Fancy toast, as I like to call it, has been a thing in San Francisco for quite awhile.  Where else do you spend ten dollars for a cup of coffee and a piece of thick toast with butter and cinnamon?  As much as I may poke fun of it, I must admit that I have been known to partake in the trend as well.  Avocado toast is part of my regular rotation and this summer, I was surprised to find its popularity has spread to (or started in?) Amsterdam and London.  Creative combinations regularly pop up on my pinterest feed too.  So naturally, when I was deciding what to prepare for a holiday brunch with girlfriends, I decided to try a fancy toast station.

First, I scanned pinterest for interesting recipes and culled the ingredients I wanted to use.  It can be easy to go overboard here, but I dialed it back since it wasn’t a large group.  I made sure to include both sweet and savory suggestions as inspiration for my guests:

I chose just two breads, a simple ciabatta and a mission fig from our local bakery:

Although I hadn’t taste-tested all of these combinations, my guests did and they all got rave reviews.  The fancy toast spread was a hit, and the easiest (no cooking involved) brunch ever.  Most of it can be done the day/night before, except for the avocado mash and slicing the fruit.  I purchased the bread that morning and had the bakery slice it.  Add coffee, tea and mimosas and a well-dressed table and have yourself an easy holiday (or other) brunch!