These Christmas Bagels - done up candy cane style - are fun to make and fun to eat! Perfect for Christmas morning or a holiday brunch.
I’d realized that pretty much all of my holiday season recipes were desserts, and wanted to do something to correct that.
Well, sort of correct it, I guess. My Christmas breakfast ideas all lean pretty heavily into “dessert” territory!
This bagel recipe is the lone exception at the moment - it LOOKS desserty - inspired by Candy Canes... but it’s really just a basic, plain flavored bagel.
I had briefly considered sweetening it and flavoring it with peppermint extract, but nixed that - my husband was craving a healthier breakfast option, as a bit of a break from all the sweet muffins and scones.
By going with a basic bagel, it gave him a good base to make his omelette sandwiches on.
They may look wild, but these require only marginally more work than plain-plain bagels - and it’s mostly fun work!
In the end, you’ll have a fun batch of Christmas bagels - perfect to serve as part of any holiday brunch, or on Christmas morning itself!
Let’s get to it!
Ingredients
This is a SUPER basic bagel recipe, and only needs the most simple of ingredients - you likely have most or all of it on hand already!
For the dough, all you’ll need is:
3 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
Granulated Sugar
Active Dry Yeast
Salt
These are basic “plain” flavored bagels - the interest is all in the colour and technique.
It doesn’t even have sugar in the boil or an egg wash, as I wanted the colours to be as visible and clear as possible, without a ton of browning from the baking process.
On that note, let’s talk about the colour...
Gel Food Colouring
You’ll need some red, green, and - optionally - white food colouring, to get that great candy cane colouring. Food coloring comes in 3 main formats:
Liquid food coloring: Generally found in the baking aisle at the grocery store.
Paste food coloring: Usually Wilton brand, you can find this style in craft supply stores and cake decorating supply shops.
Gel food coloring: Comes in a few brands, also found in the larger craft supply chains (sometimes), and in cake decorating shops.
I always use gel colors, as they give the most intense colour, without adding a ton of liquid. This is especially important when dealing with bagel dough.
Specifically, I recommend Americolor (what I used when I was in the USA), or ChefMaster (Which is the option more readily available here!).
How to Make Christmas Bagels
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is a pictorial walk through.
Make the Dough
Measure warm water into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in sugar and yeast, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in yeast mixture, stir well to combine.
Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Divide one of the 3 pieces into 2 equal pieces, set one aside. Divide the other piece in two - one a bit bigger than the other - and add one of these two pieces to each of the 2 remaining original pieces.
The piece of dough that is slightly larger will become your white dough, the next largest will be red, and the smallest piece will be green.
You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer, just be sure to wash the surfaces between dough colours.
Place each in a separate, lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Assemble the Bagels
Once dough has doubled in size, flatten the red dough out into a rectangle about 8 x 10" in size. Lightly brush the top evenly with water.
Divide the white dough in half, flatten one piece out to a rectangle the same size as the red one, stack it on top of the red dough. Brush with water.
Flatten the green dough out to the same size, stack on top of the white pieces, and brush with water.
Finally, flatten the white piece out and stack it on top of the green dough.
Using a sharp knife, cut the stacked loaf of dough into 8 equal strips.
Secure the ends of this spiral log together, repeat with remaining strips of dough.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, place formed bagels on the prepared baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap, allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
Boil and Bake
Preheat oven to 350F, and bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Turn heat down a little, allowing water to simmer rather than boil. 2 or 3 at a time, drop your bagels into the simmering water, allow to cook for 1 minute, then flip each and allow to cook for another minute.
Drain well, place on a lined baking sheet.
If your bagels come undone while simmering, just move them back into shape and gently secure - they'll bake into a solid round.
Bake for 38-40 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
Once cooled to room temperature, bagels can be transferred to an airtight container and kept in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.
Best served reheated - we like them toasted.
More Christmas Treats
Looking for more inspiration for your holiday goodies tray? Breakfast, sweet snack or dessert, here are a delicious recipes for you!
Candied Orange Slices
Candy Cane Biscotti
Creme de Menthe Nanaimo Bars
Easy Gingerbread Muffins
Eggnog Muffins
Eggnog Pie
Eggnog Pudding
Eggnog Sticky Buns
Festive Easy Fudge
Fruitcake Cookies
Gingerbread Bagels
Gingerbread Scones
Gluten-Free Candy Cane Cookies
Gluten Free Fruitcake
Gluten-Free Fruitcake Cookies
Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
Keto Candy Cane Cookies
Noelles
Pecan Pie Cookies
Peppermint Patties
Traditional Eggnog Mousse
Share the Love!
Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
Also, be sure to subscribe to my free monthly email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway!
Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and/or a comment below, and maybe even sharing this post on social media!
Christmas Bagels
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Warm - not hot - water
- 3 tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 3 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- Red, Green, and White Gel Food Colouring
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- Measure warm water into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in sugar and yeast, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in yeast mixture, stir well to combine.
- Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Once dough is fully kneaded, place it on a clean work surface. Divide into 3 equal pieces.
- Divide one of the 3 pieces into 2 equal pieces, set one aside. Divide the other piece in two - one a bit bigger than the other - and add one of these two pieces to each of the 2 remaining original pieces.The piece of dough that is slightly larger will become your white dough, the next largest will be red, and the smallest piece will be green.
- One piece at a time, knead in some gel food coloring, until smooth, even, and intense colour is achieved. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer, just be sure to wash the surfaces between dough colours.
- Place each in a separate, lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Assemble the Bagels:
- Once dough has doubled in size, flatten the red dough out into a rectangle about 8 x 10" in size. Lightly brush the top evenly with water.
- Divide the white dough in half, flatten one piece out to a rectangle the same size as the red one, stack it on top of the red dough. Brush with water.
- Flatten the green dough out to the same size, stack on top of the white pieces, and brush with water.
- Finally, flatten the white piece out and stack it on top of the green dough.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the stacked loaf of dough into 8 equal strips.
- One strip at a time, twist the dough to form a candy cane-like spiral, then roll to form the dough into a smooth log. Secure the ends of this spiral log together, repeat with remaining strips of dough.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, place formed bagels on the prepared baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap, allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
Boil and Bake
- Preheat oven to 350F, and bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Turn heat down a little, allowing water to simmer rather than boil. 2 or 3 at a time, drop your bagels into the simmering water.Allow to cook for 1 minute, then flip each and allow to cook for another minute. Drain well, place on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 38-40 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
Nutrition
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