Christmas Morning Breakfast: Sausage Cheese Balls, Sausage Pinwheels and Raspberry French Toast

Christmas morning breakfast should be special, but it should also be super simple to throw together. No one wants to be trapped in the kitchen cooking while everyone else is opening presents! I'm always sure to make something ahead of time that can just be thrown in the oven so I can join in the real fun with the rest of the family.

Sausage Pinwheels are a long-standing family tradition. My Great Aunt Dolly used to make them at our lake house and we would all eat them on the screened-in-porch topped with grape jelly. She would always make them ahead-of-time and freeze several rolls for us to enjoy all summer. They make for a great Christmas morning grab-and-go breakfast.

Tis the season for sausage cheese balls. Be careful though, these puppies are super addictive! Not only are they great for breakfast but everyone loves them as appetizers too. Around the holidays, I love to make a huge batch of them to freeze, making them easy to pop in the oven at a moments notice.

I have really been making a lot of recipes from Ina Garten's new book, Make it Ahead. I recently tried her Raspberry French Toast recipe and it was amazing! Not only is it delicious, it is also better made the day before, allowing the egg custard to soak into the bread in the refrigerator over night, and then baked just before breakfast.

Luckily, each of these recipes are simple to make. My aunt used store-bought biscuit dough (crescent rolls) to make her pinwheels. I make homemade dough but the store-bought is tasty too!

Sausage Pinwheels2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 pound ground pork sausage, mild 1/2 pound ground pork sausage, hot

To make the dough, put the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Cut butter into small cubes before dropping in the food processor. Pulse until it resembles course meal. Add buttermilk and pulse until dough just comes together. Dump on to a floured board and knead for a minute or two. Using a rolling pin, roll into a 14-in. x 10-in. rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

In a bowl, mix sausages (mild and hot) with hands until just combined. Spread sausage over rolled out dough to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll the dough lengthwise to form a long roll. Using a serrated knife, cut dough into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place in a freezer bag, separated by saran wrap and freeze. You can also freeze in the rolls (like my aunt used to), but you have to allow roll to thaw before slicing to bake. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place frozen pinwheels on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the sausage is cooked through. Drain off any juices.

Sausage Cheese Balls 3 cups Original Bisquick mix 1/2 pound ground pork sausage, mild 1/2 pound ground pork sausage, hot 4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese 1/2cup grated Parmesan cheese 3/4 cup milk 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

In large bowl, mix together all ingredients using your hands or a spoon. Using an ice cream scoop, shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Place balls on wax paper and place in freezer bag. Freeze on a flat surface. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place frozen sausage balls on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until the sausage is cooked through.