Book Club Bakes!

Book Club was back for the brunching this weekend! With Christmas being around the corner, I was inspired by some wintry treats and flavors.


Recall, I always stick to my brunch fundamentals:

• proteins
• tasty breakfast breads
• fruits

Anything else is simply icing on a tasty cake! 

Almond Popovers

For some reason, I associate popovers with the holidays. Maybe it's the rough resemblance to Yorkshire pudding... In any case, they're tender, tasty air-pockets fit for all types of fillings or spreads. I wanted a plain-jane kinda popover just perfect for gob tons of sweet spreads. I decided to take my basic popover recipe and add a touch of vanilla and almond extract. I'm convinced almond extract takes every good cake, cookie, and custard and makes them great! When entertaining, I love giving folks the opportunity to customize or try a few different flavors, so I opted to serve 3 different spreads. Around the holidays, I usually cave and pick up a jar of Nutella - it seems Christmas-time calls for the splurge! Plus it's always a crowd-pleaser. I also find dried fruit flavors are quite fitting for the season, so I a bright apricot jam and citrus plum butter seemed like fun additions!

Tomato Basil Frittata

Since popovers aren't easily made in advance, I figured it might be nice to pick a low-maintenance protein. That being the case, I decided on serving a frittata - just perfect to whisk together the night before and pop in the oven the morning of. I can't say any particular egg scramble screams "Christmas!" but red and green certainly do! I thought bright red tomatoes and sweet green basil would make for superb frittata ingredients. Sprinkle in a dear bit of mozzarella and bacon for good measure and you've got a pretty solid recipe!

As for the fruit, I really didn't have a grand plan in mind. Ordinarily, I'd strongly encourage shopping with a grocery list to keep your visits brief and on budget, but when it comes to fruit, I often like to take a quick spin around the produce section - shop for a good sale and look for something ripe and tasty! I think folks often fall into the berry trap - makes for a pretty little salad and who doesn't love a good berry? But I gotta be frank, purchasing berries off-season is just stupid. A dinky little container usually costs more than a college semester's tuition, and the fruit is typically super sour. So be bold and reach for something beyond the berries! During the winter season, I love, love, love pineapple and clementines - both of which were on sale. No, you can't toss a clementine into a fruit salad, but you can stack them up in a bowl for a really fun punch of color on your buffet. I also felt like the golden pineapple needed a bright contrast in color, and that's when I spotted the cherries - on sale and looking plump and delicious. Fruit: check!

For an fun treat around the holidays, I really enjoy serving biscotti and pizzelles alongside hot coffee. Fortunately, each of these cookies are easily made up to a week in advance - they keep exceptionally well in air-tight containers. Neither recipe is overly sweet and each cookie is delightful for dunking!

If the allure of a Christmas brunch wasn't enough to real 'em in, I thought it might be fun to bake a few cookies together - macarons in particular. I wanted a straight-forward filling so we could focus on making the perfect macaron shell. Something decadent and chocolaty seemed appropriate. So I figured ganache and marshmallow would fit the bill. Call it a "Hot Cocoa" macaron and you've really got something! Yum.

Total Grocery Cost: ~$28