26 Recipes for the Perfect Mother’s Day Brunch

These elegant recipes Mother’s Day recipes include sweet and savory classics like raspberry-swirl sweet rolls, wild mushroom and goat cheese omelets, and a simple roast chicken.

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Macaroni Bianco with Ricotta and Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh ricotta replaces the need for a béchamel, while fresh mozzarella ensures that there’s plenty of the ooey-gooeyness that you crave from a good mac and cheese.

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2 of 27

Herb-Butter Roast Chicken with Tuscan-Style Bread Salad

This homey bread salad smartly includes seared chicken livers and wing meat, which bring all the flavors of the dish together.

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3 of 27

Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyère, and Egg

“I love a good frisée salad,” says Suzanne Goin. “And of course I love toasted, buttery bread, with big slabs of melted cheese and prosciutto and an egg on top.” Her sumptuous open-face sandwich combines all her favorite things.

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4 of 27

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Custard with Fresh Berries

Chef Bradley Ogden's 1987 recipe for ultrarich bread pudding is perfect for dessert or brunch. It can be made with store-bought bread, but it's best made with a fresh bakery loaf, sliced 1/2 inch thick.

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5 of 27

Escarole Salad with Red Quinoa and Hazelnuts

Chef Marco Canora likes quinoa, a high-protein seed, because it mimics the satisfying texture and starchiness of a grain. He uses it in this crunchy and fresh salad.

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6 of 27

Date Scones with Fleur de Sel Whipped Butter

These tender scones offer an irresistible mix of sweet and salty thanks to the chopped dates in the batter and the salted butter served alongside.

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7 of 27

Blueberry Muffins with Banana Butter

These muffins are crisp on top with light, fluffy centers and plenty of big juicy blueberries. They’re terrific spread with sweet, creamy banana butter.

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Mom's Chocolate Cake

This is a real old-fashioned American chocolate layer cake. It's very moist, very chocolatey, a snap to make and best baked the day before serving.

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Gale Gand's Sugar-Dusted Vanilla Ricotta Fritters

Gale Gand, an F&W Best New Chef 1994, got this recipe from her mother-in-law, Vita Seidita; the fritters are also good sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or dipped in jelly.

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10 of 27

Poached Salmon with Cucumber Raita

Gently simmering salmon in a flavorful white-wine broth is a classic cooking method that gives the fish a delicious flavor and a delicate texture. Serve this hot or at room temperature. Raita, the cooling condiment served in India, makes a superb sauce.

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Pistachio Cream-Filled Eclairs and Cream Puffs

These light pastries are filled with a terrific pistachio-studded pastry cream and topped with a creamy glaze.

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Cucumber-Rye Tea Sandwiches

Little slices of party rye are a Southern favorite for tea sandwiches: "You don't see regular rye down here every day," Martha Hall Foose says. If party rye isn't available, use a cookie cutter to create rounds from regular bread slices.

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Orange-Cranberry Scones with Turbinado Sugar

These pleasantly dense cranberry-studded scones get a toffeelike flavor from light brown turbinado sugar, which has large, crunchy crystals. Sugar in the Raw is a good brand.

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14 of 27

Jasmine Gin Fizz

Ryan Fitzgerald always wanted to incorporate the floral scent of jasmine tea into a cocktail. He chose to add it to the late-19th-century Silver Fizz by using gin infused with jasmine tea.

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15 of 27

Chamomile Toast Crunch

For Mission Street Food's breakfast-for-dinner night, we came up with this riff on Cinnamon Toast Crunch—a thick slice of brûléed bread, sitting in a pool of sweetened milk. For us, this dessert combines the satisfactions of childhood and adulthood: the simple joy of buttered toast, the sugary crackle of crème brûlée and the indulgent moistness of tres-leches cake.

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Café Cubano

A well-made café cubano has a thick layer of sweet crema (cream) floating over strong espresso. To get the crema right, whisk about 1 tablespoon of the espresso with sugar until it turns foamy, then pour the pot of espresso over it. Lourdes Castro says you can't overbeat a crema, so stir it energetically.

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17 of 27

Pea Tortilla with Mint and Yogurt

A Spanish tortilla is like a frittata. Francis Mallmann makes a lovely spring version with yogurt, fresh mint and sweet peas, baked in an oven (preferably a wood-fired oven) until just set. It's delicious served warm or at room temperature.

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18 of 27

Crêpes with Strawberries and Muscat-Yogurt Sauce

Nichole Birdsall tops these crêpes with strawberries, a superfruit high in vitamin C and potent antioxidants, and a creamy, orangey sauce sweetened with a splash of Bonterra Muscat dessert wine instead of sugar.

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19 of 27

Jicama, Citrus and Watercress Salad

"I like big flavors through small bites," says Steve Sicinski. His salad combines plenty of vibrant-tasting ingredients, like pomegranate, watercress and orange, so a little goes a long way.

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Banana Waffles with Pecans

A lot of butter in the batter makes these waffles extra crisp. As a general rule, adding less butter to a batter results in a fluffier waffle.

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Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Omelets

The idea for this creamy-tangy omelet comes from a fish dish often on the dinner menu at Grace Restaurant that includes some of the same ingredients here: shiitake mushrooms and delicate fresh pea shoots.

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22 of 27

Raspberry-Swirl Sweet Rolls

In the winter, Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) fruit, like the kind sold by Cascadian Farm, is often a superior alternative to fresh fruit shipped to the US. IQF raspberries are terrific in these soft, puffy yeast rolls—a fun twist on a cinnamon bun.

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Carrot Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Make-ahead Tip: The frosting can be refrigerated for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature before using. The frosted cake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

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Riesling Gelée with Strawberry Conserve

Make-ahead Tip: The gelée can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

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Spinach Bread Pudding with Lemon and Feta

Heidi Swanson, who blogs about healthy food on her excellent website 101 Cookbooks, shares this lightened bread pudding in her cookbook, Super Natural Every Day.

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Blueberry Banana Pancakes

Tyler Florence made these pancakes at home one weekend morning with his son Hayden. They're a slight variation on a recipe from his book, Tyler Florence Family Meal.

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26 Recipes for the Perfect Mother’s Day Brunch

1 of 27

Macaroni Bianco with Ricotta and Fresh Mozzarella

2 of 27

Herb-Butter Roast Chicken with Tuscan-Style Bread Salad

3 of 27

Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyère, and Egg

4 of 27

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Custard with Fresh Berries

5 of 27

Escarole Salad with Red Quinoa and Hazelnuts

6 of 27

Date Scones with Fleur de Sel Whipped Butter

7 of 27

Blueberry Muffins with Banana Butter

8 of 27

Mom's Chocolate Cake

9 of 27

Gale Gand's Sugar-Dusted Vanilla Ricotta Fritters

10 of 27

Poached Salmon with Cucumber Raita

11 of 27

Pistachio Cream-Filled Eclairs and Cream Puffs

12 of 27

Cucumber-Rye Tea Sandwiches

13 of 27

Orange-Cranberry Scones with Turbinado Sugar

14 of 27

Jasmine Gin Fizz

15 of 27

Chamomile Toast Crunch

16 of 27

Café Cubano

17 of 27

Pea Tortilla with Mint and Yogurt

18 of 27

Crêpes with Strawberries and Muscat-Yogurt Sauce

19 of 27

Jicama, Citrus and Watercress Salad

20 of 27

Banana Waffles with Pecans

21 of 27

Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Omelets

22 of 27

Raspberry-Swirl Sweet Rolls

23 of 27

Carrot Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

24 of 27

Riesling Gelée with Strawberry Conserve

25 of 27

Spinach Bread Pudding with Lemon and Feta

26 of 27

Blueberry Banana Pancakes

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