You can’t stay at a bed and breakfast without enjoying a delicious, homemade breakfast. Across the country, B&Bs are serving up some gourmet dishes for guests. The competition has gotten so tough, there are even tournaments for the best B&B breakfasts in the United States.
These are top five award-winning B&B breakfasts you can make from home:
1. Lemon Souffle Pancakes with Blueberry Compote
In the quaint town of Springfield, Kentucky, the Maple Hill Manor is cooking up some of the best breakfast in the country. Touted as “Kentucky’s Best Bed and Breakfast,” this manor has won many awards throughout the year, including a 2013 award for their lemon souffle pancakes, served with blueberry compote.
Recipe:
Makes 8 servings
Pancakes
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1¼ cups whole milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp. melted butter
- Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add cream of tartar and lemon zest. In the center of the mixture, pour the milk, egg, and butter, and mix until batter is smooth.
- Lightly oil or spray a griddle or frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan and brown on both sides until edges are crispy.
- Top with blueberries and warmed maple syrup.
Blueberry Compote
- 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (save ½ cup for topping)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- Combine half the blueberries, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat, stirring often for about 10 minutes, until the blueberries burst. Add the other cup of blueberries, and cook, stirring often for eight minutes, until the compote is thick enough to coat the spoon.
- Top with blueberries and powdered sugar.
2. Corn Chowder with Poached Eggs
The Historic Rabbit Hill Inn offers a unique, candlelit breakfast buffet, including a breakfast corn chowder that quickly became the inn’s staple. This four-star bed and breakfast in northern Vermont also serves afternoon treats and dinner and cocktails.
Recipe:
Makes 4 servings
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1/4 pound diced bacon
- 1 diced onion
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/2 cup diced fennel
- 1 cup corn niblets (fresh or frozen, cooked)
- 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
- 2 tsp. minced rosemary
- 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 3 cups diced potato
- 2 cups half-and-half
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 8 eggs, poached
- 4 slices baguette, toasted
- 8 bacon slices, cooked
- Add oil and diced bacon to a pot and cook until crisp. Add onions, celery, and fennel, and cook until tender. Add corn, red pepper, and rosemary. Stir and remove from heat. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir.
- While diced bacon cooks, add vegetable stock and potatoes to a separate pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are fork-tender.
- Add potatoes and vegetable stock to the bacon and vegetable mixture. Return to heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Add half-and-half and season with salt and pepper, and simmer.
- Use a ladle to serve in a warm bowl. Place a toasted baguette on top and add two poached eggs. Serve with two slices of bacon and rosemary.
3. Panettone Pain Perdu with Merlot Poached Pears and Lemon Curd
On the shores of Lake Michigan in the small city of Whitehall, Michigan, you’ll find a quaint B&B with gourmet, creative dishes. The chefs at Cocoa Cottage Bed & Breakfast love experimenting with their recipes, and the panettone pain perdu with pears and lemon curd takes a top spot for best B&B breakfast.
Recipe:
Makes 4 servings
- 4 slices panettone
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp. Grand Marnier
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. orange oil
- A handful of grated nutmeg
- 4 peeled Bosc pears (with stems)
- 1½ cups water
- 2 cups Merlot wine
- 3/4 cups pear nectar
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 1 cinnamon stick, crushed
- 6 peppercorns, crushed
- Lemon curd
- Peel pears with stems attached. Scoop out the bottom.
- Add pears, wine, water, nectar, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and vanilla in a large saucepan. Cook uncovered for 40–50 minutes until tender.
- Slice the pears in half and core. Fill the empty space with lemon curd.
- Whisk heavy cream, eggs, orange oil, Grand Marnier, and cinnamon together. Cut four slices of panettone (about an inch thick). Place slices in a large dish and cover with cream and egg mixture. Grate nutmeg over the top and turn once.
- Cook the panettone in a buttered pan until both sides are brown and center springs back.
- Put slices on a plate and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Top with berries and add poached pear. Add sausage and maple syrup to the plate and serve.
4. Los Poblanos Shakshouka
New Mexico is well-known for its spicy chilies and concoctions created with it. At Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm in Albequerque, chefs are using those flavors to create a fresh, organic shakshouka breakfast.
Recipe:
Makes 4-6 servings
- 1 pound garbanzo beans
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 quart canned tomatoes, diced
- 2 cups diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced garlic
- 2 tsp. toasted and ground cumin seed
- 2 tsp. toasted and ground coriander seed
- 1 tsp. toasted and ground Grains of Paradise
- 2 tbsp. toasted New Mexico red chile powder
- 1/2 tsp. toasted and ground caraway
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 orange
- 1 tbsp. olive oil.
- Eggs for topping
- Extra-virgin olive oil for topping
- Feta for topping
- Mint for topping
- Black pepper for topping
- Cover garbanzo beans in water five times their volume in a large pot. Bring to a boil then simmer. Skim thoroughly. When foam decreases, add garlic. Simmer until tender (several hours) and add water as needed. When tender, add salt until the broth is salty.
- In another large pot, heat onions and garlic in olive oil and salt until translucent. Add spices and herbs. Cook until fragrant. Add wine; reduce by half. Add tomatoes and zest the orange over the pot (reserve the rest of the orange). Simmer and add salt (to taste). Cook until tomatoes are collapsed.
- Heat two parts garbanzo beans and one part tomato stew. Bring to a simmer, and add seasoning and water, if needed. Create a well in the stew for each egg. Add a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil and crack an egg in each well. Cover, and make sure the heat is low and eggs are poaching in a low simmer. When whites are done, remove from heat and scoop eggs onto the side of a warm bowl. Ladle the stew into the bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Add toppings and serve.
5. Banana Split French Toast
At the Winter Park ski town in Colorado sits the Winter Park Chateau, a picturesque mountain B&B with a hearty breakfast for mountaineers ready for their next adventure. The banana split French toast is a favorite, and the name says it all.
Recipe:
Makes 6 servings
- A loaf of French bread/baguette
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 6 bananas, sliced
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp. dark rum
- Butter for frying
- Slice bread into eight pieces, each about two inches thick. Slice about three-quarters through the middle of each piece for filling.
- Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together and spread between bread slices. Add sliced bananas and press together so pieces stick.
- Combine eggs, half-and-half, cinnamon, and vanilla. Dip sandwiches into the batter and cook in a buttered frying pan until bread is brown and egg is cooked.
- In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and rum and lightly boil on medium heat. Turn down heat and add bananas. Cook for about five minutes and stir often until slightly thickened. Pour mixture over cooked bread.
These are just five of thousands of delicious B&B breakfasts calling for their next guests to enjoy. Try out these recipes for your taste of a weekend getaway, and they’ll leave you wanting more. Keep in mind that at Hines Mansion Bed & Breakfast of Provo UT, we provide our own gourmet breakfast that will start your day off deliciously.
Follow this link to learn more: hinesmansion.com/breakfast.htm