Birthday Brunch

A few years ago when my birthday fell on a Sunday, I had a champagne breakfast. I have now made this an annual affair and a very small group of friends (about 12) come round for a champagne breakfast on the Sunday closest to my birthday. That was yesterday (although my birthday isn’t until later this week).

Luckily the sun was still shining (we are getting the tip of a tropical storm today – first day it has rained in about 3 weeks I think!). This year I decided to go for more brunch type foods rather than real breakfast food. I also wanted to make things I could have ready as last year I felt like I spent most of my time in the kitchen scrambling eggs! This year instead of scrambling eggs, I roasted a big tray of vegetables (pumpkin, kumara, red onions, red peppers and green olives) and then I broke a dozen eggs into the tray. It was a great way to have eggs that you can prep ahead! To go with the egg dish, my husband cooked baby sausages from Jansens butchers in Browns Bay (they do great sausages!!!) on the bbq and we also had roasted tomatoes, avocado and bacon bruschetta, roast peaches and nectarines, maple and almond yoghurt and the Swedish walnut ring pictured above.



I had seen the Swedish walnut ring on Tartelette’s blog last week and thought it looked like something I would really like to make. I actually made the dough on Saturday night and proved it in the fridge overnight. I added a little more milk to the dough than what the recipe called for as it seemed to be a bit dry. On Sunday morning, I let the dough come back to room temperature and then rolled it out, scattered it with the nuts, sugar and cinnamon, rolled it up and baked it. When it was cold you drizzle over a simple glaze made with icing sugar and milk. It was a real success – one of the highlights of the food at the breakfast! And so easy! I will definitely make this again.



The roasted fruit were another hit! I just cut the fruit in half, sprinkled it with brown sugar and some orange juice and then roasted it for about 30 minutes at 200deg c. For the yoghurt, I toasted some sliced almonds, mixed them with maple syrup and some vanilla and then drizzled the mix over some plain yoghurt. So yummy!!!! When we were on holiday in the UK about 4 years ago, they had maple syrup flavoured yoghurt which I adored. We don’t have it in NZ, but this is a pretty good
substitute!!!


A quick shot of the table!! :0)