There may be no meal in greater need of shortcuts. After all, morning hours are precious, even on the weekends. These recipes, tips, and tricks—including lots of things to do with that waffle iron sitting in your cabinet—can jump-start those early hours and get you to your day faster.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the standard pleas in favor of breakfast. Some studies show that people who eat it weigh less. Others indicate those who partake have better blood sugar numbers. Or even better memory. Those people probably have cleaner houses and balanced checkbooks, too.
But forget all that and think about pleasure. Breakfast is a meal to savor, even when you’re on the run, because the light will never look like this for the rest of the day, because the complications and irritations are mostly in the offing, and maybe because the newspaper won’t read itself.
Sure, time for breakfast is a luxury in this ever-and-ever-more modern world where everything is fast, faster, fastest. To push breakfast into high gear, there are internet memes about shredding cold butter onto toast through a box grater. Or storing pancake batter in an old ketchup bottle. Or preparing oatmeal in a drip coffee maker.
Frankly, none of that appeals to us. If saving time is the sole point, nobody would ever eat breakfast at home. Just stop off at the grocery store, a bodega, or even a donut shop on your way to work.
These breakfast recipes aren’t about magically adding minutes to your day. They’re about getting some extra time to spend it right. To that end, what could be better than a warm bowl of toasty granola? Or absurdly fast yet amazingly creamy scrambled eggs? How about a helping of steel-cut oats you don’t have to make when your eyes are barely open? Or even some pretty fine breakfast cookies that don’t require you to turn on the oven? For just a moment, forget the vaunted breakfast promise of better health, cleaner houses, and balanced checkbooks. Here’s to a few minutes of bliss before everything else starts in earnest.