Christmassy breakfast ideas please

[OMGitsnotgood]

We have friends calling in on Christmas Eve en route to their relatives. They’ll have been travelling a couple of hours before they get to us, and have another couple of hours driving after us.
We’ll be breakfasting about 10am, they and we have no other meals planned til early evening. They will be with us for about an hour and a half.

I don’t want to do a full English, as I wouldn’t enjoy travelling on such a full stomach. Bacon / sausage butties are an option but a bit ‘every day’.

I don’t want to do smoked salmon bagels, croissants, pain au chocolat, cranberry muffins as we graze on stuff like that on Christmas Day morning.

I eat absolutely anything for breakfast so would be happy with sausage rolls and mince pies but not everyone would agree with me there!

A fresh fruit salad is an option, something fresh would be good given the rich foods that will follow, but would need something else. American style pancakes are an option I guess but will need cooking last minute.

I don’t have a waffle iron, know anyone I can borrow one from, or want to buy one otherwise something like that topped with soft fruits would be perfect. Don't really like shop bought waffles. I also don’t have anything that would make paninis, would also be ideal. Now these are i. my head, struggling to see past them! Any ideas? I’d like it to be vaguely festive but that’s not essential. Not really into Christmas tree shaped crumpets etc.

Thank you

This is our christmas breakfast. I would settle for a box of matchstix but effort must be made

The fresh fruit is a lovely idea.

Good coffee, pot of nice tea.
Tropical juice and low fat and normal milk.

A few types of bread for toast with marmalade, honey, avocado or Marmite.
Make a simple raw muesli - seeds and nuts and cranberries, rolled oats, Special K flakes.

Other options of raisin toast, Weetabix, porridge.

A cooked large Frittata or tiny ones made in cup cake trays lined with greased paper I prefer.
Some people like barely any breakfast and others like a hearty one so variety is key.. What a fine time to meet with friends.

just like bread pudding, a strata needs to be assembled in advance and have time for the liquid to soak into the bread. That is the beauty of the Christmas morning strata. You must make it entirely in advance, then just pop in the oven in the morning. By the time presents are open, breakfast is ready.

We pretty much stick to our favourite these days for our brunch:

A slice or two of pandoro with our coffee. Ready-to-bake croissants are nice too but pandoro feels more festive.

Danish/German style grain/rye bread with smoked salmon or trout. Had with tea.

Buck's Fizz and/or straight bubbly too.

We don't do ham for breakfast as we always cook a ham to eat with early lunch/late supper on the day.

If you want something that looks pretty and festive and also smells and tastes lovely you could make Lussekatter (Swedish saffron buns). You can do them the night before, leave in fridge and pop them into the oven in the morning. I like to make them with dried cranberries rather than raisins.

Thank you to @Ponderingwindow and @JingsMahBucket for the tips - I can’t wait to try!

A big fresh fruit salad followed by a huge wedge of frittata and crusty bread! I think you’re very wise not doing a fully English before travelling, light and fresh is what you want!

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, or bacon for weirdos who don't like smoked salmon (Dad and DD and DSiL) . Then a bucks fizz for adults, orange juice for kids / drivers or champagne for those who don't like orange juice (aforementioned DD)

Never heard of a strata but a friend made pannetone pudding the other day for Sunday lunch and I am still dreaming about it. Candied fruit pannetone, torn up and soaked in fresh vanilla custard then baked. A thousand times nicer than it sounds.

You could also do a kedgeree. used to be a trad breakfast food - hearty but not as heavy as full english, and can be made in advance: rice, mild spices, flaked smoked fish, peas, onions, cream, fresh parsley and lemon juice.

That is fabulous and the kind of 'vibe' I am going for. Love the fruit on the cake stand - there are several occasions when I could use that idea, so simple yet so pretty.
Thank you for sharing.

What is strata?? I know I could google but I want to know from real people

Or wrap a 'stack' in foil and heat in the oven.

Or use a filling and fold them in half and heat - leave the foil off if you want crispy.

I like bacon and cheese but some people prefer sweet so jam (it will get very hot) or fruit.

You can also use brie with a bit of mango chutney - trust me this works as a filling, I normally do it in filo pastry but crepes work as well. Or smoked salmon and cream cheese.

I made this last year which was yummy - used the Christmas ham instead of bacon and all I had to do Christmas morning was put it in the oven and make the hollondaise.

thefoodcharlatan.com/eggs-benedict-casserole-overnight/

this seems very like Strata, which has had multiple mentions but like the idea of making it with muffins - thank you.

This is a link off this thread - assume from a real person unless a bot!

www.thekitchn.com/holiday-guest-post-from-1-104129

So does the strata have a layer of soggy bread? I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Thank you but I think I'll give it a miss, looks slightly revolting!

Just going to share this in case anyone on here has vegan / veggie guests over Christmas. Sounds weird but actually delicious. The seaweed you can now get as a sprinkles in the dried herbs section, but some coarse ground salt and pepper also nice.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-smoked-salmon-toasts

I can't add to any of the above amazing ideas, but Asda do ready made American style pancakes (think they call them scotch pancakes) in tons of flavours.
Iceland do ready made crepes in the chiller cabinet and also tubs of mini American pancakes.

Pancakes? Plus some yoghurt and some fruit (or fruit compote)?

This thread is amazing, so many delicious suggestions! Love the strata, shakshuka and various French toast suggestions.

One suggestion i don't think anyone has made yet is tear apart cinnamon rolls? I like to do a yeasted dough the night before, then bake the morning of. Adding orange zest or marmalade and possibly mince meat makes it very festive, and it's a bit of a showstopper drizzled with icing! Also the dough is enriched but not too sweet depending on quantity of filling and icing, so I think it's pretty perfect with some fruit or alongside a savoury option.

This version with eggnog cream cheese filling sounds tempting!

https://inbloombakery.com/christmas-cinnamon-rolls/