Donna Leahy - Baking for Breakfast: Sweet and Savory Treats for Mornings at Home: A Chefs Guide to Breakfast with Over 130 Delicious, Easy-to-Follow Recipes for Donuts, Muffins and More

What could be more comforting than waking up to the fragrant aroma of freshly baked coffeecake or muffins? Spending a leisurely morning at home, sipping a steaming coffee or tea and nibbling on a warm-from-the-oven pastry conjures the very essence of relaxation and renewal. Breakfast is a meal for savoring time alone or enjoying casual interactions with family and friends, where comfy pajamas and cozy robes are standard dress code. For me, breakfast has always had a special meaning, both as a lover of good food and as a culinary professional. In my years as a chef at our country inn, baking for breakfast was the starting point for the delicious, nourishing morning meal that would follow. It was the first step to helping our guests begin their day happy and content.

Baking is actually quite an amazing accomplishment, much like creating a work of art. Bakers combine various ingredients that turn into something completely different and uniqueideally, something delicious. In recent years there has been a trend in baking to make it less of an art and more of a science. There is no doubt that baking requires accuracy, but accuracy is the means to an end, a tool that is used to create. In this book, I want you to be able to share the happiness of baking for breakfast, with creative recipes that are easy to prepare and share. Nowhere did my professional baking bring more happiness than first thing in the morning.

As a chef, making breakfast was always my favorite time at the inn. During our dinner service, there was off-the-wall pressure to get 10 things right at once. Executing a multitude of different menu items at once could be a daunting task. Since one mistake could ruin someones evening, I felt an incredible amount of responsibility for making that experience perfect. In contrast, breakfast was like a deep breath of fresh air. The menus I created for breakfast were simpler, but still interesting and inventive. Compared to the hectic scene in the restaurant kitchen each night, mornings in that same kitchen felt leisurely.

People expect dinner at a fine dining restaurant to be perfect. But they often dont expect that same care and consideration in the morning. Breakfast was my chance to take them by surprise. Our breakfast menu always included one special baked item, presented to the guests at the onset of the meal service. It always brought a smile to their faces, and often a gasp of wow! Sharing the joy of baking is a powerful feeling. With that kind of reaction, its no wonder I love breakfast.

In larger restaurants, there is a dichotomy between the line chefs and the bakers. Bakers arrive in the early hours before the meal prep begins, sometimes only a few hours after the line chefs have left once dinner service is complete. But in our country inn restaurant, I did all the cooking. I started baking early in the morning as part of the breakfast menu. Baking continued later in the day for afternoon tea service, plus breads and desserts for the full-service fi ne dining restaurant. So as a chef, baking was not a separate activity for meit was part of my daily cooking routine. Today, I continue to develop new breakfast baking recipes for clients, as well as for sharing with friends and family.

If youre imagining having to get up in the middle of the night to enjoy a baked good at home for breakfast, I want to reassure you that, for these recipes, that wont be necessary. From juggling many aspects of cooking throughout my career, Ive learned to divide more complex preparations into manageable steps. Many of these recipes, like Blueberry Peach Cobbler or Strawberry Muffins, are easy to assemble and can be on your breakfast table in under one hour. When the recipes are a little more involved, like the Croissant Cinnamon Rolls or Coconut Almond Bear Claw Pastries, Ive noted special make ahead tips at the bottom of the recipe so you can spread out the preparation over a few days.

When possible, the number of servings is kept as low as possible to accommodate baking at home, although in some cases it is simply not practical to reduce the yields. I also know that the time we spend at home is best spent with those we love. The point of making these comfort foods at home is to allow you leisurely time to enjoy them with family and friends, not to spend the morning hours alone in the kitchen. These recipes are designed so you can enjoy breakfast treats along with your guests.