Brunch bonanza: How to spoil mum this Mother's Day

There's no denying it: this Sunday, your mum deserves a jolly good spoiling.

For the past 12 months, she's been doing your washing, listening to your lockdown complaints, cooking you hot meals and babysitting your kids.

After all that she'd probably quite like a lie-in and a bit of peace and quiet while eating breakfast in bed.

If you're going to do it, you've got to do it well, and that means planning.

Get your pad and pen, make a list, go shopping early, and get your ingredients ready now.

That way, when mum wakes up on Sunday morning, you've got a freshly brewed plunger of coffee and a paper waiting on the bedside table.

Then you can get a delicious all-you-can-eat brunch ready to spoil her across a leisurely Sunday morning.

Are you going to go for something hot and savoury, like eggs benedict with bacon and spinach?

Will you opt for something that looks impressive but requires no cooking, like warmed croissants filled with melty ham and brie, mustard and tomato relish?

Or do you cook her something sweet, like pancakes dotted with berries and yoghurt, then drizzled in maple syrup?

Here are some easy options for Sunday morning that will help turn you into a kitchen pro.

Just remember to get ready now - mum deserves it!

Classic Kiwi eggs bene

Ingredients:

• A loaf of sourdough bread, thickly sliced
• Two eggs, older if possible, at room temperature
• A handful of baby spinach leaves
• Mushrooms and/or beans and/or haloumi
• Hollandaise sauce
• Streaky bacon

Method:

Toast the bread, fry the bacon until crispy, wilt the spinach, fry the mushrooms, warm the beans and cook the haloumi. Keep warm in the oven until serving.

For the poached eggs, bring a saucepan of water with a sprinkle of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar to the boil, then turn down to a very slow simmer. Break the eggs into a bowl, stir the water with a slotted spoon and gently drop them in one at a time. Leave for five minutes until firm. They should be ball shaped and semi-firm - don't worry if a bit of eggy scum comes to the surface, just skim it off.

For serving, butter the toast, spoon over the mushrooms or beans, then remove the eggs from the water with the slotted spoon and place them on top. Add the bacon, spinach and haloumi, season and serve - a perfect cooked breakfast for mum!

Warmed croissants with ham and brie

Ingredients:

• A packet of your favourite fresh croissants
• Sliced ham, preferably off the bone
• A wedge of brie, at room temperature
• Wholegrain mustard
• Tomato relish

Method:

Place the croissants in a warm oven on a low temperature for 10 minutes. Don't let them burn, but a little crispy is okay. Remove, cut in half and then begin loading them up with all of the goodness they can handle. Start with a smear of the wholegrain mustard, layer up slices of the ham, then pack in the brie. Spoon over the relish and gently put the top of the croissant back on. These can get quite big, so you might want to cut them in half to make them easier to eat.

If you're not eating them immediately, place them on a plate, cover with tinfoil and pop them back in the oven to keep warm. That way, the ham will also warm up and the cheese will melt a little.

These are perfect served with a hot coffee or a glass of orange juice. Enjoy!

Classic loaded pancakes

Ingredients:

Pancakes

• ¾ cup wheat flour
• ¾ cup spelt flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup of any kind of milk (dairy/soy/oat/almond)
• ½ banana
• 1 tblsp coconut sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda

Method:

Place all the pancake ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a moderate heat. Melt in a teaspoon of coconut oil, pour in the batter and cook the pancakes for a few minutes until bubbles rise to the surface. Flip and brown the other side. The mixture should make about 10 pancakes. Place them in an oven on a low temperature until ready to serve.

Everything else:

• Coconut yoghurt
• Frozen berries
• Maple syrup
• Coconut flakes
• Streaky bacon
• Bananas

Method:

Fry the bacon until crispy. Slice the bananas longways, sprinkle with coconut sugar and grill until browned. Toast the coconut flakes in a frying pan over a low heat.

To serve:

Place three pancakes on a plate. Load it up with bacon and bananas and drizzle in maple syrup. Sprinkle with berries, toast coconut flakes and extra maple syrup. If you want mum to feel extra special, sprinkle over some edible flowers. Go nuts - it's Mother's Day!

- Photos and recipes courtesy of www.brunchbox.co.nz