Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Holidays
  • Cooking 101
  • Healthy Living
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More Next
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More Next
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More Next
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    • New Year, New You
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentines
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

CookingLight diet CookingLight diet
  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. entertaining Chevron Right
  3. Molly Yeh's Holiday Brunch Menu

Molly Yeh's Holiday Brunch Menu

November 17, 2016
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Courtesy of Amazon
During the holidays, you have to allow yourself indulgences. We think brunch is a great time to do so because, technically, it takes the place of two meals, so you can splurge. Helping us with this mission is Molly Yeh (pronounced "yay"—how appropriate), an award-winning blogger and author of Molly on the Range known for infusing recipes with multicultural accents and a whole lot of fun. Molly and her husband, Nick Hagen, generously opened up their home and their sugar beet farm, on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota, to spread a little holiday cheer.
Start Slideshow

1 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Brunch on the Range

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani

Brunch offers a relaxed approach to holiday entertaining with friends and family. Mornings are just brighter, in more ways than one. Each day begins fresh, with the promise of delicious things to come. Plus, this time of year, "the sun goes down at 3 or 4 in the afternoon," says Molly, "so if we want to get together in the daytime, it's naturally going to happen around brunch." Plenty of holidays revolve around "big dinners, like Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve," she says. "But I just love the morning time. I love waking up early and seeing the freshly fallen snow, and baking and waiting for people to come over." Here, Molly shares a make-ahead brunch menu that's full of joy and meant for sharing. It's one you'll be happy to serve your friends and family.

1 of 8

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Harissa Bloody Marys

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani

Kick off your festivities with this fun take on the classic brunch beverage. Molly likes to boost her version with harissa, a traditional Tunisian chile paste with a spicy, pleasantly bitter edge. "I just love those flavors," she explains, "and they're not common around Grand Forks, North Dakota. I really like being able to introduce a new ingredient like harissa to my community through a more familiar thing like a Bloody Mary." Look for harissa in cans, jars, or tubes on the international foods aisle or with the specialty sauces. If you can't find it, substitute a few dashes of hot sauce. Garnish as desired with celery stalks, lime wedges, and pickles. You can combine everything except the club soda a day ahead; give it a good stir before serving, and top off with club soda at the last minute.

2 of 8

3 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Rosemary-Citrus Parfaits

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani
View Recipe: Rosemary-Citrus Parfaits

You'll make more rosemary syrup than you need, but it's great to have extra on hand. It keeps well in the refrigerator, where it will last for 2 to 3 weeks. Molly suggests stirring some into club soda to make a rosemary soda, and mix with vodka or gin for a cocktail. Or, she suggests, "If you have a clean yard with freshly fallen snow, you can put some in a cup and drizzle the syrup over it" for a homemade snow cone. "That's really, really tasty," she says. You can also share the syrup with someone on your holiday gift list; attach a card with suggestions for how to use it.

3 of 8

Advertisement

4 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Kale and Pomegranate Salad

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani
View Recipe: Kale and Pomegranate Salad

Balancing hearty bites of kale and sweet notes of pomegranate, this salad is a flavorful, seasonal way to kick off a holiday meal. Packed with vitamins, and nutrients, kale and pomegranates are both superfoods that make for a wholesome, healthy salad. This starter is colorful and crowd-approved, making it the obvious option for your next hosting gig.

4 of 8

5 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Spiked Hot Chocolate

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani
View Recipe: Spiked Hot Chocolate

This warming treat is the perfect accompaniment for a walk through the snow: A hint of peppermint schnapps will give everyone a little pep in their step. Think of it as more of a dessert than a beverage, as this hot chocolate is a bit of a splurge. Canned coconut milk gives it full-bodied richness and makes it an indulgence. Blogger and cookbook author Molly Yeh explains that "coconut goes well with chocolate and mint, so it really brings this hot chocolate together nicely."

5 of 8

6 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Baked Marzipan Donuts

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani

Molly admits that her love of marzipan is "never-ending." You can use the sweetened almond paste both as an ingredient in baked goods and as a decorating tool, she explains. "Since I don't have great [decorating] technique, I like using marzipan cutouts," she says. "They're so easy." The paste can get sticky, so Molly suggests dusting it and your work surface with powdered sugar. And if you're new to it, she advises approaching it like it's Play-Doh: "You can use gel or liquid food coloring with it, and just knead it into the marzipan." Look for it on the baking aisle in large supermarkets or in specialty baking stores.

6 of 8

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Breakfast Hot Dish

Credit: Photo: Christopher Testani
View Recipe: Breakfast Hot Dish

If you're not from the Upper Midwest, you may not be familiar with hot dish. Traditionally, it's a casserole of starch (often French fries or tots), meat, and vegetables held together by a creamy sauce. "It's an easy way to feed a crowd," says blogger and cookbook author Molly Yeh, "and it's perfect for the dead of winter because it's so hearty and warm and comforting." Her update uses sweet potatoes flavored with Aleppo pepper. To get a head start, you can roast the potatoes and brown the sausage a couple of days ahead.

7 of 8

8 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Molly on the Range: Recipes and Stories from An Unlikely Life on a Farm

Credit: Courtesy of Amazon

Food-blogging sensation and classically-trained musician, Molly Yeh, takes us through her life on a Minnesota/Dakota farm. With a Chinese/Jewish background, her food is anything but predictable and ordinary. Whether it's her Asian Scotch Eggs or her Scallion Pancake Challah bread, Molly keeps us on our toes with her flavorful, exciting food. Read more about Molly in our December issue!

$21, amazon.com

8 of 8

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 8 Brunch on the Range
2 of 8 Harissa Bloody Marys
3 of 8 Rosemary-Citrus Parfaits
4 of 8 Kale and Pomegranate Salad
5 of 8 Spiked Hot Chocolate
6 of 8 Baked Marzipan Donuts
7 of 8 Breakfast Hot Dish
8 of 8 Molly on the Range: Recipes and Stories from An Unlikely Life on a Farm

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Cooking Light

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Cooking Light Diet this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Cooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Statementthis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

View image

Molly Yeh's Holiday Brunch Menu
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.