I have said before that I am happy to eat trifle for breakfast. (It wouldn’t be Christmas in this house without one.) With that in mind, I offer a breakfast version, the sponge replaced with crunchy granola that softens like a thick, treacly flapjack, and a mango fool replaces the traditional custard.
I feel there is more than enough to do in the kitchen at this time of year, so I try to keep such celebratory meals easy to deal with. I am not a great one for planning in advance and I have no intention of being a slave to a fantasy kitchen timetable, but I do believe it is worth getting a few things made the day before. Money in the bank so to speak. This is as straightforward as baking a batch of oat and marmalade slices the night before; a hash made with potatoes that were cooked earlier, and that gorgeous trifle is much better for a night in the fridge.
If those in the kitchen are to enjoy themselves – and we must – there should probably be a certain ease to making a holiday breakfast. The best sort of breakfast food and drink is that which will wait happily for late risers. A main course that will keep warm in fine condition and much else that can be made in advance. The recipes that follow tick all the above boxes, ensuring a fine start to the day, whetting our appetites for pleasures to come.
