3 Breakfast treats for Mother's Day

Recipes for Mom's sweet tooth

When cooking on a holiday, the easier the better. On Mother's Day, I somehow feel even more compelled to make it all look like a breeze — like, "Look Ma! You raised an expert meal planner and wizard in the kitchen who makes minimal mess with delicious results — now aren't you proud?!" Plus, my mom is just awesome and deserves a day where people make her tasty treats while she sits with her feet up.

Because my mom has a sweet tooth, I'm sharing three sweet breakfast recipes today — all tried and true and sure to elicit lots of yummy sounds from Mom. I haven't decided yet which will land on the Lawler family breakfast table this Sunday, but I know I can't go wrong with any of these babies. 

Cinnamon sugar muffins
Have you heard of a duffin? A donut-muffin? The internet was making similar cinnamon sugar muffins before the duffin was born! I know because I found the recipe years ago and they've been my mom's favorite ever since. The muffin batter comes together quickly and in one bowl. After they're baked, the hot muffins are dipped in melted butter and a cinnamon-sugar mix, giving them a sort of faux-fried exterior. I think they're best fresh from the oven, but you can also make them the day before and reheat in the microwave for about 15 seconds, as they're best served warm. 

Dutch baby pancake
A giant pancake, baked in a skillet in the oven. The batter for this one also comes together in one bowl, and the result is plenty impressive. Start by heating your skillet in the oven, then pour in the batter and return the skillet to the oven. The batter will creep up the sides of the pan and puff up beautifully. This pancake serves a family of four perfectly, but you could eke out more servings if you had other goodies on the side. Serve with powdered sugar, and lemon and wait for the applause to roll in. 

Pancakes with blueberry-lemon sauce 
Make your Mother's Day pancakes something special with this scrumptious blueberry-lemon sauce. Blueberry and lemon are MFEO (made for each other), and the nice thing about this sauce is that you can make it ahead of time and just warm it on Sunday morning. I used it to top the Pioneer Woman's blueberry pancakes, but you could use it on any pancake recipe really. The flavors are so wonderful, fans of berries and lemon will inevitably fawn over this sauce.

Tips for minimal mess: Anything you can make ahead, do. If you can't make ahead, measure ahead. Measure out the dry ingredients for muffins or pancakes and store in a ziplock bag until you're ready to get cookin'. It's amazing how much mess that eliminates and time it saves.