I am a Christmas fanatic! I record every cheesy Christmas movie I can find on DVR, blast Christmas music from the moment after Thanksgiving until New Years, simmer spices to fill the house with seasonal smells, and anything else Christmas related I can think of! I LOVE Christmas!
One of my favorite post-Thanksgiving activities is decorating the house and Christmas tree. No fake Christmas tree for us. We hunt for the perfect tree at…The Home Depot. Okay, so we don’t live anywhere near a cut-your-own-tree farm, but at least it’s real and smells like Christmas! 🙂
We have tree lights down to a science. You have to wrap in and out of every branch, so the tree practically glows with an inner light. It takes more time this way, but the result is completely worth it. I don’t want to see the lights, I want to see a lit tree!
We have what I call a “compromise Christmas Tree”, which I absolutely love now. It’s a marriage of traditional ornaments and Christmas balls (and ribbon this year!) to pull it all together. This is my perfect tree now, the blend of sentimental ornaments that date back to 1979 and decorator style. I love it!
One of our recent traditions is to decorate the tree while enjoying a bottle of sparkling wine. And what goes well with bubbly? Caviar & strawberries!
To celebrate our newly decorated house, we celebrated with a seasonal breakfast this weekend on our Christmas plates! I woke up with a craving for something “fancy”…and a half-eaten apple that I used to create Christmas smells on the stove the night before.
I flipped through my favorite cookbook (Mama Pea’s, of course) and my eyes stopped on her Apple-Cinnamon pancakes. As Kirk and I debated drink pairing options, the pancake idea transformed to include chocolate chips and egg nog. How do you go wrong with a combination like that?!
So while Kirk whipped up a Chai Tea Latte (topped with foamed Egg Nog from So Delicious), I created these Chocolate Chip Apple Pancakes.
- 1 can coconut milk (full-fat)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablsspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 2/3 cups almond milk
- 1 cup diced, peeled apple
- 1/2 cup chocolate chip (dairy-free)
- The night before, combine coconut milk, vanilla extract, and sugar in a bowl (or mason jar). Refrigerate until ready to use.
- When you are ready to make the pancakes: combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add milk, apples, & chocolate chips – stirring until combined.
- In a skillet coated with cooking spray, drop pancake batter (1/3 cup at a time) into the hot pan. Cook until small bubbles appear around the edges, then flip.
- Continue process until all batter is complete.
- To finish whipped cream, pour prepared, cold mixture into mixer and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy. Pour whipped cream over pancakes, sprinkle with a few chocolate chips, and serve!
- Tip: Store completed pancakes on a plate in a 200 degree oven, to make sure all pancakes are warm when serving.
I was amazed with how delicious and light the whipped cream turned out. Although I didn’t make a lot of whipped cream before removing dairy from my diet, I didn’t expect to make this again. Seriously delicious!
These are a great weekend breakfast and very filling. They also do well as leftover, I heated the remaining few pancakes in a toaster oven the next day. The whipped cream also keeps surprisingly well!
What is your favorite seasonal breakfast indulgence? I love breakfast foods, although the fancier ones are usually saved until the weekends.
