how to put it together

so my girls right now are 11 and 7 and so i've got a few family christmases under my belt and one of the things that i have learned throughout the years is that? christmas brunch really works best as a two-part buffet meaning you need to have something when everybody gets up and they're sort of hungry, and they need something in their tummies before they start opening up the gifts and then the second part is really something a little bit more substantial that'll keep them going until dinnertime so i'm going to show you how to break this buffet into two parts so for the first part of this buffet i like to serve my cranberry crumb cake and an oatmeal bar because it's easy for people to serve themselves and it's also really filling and healthy to keep them going and the second part is something a little bit more

substantial and that i like to serve about an hour later and for that we're gonna serve eggs and bacon and hash browns that will certainly do the trick all right, so let's get to the crumb cake so the first thing we're gonna do in a large bowl is add four eggs to that you're gonna add a cup of vegetable oil half a cup of white sugar and a half a cup of brown sugar the zest of one orange, and then you can cut that orange and add the juice as well half a cup of water and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and then you can just whisk that all together until everything is combined and then set that aside and then we're gonna prepare the dry ingredients so in a smaller bowl you're going to add 2 and 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder a teaspoon of salt and 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of ground cloves, i really love the ground cloves this time of year there's something that is so christmassy about cloves this spice also pairs so beautifully with the cranberry and orange as well just screams christmas, so you can whisk those dry ingredients together until they're all combined and then you're going to add this flour mixture to your wet ingredients a little bit at a time just until everything is well incorporated and then you're gonna add a cup and a half of fresh cranberries now to bake our crumb cake we're going to be using an angel food cake pan and i really love this one by good cook because it has a removable bottom

which really makes releasing the cake super easy? i also like this pan because of its nonstick surface i think a nonstick pan for something like a crumb cake or an angel food cake it's pretty critical and then for a little added security i do like to spray this pan with a little baking spray as well and then just take a pastry brush and make sure it's all well distributed then we're going to pour our batter into the pan and i like to just pour it from one side so pick a side and let gravity do the work for you because what will end up happening is that batter will just naturally distribute itself all along the pan and an even layer and you don't even have to touch it you can set that aside and now i'm going to show you how to make that delicious crumb topping so in a small bowl

you're going to add half a cup of all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder a pinch of salt 2 tablespoons of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and a quarter teaspoon of on cinnamon and you can whisk that all up until everything is combined and then to that we're going to add five tablespoons of melted butter and as you mix that up, you'll start to see a really beautiful crumble form and then at this stage we're going to add a third of a cup of chopped pecans and then you can mix that up and then once everything is sort of mixed together i do like to go in there with my hands and just kind of break up the

crumbles so it's in nice sort of crumbly pieces and then we're gonna take the crumble and just sprinkle it all over the cake batter see and now we're all ready to go so now we're gonna bake this at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about 50 to 55 minutes you just want to make sure that a skewer comes out clean i do like to use a skewer because it's a pretty deep pan, and then you can let it cool on your cooktop then you can release your cake and see how easy the removable bottom is so handy and they're gonna put it on a cooling rack and then i do like to dust it ever so slightly with a little bit of powdered sugar then we're gonna transfer it to our cake stand and to do that. i love these fabulous cake lifters

i think they're super easy for transferring big cakes like this and the one that i'm using here is by trudeau it works for cakes up to 12 inches and you can also use it for pizza, too and when you cut into this cake you will see the beautiful texture that it has it is so moist and light on the inside and then you've got that crunchy crumble on the outside studded with those beautiful cranberries and the flavor of the orange and the cloves it is the perfect christmas morning cake so next up let me show you how to put together an oatmeal bar i love this idea especially in the wintertime when it's cold and chilly on a christmas morning

and it's just a filling to the other nice thing about this dish is you can prep it all in advance and get a hold of cooking out of the way and then all you have to do on christmas morning is heat it up and put it in the slow cooker let me show you how to tackle the prep so there's a lot of ways to prepare overnight oats this is my favorite method because i think that it really lessens the cooking time on christmas day which let's face it with all that chaos you really need things to be easy now i'm using steel-cut oats which i think is a better way to go for something that you want to keep warm and a slow cooker because they really just get better the longer they warm and sit there unlike traditional oats, which can get a little clumpy and gluey so preference is yours

but i really like the steel-cut so the night before you're going to take out a large stock pot or a dutch oven you're going to add two cups of the steel-cut oats and seven and a half cups of water you're just gonna bring that to a boil and as soon as it starts bubbling then you can turn it down to a simmer cover and cook for two minutes, and then to that you're gonna add one and a half cups of diced apple and then you're gonna keep the cover on you just want to let it cool long enough so that you can actually handle it because your pots gonna be pretty hot and during this cooling period

10-15 minutes the oats are gonna also kind of cook in that hot liquid and give them a head start then you're gonna pop it in your fridge overnight, and then when you wake up the next morning and you release the lid you will see you'll have these beautiful fluffy oats and all you have to do is heat them up now for a buffet we're gonna keep these warm in our slow cooker on low but you don't want to take the cold oats and put them in the slow cooker and turn it on because this has a ceramic insert and i think that could probably crack if you did that so it definitely says in the user instructions not to do that so we're not gonna do that? but i also find that it's good to just get them a head start anyway and make them nice

and hot so by the time they hit the slow cooker. it's really just keeping it at temperature plus we want to flavor our oats with a few things as well. we're going to add 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon half a teaspoon of vanilla and 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt this will just give them a nice sort of warming flavor without putting too much flavor on top because i do like people to add their own toppings depending on their days and then once they're ready to go you can transfer to your slow cooker, and i'm using the all-clad 4 quart slow cooker and i love this design because i think it's a beautiful piece that you can put on a buffet that doesn't look out of place i also think this model is super easy to use because the control panel is really intuitive

it has a time control which will keep things cooking for anywhere from 4 to 20 hours and then automatically kicks into the warming cycle for up to six hours and once your oatmeal is in your slow cooker you can also set out an array of toppings and in the recipe i've given you a full laundry list of toppings that i think would be great with this, but here are some of my favorites i like to set out some butter some raisins a little brown sugar some heavy cream or you could also use milk coconut flakes walnuts and then i also like to set out some cinnamon sticks because i think it's a really lovely thing to be able to scoop

out some of that oatmeal. i like to then top with a little bit of butter some brown sugar raisins because you know i love my pieces and then add a little cinnamon stick and then people can kind of stir it all together with the cinnamon stick and it just looks really pretty and festive so there you go part 1 of this buffet ready to go we have our delicious cranberry crumb cake with our coffee maybe set out some juice and then we've got our oatmeal all warm and toasty ready to go with all of those toppings it's the perfect way to greet your family once. they start to rise and shine on christmas morning so now on to the main event my italian egg bake i love this recipe because thanks to my secret ingredient these eggs are as light as a souffle

it's also super filling because you've got the sausage and the cheese and then the red peppers and that fresh basil make it so christmassy - all right let me show you how to make it so the first thing you want to do is saute up our sausage, so i'm working with italian pork sausage but you could also use chicken sausage, or turkey sausage whatever you like and we're going to add tablespoon of olive oil into a large skillet and then remove the sausage from its casing and then saute them up just breaking them with a wooden spoon until they're nice bite-sized pieces you want to make sure at this stage that the sausage is really cooked through and browned on all sides and as your sausage is browning

i do like to add a little bit more seasoning to it so i typically will do 1/2 a teaspoon of just italian seasoning which is a blend of dried basil dried oregano dried parsley so if you didn't have italian seasoning you could use 1/2 a teaspoon of any of those herbs and then i also like to throw in 1/4 teaspoon of fennel seeds i think there's a really nice flavor combination between the sausage and the fennel now if you don't have fennel seeds at home don't go out and buy a whole jar just for a quarter teaspoon for this recipe it'll still be really good without it but if you had it it's a good thing to throw in then once your sausage is fully cooked through you can transfer it with a slotted spoon and allow it to drain on a plate with a paper towel

and then we're going to put together the egg batter so in a large bowl. you're going to crack in 12 eggs there's a lot of eggs, but this does feed anywhere from 8 to 12 people, then here comes the secret ingredient we're going to add 16 ounces of cottage cheese, which is a bit of a strange thing to add to an egg bake? but i always love to add it because it makes these egg bakes so light and fluffy much like a souffle and then we're also gonna add a quarter cup of melted butter 1/3 of a cup of flour which is also going to give our egg baked a really nice texture and give it a little bit of structure a teaspoon of baking soda and a half a teaspoon of salt and some

freshly cracked pepper but you can whisk that all up until everything is combined, and then we're gonna add our fillings so we're gonna add in our sausage and you're also gonna add half a cup of chopped roasted red peppers and a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and then you can whisk that up, so now our batter is ready to go now i really like to serve these egg bakes in large brazzers because i find that they're really low and shallow and large enough to feed a crowd they also come with lids which make them really serviceable on your buffet if you want to keep your eggs warm and this one from look chris a is just so beautiful and festive for christmas morning

i love the bright red cherry color and the lid has that gorgeous gold knob it's just the perfect festive centerpiece for your christmas buffet brazzers are great for slow-cooked meats or stews and that wide surface area also makes it great for searing meats and the dome lid makes it ideal for trapping and moister i use mine for cooking cocoa van in every year which is a dish that we like to serve on christmas eve now breezers are meant to be used oven to table? but you do need to have some kind of trivet to put down on your table and i like this one also from the lucra say because it's the same color, and it creates a really nice coordinated look you'll notice the beautiful ironwork. which is inspired by the ironwork of france and i love the elevated design to it

i think it creates a really nice elegant presentation for a buffet so we're gonna place our egg bake in a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for about 30 minutes you just want to make sure that the eggs are set and aren't jiggling in the center before you take it out and then once your eggs are done. you can take them out of the oven and garnish with two tablespoons of fresh basil it just adds such a delicious italian flavor to all of the other things that are inside and it also just looks so festive too and then to serve i like to cut these eggs into wedges almost like a pie and when you take it out you'll see the texture how light and fluffy these eggs are mixed with that delicious flavorful sausage the roasted red peppers and of course the cheesiness of the mozzarella it is such a delicious casserole on christmas morning so let's tackle the hash brown cups now

let's face it making hash browns for a crowd on christmas morning sounds like a good idea until you actually go ahead and try it it's out of work that's why i really like this technique because we are gonna make them in muffin tins it also works for feeding a big crowd of people because you're gonna get 12 portions in one lovington let me show you how easy this recipe is so what makes this even easier is we are going to be working with store-bought hash browns so you want to make sure that you get the kind that are? unseasoned because we're gonna add our own flavoring you also want to make sure that your hash browns are defrosted first so it's a good thing once you come home from the store

just pop them in the fridge, and they'll be good to go so we're going to add 6 cups of the hash browns to a large bowl and if they have a little bit of moisture to them it's a good idea to go in there with a kitchen towel and just stop up some of that moisture we want to make sure that our hash browns are nice and dry so that they'll crisp up in the oven otherwise they'll just steam up and you'll have just kind of hot potatoes on your hands and it won't really crisp up then we're gonna add three tablespoons of olive oil a teaspoon of salt and some freshly cracked pepper, and then we're also gonna add a cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

and two sliced scallions the green parts and the white parts and that's all there is to it how easy is that and then you're gonna toss this all up until everything is nice and combined if you find that the hash browns look a little bit dry you can add a little bit more olive oil the idea is to make sure that it's well coated because it's the olive oil that's gonna make these nice and crispy, so now let's talk muffington i am working with nordic where's copper muffin tin, and i love this design because not only is it beautiful but it has some nice features to it, so it's completely nonstick which is a good thing to do when you're making? hashbrowns like this because you do want them to be able to just pop out of the tin

and then it also has silicone grips to it which makes it really easy to handle in and out of the oven if you're not familiar with nordic ware they make a great line of baking equipment. i love their tins and baking molds they're really high-quality and will last the test of time and then to prep our muffin tin we are going to be using an olive oil spray so if this is something that you can pick up in the grocery store usually in the olive oil aisle or sometimes it's near the baking sprays it's just plain olive oil, but it comes in spray which makes it really easy for spraying a muffin tin like this now

you could use straight olive oil, but there's something about the spray that makes it a really light finish so you don't put too much and then i like to go in with a pastry brush and just make sure that all that olive oil is well distributed then using an ice cream scoop we're going to pack in those hash browns so you do want to make sure that the hash browns are really nicely packed in because they do shrink a little bit once they cook so you want to make sure you have a really full cup so just pack them in there then for the final step we're just gonna take that olive oil spray again

and just give a little spritz to the top of each of the hash brown cups, and then they're ready for the oven we're going to bake our hash browns at 375 degrees fahrenheit for about 40 to 45 minutes now i say that if you're only making the hash brown cups and you just want to make these that's what you would do if you are making these hash brown cups on christmas morning in connection with this entire menu, then stay tuned for a game plan because there's a little bit different way of cooking them that's going to allow this whole menu to come out together so stay tuned for that you'll know that they're done once they start to get nice and golden brown around the edges and crispy on top and then once they're done

you can just pop them out of their tins and i like to put them on a plate and then i also like to garnish with another sliced scallion which you can slice on the bias because it'll create really pretty slices for you and even just sprinkle those all over the plate and see doesn't that look pretty and so delicious, too i love this recipe because it provides for really crispy hash browns with hardly any effort when you bite into these you'll see that crispy exterior make sure that soft and fluffy interior of the potato it is the perfect potato side dish to go with our christmas brunch next i'm going to show you how to make this delicious maple glazed rosemary bacon it is the simplest recipe yet

let me show you how easy it is sort of make our bacon in the oven we are gonna be working with nordic where's oven bacon pan i love this pan because it keeps the bacon raised while you're baking it and because bacon can be messy it catches all the drippings below and then of course we're gonna be adding our maple syrup to our bacon which can make for an even? messier process so it's really great that that bacon stays raised because then it also stays nice and crispy that way the rack is also nonstick, which allows where your bacon to release easily after its baked and then for easy cleanup we are gonna line our pan with some aluminum foil so now that our pan is all ready to go

we are going to line it with eight slices of bacon then we're going to place this bacon in a 400 degree fahrenheit oven for about 15 minutes, and then meanwhile in a small bowl we're gonna add two tablespoons of pure maple syrup and one teaspoon of freshly minced rosemary and then at the 15 minute mark once your bacon is nice and crispy you're then going to brush the maple syrup glaze on top of the bacon, and i'm using this silicone brush by trudeau i love these silicone brushes anytime. i'm brushing meat that's not quite cooked because they go right in the dishwasher the large bristles hold a lot of liquid so i can get a lot of maple syrup on there and it comes with a little tool rest, which makes it nice for the prep

so i typically will brush all the bacon just on one side because i love having that combination of the sweet and the salty and it makes it easier because you don't have flipped the bacon while it's in the oven, but i do like to do two coats so i go up once and then back once and then it goes back in the oven for another five minutes and what that's gonna do is bake that maple syrup into the bacon which creates a really nice smooth surface and prevents the bacon for being too sticky and once it's done. you can pull the bacon out of the oven place it on a plate, and then i do like to garnish with a big sprig of rosemary and that's all there is to it and you've got that combination of the sweet and the salty and the little hint of rosemary it's the perfect type of fancy bacon that's wonderful served on christmas morning

okay, so if you'd like to make this festive christmas brunch here's your game plan so the day before you're gonna make the cranberry crumb cake bake and allow it to cool completely then leave it at room temperature covered in foil next you can prepare the oatmeal simmer the oatmeal in the water add the apples allow it to cool and then cover and refrigerate to prep the egg bake you can cook the sausage drain and transfer to an airtight container cut your peppers and put those in a container then in a large bowl you can mix together the egg batter add everything except the sausage and the peppers you're gonna add those right before baking you can mix together the hash browns parcel them out in the muffin tin don't forget to grease the muffin tin and then cover and refrigerate

you can mix together your maple syrup and rosemary for the bacon cover and pop in the fridge and the way that i like to set this out is i designate my entire dining room table for this i put a beautiful centerpiece in the middle, so i'm really inspired by colonial america during christmastime and i love to use oranges and clothes and evergreens and this stunning tower was made by my dad who is like the aficionado when it comes to christmas decorations and he's gonna actually come on the channel in a few weeks and show us how to make this christmas decoration so you can stay tuned for that and then i also like to set out some evergreen some oranges studded with cloves some pears

maybe persimmons tucked in here and there and i think that makes for a really lovely setting for a christmas buffet and you can eat all the fruit afterwards, so you didn't waste any money on flowers now for the morning of you want to get up just a little bit earlier than everybody else and do two things you want to pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit to reheat the crumb cake then you want to place your cake covered in the foil for 10 minutes just to warm through, then remove the foil and allow it to bake for another five minutes or so just to crisp up the topic meanwhile you can remove the oats from the fridge keep them on the stovetop for five minutes or so just until hot transfer them to your slow cooker and set it on low then you can set out all your toppings, then when everybody wakes up

they'll be treated to a delicious part one your christmas buffet now when everybody starts in nibbling on part one you can start to prep part two pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit place the bacon and hash browns in the oven together for 15 minutes at that point brush the bacon with the maple syrup and bake for another 5 minutes remove the bacon and allow it to rest at room temperature resting just on its rack the bacon does not need to be served hot in fact i think it's even better at room temperature

so you can just let it rest there on your cooktop until ready to serve then leave your hash browns in the oven and reduce the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit add the sausage and the peppers to your egg batter and pour it into your greased skillet or brazier bake your egg bake in with the hashbrowns at the same time and you're gonna bake for 30 to 35 minutes you might want to go a little bit longer because you've got two things in the oven at the same time so that's why i say 35 minutes and what will happen is those hashbrowns will continue to bake and get nice and crispy and then they'll both be ready at the same time one piece of advice

make sure that whatever you're gonna bake your eggs in fits in the oven at the same time with your muffin tin you can do this the day before just with the dishes that are empty just to make sure they go together because this isn't the kind of thing you want to find out on christmas morning that they don't actually fit then you can make room on your buffet for your main course and your side dishes and everybody can serve themselves to a hearty and delicious brunch so there you have it my festive christmas brunch menu is sure to keep everybody well-fed until christmas dinner i hope you guys give this one a try and let me know what you think and special thanks to the inspired home website for sponsoring and collaborating

with me on this series it has been such fun to bring these specials back and for all the printed recipes as well as more information on the products i used today you can head to their website the link is in the description all right you guys if i don't see you before then have a very happy and merry christmas and i will see you back here next time until then bye you

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