Better-Than-Ordinary Gourmet Breakfasts

Christy Timon opened her bakery Clear Flour Bread in 1982, hiring Abram Faber to help with deliveries. The now-married couple are revered as early champions of classic European baking. They continue to hunt down rare recipes, like these light, baked doughnuts spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon and adapted from Robert Jörin, a third-generation Swiss baker at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Recipe: Baked Currant Doughnuts

The key to these easy pancakes is coconut flour, which contributes a delicate flavor and airy texture.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Banana-Coconut Pancakes

This skillet-size hash brown was inspired by a side dish at Madison, Wisconsin's Tornado Steakhouse. Slicing potatoes lengthwise on a mandoline makes for long, dramatic-looking strands; you can also julienne the potatoes in a food processor.

Recipe: Tornado Hash Brown

Restaurateur Gabriel Stulman makes this Wisconsin-classic kringle — a giant toaster strudel–like pastry — filled with a walnut mixture sweetened with both brown sugar and maple syrup, then shaped into a giant round and baked.

Recipe: Glazed Maple-Walnut Kringle

Bake these tender, buttery little biscuits in a cast-iron skillet, then bring them to the table still in the pan.

Recipe: Skillet Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk takes the place of yogurt in this healthy, tangy, ultra-simple blackberry smoothie.

Recipe: Blackberry Buttermilk Smoothies

A favorite of famed chef Julia Child, this savory quiche is a perfect make-ahead meal. You can do all the prepping and cooking the night before and just reheat the quiche in the morning for a gourmet, filling breakfast in no time.

Recipe: Bacon-and-Leek Quiche

Top Chef contestant and D.C. chef Spike Mendelsohn was inspired by the new beehive in the White House garden to make these lovely, not-too-sweet muffins. "I'm not a big breakfast eater, but I have muffins in my house right now," he says.

Recipe: White House Honey-Oat Muffins

Every morning, cafés in Marrakech, Morocco, serve these crêpes, called begrhir, drizzled with honey or spread with apricot jam. Cooking the crêpes on only one side leaves a lacy network of tiny holes, perfect for catching the sweet toppings, and the fine semolina provides a lovely sandy texture. Chef and cookbook author Paula Wolfert adapted this recipe from one in the book La Pâtisserie Marocaine by Rachida Amhaouche.

Recipe: Semolina Pancakes

Using polenta (cornmeal) in addition to white flour in these pancakes makes them especially satisfying, as the ground whole grain delivers lots of fiber and a good amount of protein.

Recipe: Cinnamon Polenta Pancakes

"Over-the-top, sticky, gooey goodness — or, as I like to call it, 'love.'" That's how pastry chef Catherine Schimenti describes the thrilling moment she first dipped a warm sticky bun into sweet-salty butterscotch sauce. Schimenti flavors the sauce with a splash of Scotch. "I love adding glamour to old-school desserts," she says.

Recipe: Butterscotch Sticky Buns

"How many lunchrooms have disgusting Taco Tuesdays?" asks chef Spike Mendelsohn. As an alternative, he stuffs whole wheat–tortilla burritos with scrambled eggs (lightened with egg whites), feta, turkey bacon, and spinach.

Recipe: Breakfast Burrito

Check out these great breakfast tips and recipes from Food & Wine:

Egg Breakfast Recipes

Brunch Cocktails

Breakfast for a Crowd