Creating A Luxurious Life: The Breakfast Tray & Homemade Pain au Chocolat

I am excited to start off a new series today called 'Creating a Luxurious Life', which will be a monthly feature that shows little ways to incorporate bits of luxury into your every day life.  Today, I am beginning with one of the weekends biggest indulgences - breakfast in bed.  

Breakfast in bed seems like such a luxurious idea especially during the fast-paced week.  But on the weekends when there is more time to linger, nothing is quite like waking up to a beautifully arranged breakfast tray with hot aromatic coffee, a flaky pastry and fruit served alongside the weekend newspaper.  When it comes to eating breakfast I'll be honest, I am not that big of a fan eating something sweet first thing in the morning. I will have the occasional muffin if I make them but I usually like to stick with eggs for breakfast, however, I will make an excuse for my favorite french pastry, a pain au chocolat or chocolate croissant.  Continue for more...

I am constantly trying to push my culinary skills to the next level.  When I was bound to Brooklyn after hurricane Sandy I had some extra time and chocolate croissants had been on my 'to make' list for a very long time.  I was surprised just how easy they are (I used this recipe that has a great step-by-step tutorial) and amazed at how much butter (3 sticks!) goes into a batch to give them their flaky taste and golden finish.  

Creating a breakfast tray is easy, you just need a few extra pieces to make it special and beautiful.  Here are a few elements to consider: 

*Serving Pieces:: Beautiful plates, tea cups (to hold tea or coffee), special flatware (maybe only reserved for the holidays) and fabric napkins.

*A tray:: A sturdy tray to hold the meal. I love the trays from West Elm or the vintage variety are always great too.

*Flowers:: Life is just better and more luxurious when flowers are used, even adding just one simple stem adds a special touch.

*Menu:: Serve something that can be easily eaten like eggs (I chose hard boiled) toast, fruit and a pastry.  

(The dough rolled and folded allowing it to create beautiful layers)

 (The perfect croissant according to the French has 81 layers, I am not sure how many I made it to)

(There is only one thing to do when you make these, give them away as fast as you can before you eat them all)

*All photographs by Alison