Coffee-Bar

A Christmas coffee bar is one corner of your kitchen set up for holiday drinks: mugs, syrups, a few toppings, and a little decoration. It’s handy all December, for slow weekend mornings, for guests, and for a cup of something before you wrap presents. You don’t need a big kitchen. One small section of counter or a cart is enough. Where to put it Pick a spot near the coffee maker or kettle, out of the main cooking area. If your counter is full, a three-tier rolling cart (on Amazon) works: machine on top, mugs and syrups in the middle, extras on the bottom. Roll it into the living room when friends come over. ...

The kitchen fills up right after Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone wants coffee at the same moment, someone can’t find the pie server, and whoever cooked is stuck by the sink trying to start the dishes. A dessert bar fixes most of that, and it doesn’t need to be fancy. Put pie, coffee and plates on a table in another room, set them out in a sensible order, and people serve themselves. That’s really the whole idea. The rest of this post is the details: where to put it, what order things go in, and how much pie to buy. ...