Easy Pastry & Coffee Breakfast Buffet Bar

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – and it’s also my favorite meal of the day. I mean, so many of my favorite foods are included in the whole breakfast regimen.  Bacon, Coffee, Pancakes, Waffles, Pastries, – did I mention bacon & coffee?  

If you’re a longtime reader of my blog, then you know that my affection for coffee runs pretty deep.  So, when Seattle’s Best Coffee asked me to come up with something for National Breakfast Month – I was so excited to see what I could whip up. So, I put on my thinking cap… ok, you got me – I don’t have a thinking cap.  I do, however, have a pretty old & comfy pair of pajama pants that I do some pretty good thinking in. 😉

I started thinking about my own breakfast routine, & how I love to serve up breakfast for my family and any guests we have buffet-style. It works out so well no matter how many people I have to feed – and it makes the meal so much easier.  You don’t have to play waitress, and everyone can serve themselves what they each like.

My love of buffets actually goes way back to childhood. My Mama got me hooked on them pretty early on in life.  I always knew when we were going to go to one… Mama would call out, “Crystal! Get your elastic pants on!‘and I knew it was on! I can see Mama right now reading this… wishing she’d never told any of the ladies at her church about my blog.  😉  I love you, Mama.

What I came up with was this super easy pastry & coffee breakfast bar!  Afterall, pastries & coffee are like the perfect combination.  At least, I think so.  There’s nothing more I’d like with my cup of coffee than a pastry – the two just go hand and hand! And let me tell you – I’m totally in love with this whole concept.  This is going to be my family’s breakfast once a week (at least) – and is from now on, my go-to thing to serve to any breakfast guests we may have.

Here’s how I did it.  Let’s start off with the pastries, because afterall – we don’t want the coffee to get cold!  

I started off with a box of puff pastry sheets.

I let them thaw, and then one at a time – layed the puff pastry sheet out on my cutting board & cut each sheet into 6 equal rectangles. A pizza cutter makes this super easy.

Then, using a knife (I use a butter knife) – lightly score the rim of each pastry rectangle about 1/4″ from the edges, being careful not to cut all the way through.  Using a fork, poke holes inside your score mark – like so.

Place on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Once they come out of the oven, use the back of a spoon to press the insides in – creating a bit of a pocket where your fork holes were at & creating a risen rim of crust around it.

Place them all on a serving tray.  That part is d-o-n-e.

Now, assemble your toppings.  Here’s what I used:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• cheese
• apple pie filling
• whipped cream cheese sweetened with a little confectioners sugar & maple syrup

Here’s where your imagination could go wild though.  You could do sausage, sausage gravy, fresh fruit, blueberry pie filling, etc – the possibilities are endless really.

When everyone gathers around to serve themselves, they can now make their own custom pastry quite easily. And, let me tell you what a huge hit this was!!  

There were all sorts of combinations going on, and every single one of them were delicious.  And so, so easy as it was all just scooping your toppings/fillings into your own pastry, and breakfast is served.  The one exception to that is that those of us who made bacon, egg, & cheese pastries popped ours into the microwave for a few seconds (oven would work too) just to melt the cheese – but that’s just our personal preference.

Now, time for the most important part of breakfast – coffee.  I’m one of those people whose head spins around like the Exorcist until I’ve had my first cup of coffee.  And of course I’ve got to follow up that first cup with another cup or three.

The coffee bar is super easy to set up too. It is something done regularly in my house for myself & my fellow coffee feening husband – and when coffee loving friends come over. Everyone seems to take their coffee different ways, so having a few different options for everyone to add into their coffee is great. When set up into a coffee bar, it takes the pressure off of you.  But obviously, in order to have a coffee bar – you’re going to have to have coffee!  (just sayin’ – I’m totally in love with Seattle’s Best Medium-Dark & Rich Level 4, loved it before I ever even worked with the company!)

Many of you know that I make my own different flavored coffee creamers (over 2 dozen flavors), so obviously a few of those varieties were in my coffee bar.

Here’s what all I included in my coffee bar:

• Seattle’s Best Medium-Dark & Rich Level 4 (click here for a $1 coupon!)
• 3 flavors of my homemade coffee creamers (french vanilla, salted caramel, & sweet cream)
• half & half
• sugar
• Splenda

As with the pastry bar, be creative with additions to serve along with yours!

This Easy Pastry & Coffee Breakfast Bar was such a HUGE hit.  Absolutely wonderful! This is definitely something that’s going to be making a lot of repeat appearances in our home.  It’s just that great!

Don’t forget to print out your $1 off coupon for your own favorite blend of Seattle’s Best Coffee!

To get a printable version of the pastry shell ‘recipe’ – click over here & scroll to the bottom of the post.

Looking for more breakfast recipes?  Check out all the yummy recipes in the breakfast category!  And, if you’re a coffee lover like myself, make sure you check out my homemade coffee creamers where I’ve come up with over 2 dozen different flavor varieties! It stands as one of the very most popular posts ever made here on the Mrs!