I think Christmas mornings should be spent in pyjamas, doing as little as you can, enjoying moments with your loved ones or maybe just by yourself. The idea is to lay back and enjoy some quiet time, perhaps over a nice, long breakfast. Ideally, this breakfast would cook itself, so that there’d be nothing for you to do.

The recipe below won’t in fact cook itself, but it really takes very little time to make and it’s quite easy; it also has a festive look to it and it’s delicious.

Also, be sure to have coffee on hand and to finish off your breakfast with something sweet. I always have a little traditional Romanian sweet bread (cozonac) for breakfast on Christmas mornings, my favourite is the one with walnut. The French have a version of this sweet bread called Brioche and in Ukraine (as well as in many other Eastern European countries) it’s called Babka, but more about this at another time.

Bacon and Egg Tart

Serves 2-3

1 sheet puff pastry

85 gr crème fraîche, feel free to use cream cheese instead

1 Tbsp chives, cut into 1,5 cm lengths

2 Tblsp Grated Gruyère cheese or any other type of hard, matured cheese

6-8 strips of bacon, cooked until crisp

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp milk)

3 eggs

salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C and lightly grease a baking sheet. On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a rectangle, about 8 mm thick. Use a sharp knife to score a 1,5 cm border around the edges of the pastry, to allow them to rise and prick the center of the tart with a fork. Spread the crème fraîche or cream cheese in the center, even it with a spatula, sprinkle the Gruyère and top with the strips of bacon. Brush the edges with egg wash and pop in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, crack the eggs onto the tart, about 5 cm apart, season with salt and pepper and return to the oven for another 7-10 minutes. If you like your eggs runny, 5-7 minutes will do. Take the tart out of the oven, sprinkle with the chives and serve immediately.

Enjoy!