New Christmas Tradition: Homemade Bagels
For those of you who follow along on Instagram and Insta-stories, you already know that my family and I stayed home for Christmas instead of traveling this year. I was worried that I wouldn’t feel quite as festive since we weren’t celebrating with all of my extended family… but in all honesty, it was pretty lovely. My cute little nephew obviously makes everything more adorable and my parents did an amazing job decorating the house. What else could we possibly need? A new tradition, that’s what. Something that we can repeat for years to come, that is unique to a Chicago Christmas… with a touch of NJ & Long Island rolled into the mix. (My cousin Dan suggested that addition – all puns intended!)
Luckily, we came up with the perfect thing:
Starting the day with Homemade Bagels.
One of my parents always used to run out for fresh bagels in the morning whenever we were on Long Island for Christmas, so making a homemade version made sense to me right away. And think about it – this way you can stay in PJs and it brings everyone into the kitchen together. Throw some Christmas music on, brew some coffee, and you’ve got the perfect morning. Plus, carbs don’t count on Christmas 😉
Unfortunately, I can’t take ANY credit for these bagels. My brother David and his adorable wife Ali found the recipe on A Beautiful Mess and they’ve been making them for special occasions for the past few years. To be totally honest, I snuggled with Lily for most of the process – but I did jump in to form the bagel rings AND sprinkle the delicious toppings on!!
We topped our bagels with a similar everything mixture as A Beautiful Mess, but since my parents had a cheese blend that included Asiago in the fridge, we had to make a few cheesy bagels, too. YOLO.
See?!?! Family FUN, you guys!!
Hot and fresh out the KITCHEN!
I’ll admit that I’m kind of a bagel snob… if visiting the east coast every year didn’t do it, living in New York totally ruined me. And since I try to eat healthy most of the time, I want the carbs I eat to be worth every bite – which means mediocre bagels are OUT. But these… these are chewy and perfect and it took a LOT of willpower to stop eating them after one and a half. Hahaha true story.
Serve with bacon and eggs and you’ve got my favorite breakfast in the world. Yum yum yum yum.
Have you guys ever tried making bagels before?!
January 5, 2017 @ 9:22 am
Oooh these look so delicious!! I'm also very particular about bagels—which is probably why I don't even try to make them myself.
Ashley | Sunday Brunch