Our All-Time Favorite Christmas Morning Recipes

Dungeness is always on the menu at the Alderbrook, set right on Washington’s Hood Canal. These outstanding Benedicts skip the customary English muffin to showcase just crisp crabcake, egg, and hollandaise.

The combination of a vibrant Italian-style sauce and three robust cheeses makes these scrambled eggs nothing short of spectacular. The recipe comes from chef-owners Gayle Pirie and John Clark of Foreign Cinema in San Francisco.

This wild mushroom-egg bake is a tasty alternative to scrambled eggs, perfect for Christmas morning.

We love this frittata because it’s loaded with four kinds of fresh vegetables, in addition to sausage and cheese, and is ready in 30 minutes.

With a nod to the English breakfast classics bangers and mash and toad-in-the-hole, we’ve used leftover mashed potatoes to create a quick and delicious one-dish breakfast.

This casserole version of the Mexican specialty is perfect for a spicy brunch. This dish can be prepared through step 5 up to a day ahead and chilled (bake an extra 5 to 10 minutes).

The cream cheese and salmon in these wraps make for decadent breakfast burritos. If you’re in the mood for red meat, you could easily substitute bacon or sausage for the fish.

You can make these in minutes if you use store-bought salsa and canned refried beans. You must, however, buy all of the groceries ahead of time. Then you’ll be ready to go on Christmas morning, when you wake up and need your huevos.

Everyone loves waking up to the smell of coffee and the smell of bacon, and the flavors are pretty awesome together too. Add some molasses-y brown sugar, and you’ll reach bacon nirvana.

Loaded with seeds and made with only 2 tbsp. oil, these muffins stay incredibly moist and light, thanks to two fruit purées and a soft meringue.

These scones are best the day they’re made, but freeze well, wrapped in 2 layers of plastic wrap. Unwrap and bake frozen at 350° until warm, 10 minutes.

At many bakeries, these simple breakfast treats are made for the early-morning staff using day-old brioche. A rich baked almond cream covers the toasts, and sliced almonds on top add buttery crunch.

Of the many versions we’ve published, this 1977 one is the simplest and biggest: In fact, it’s baked in a paella pan. Make sure everyone’s sitting down and ready to eat right before you remove it from the oven (it deflates quickly).

Notes: Chefs at the Coastal Kitchen in Seattle, Washington, serve these chunky pancakes simply, with butter and maple syrup.

The luscious sauce makes this French toast taste like sticky toffee pudding. (Put leftover sauce on ice cream.)

This dense, moist bread, served to morning hikers at La Cocina Que Canta, tastes so chocolaty that you’d never guess it’s made with prune purée instead of butter. It’s adapted from Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta, by Deborah Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider.

This old-fashioned, moist cake, jazzed up with vanilla bean and roasted pears, takes on even more flavor if you start the pears a day ahead so they can steep in their syrup. The recipe comes from Romney Steele, author of Plum Gorgeous.

This bread is a versatile, easy-to-make crowd-pleaser, delicately laced with Grand Marnier and studded with tart dried cranberries and orange zest. You can vary the size: Make 2 large loaves, or spread the joy with 6 mini loaves.

Warm cinnamon butter melting down the sides of these giant cinnamon rolls and into the grooves makes them a standout.

This easy fruit salad looks especially striking made with multiple varieties and colors of blood oranges and grapefruit, but it’s just as delicious with a single kind of each. You’ll have enough syrup left over for flavoring sparkling water or lattes.

Sunset food editor Margo True’s cousin Francie Van Zile made simple but delicious fruit salad using whatever was in season. Her secret: candied ginger syrup.

Sip hot chocolate through layers of hot espresso and thick, cold cream in this deconstructed mocha. It’s based on the classic bicerin (beech-e-reen), from Caffè al Bicerin in Turin, Italy, and it fits right into our coffee-loving culture here in the western United States.

From Badmaash restaurant, in Los Angeles, this aromatic tea, called “cutting chai” in India, is served in small glasses because it’s so strong (“cutting” is the transliteration of the Hindi word for “half”). The black cardamom gives it a smoky, earthy flavor.

A lively, aromatic, fizzy fluteful that makes a good stand-in for a kir royale. You’ll have enough syrup for 8 mocktails.

If you prefer your punch less sweet, use a semi-dry Riesling–and season with lemon juice to taste.