Bagels

• Bagels are made by forming dough into a bagel ring, boiling it and then baking it. The double cook process makes the bagel soft on the inside and hard on the outside. Bagels and bagel thins, a thin bagel cut in half that is perfect for making sandwiches, are commercially available frozen and fresh at most bakeries. Bagels themselves come in many different flavors using spices and ingredients added to the bagel dough and sprinkled on top before baking. Popular bagel flavors include plain, poppy seed, raisin, salt, onion, sesame, cheese, jalapeno and cheddar, blueberry and cinnamon.

Classic Spreads

• The classic bagel combination is a toasted bagel topped with cream cheese, butter or jam. Bagels are also topped with different flavors of cream cheese like chive and onion, veggie, salmon, red pepper, blueberry and strawberry. Combining cream cheese and jam or butter and jam makes for a simple and quick breakfast bagel.

Savory Toppings

• Bagels make good savory sandwiches for lunch or breakfast. Savory toppings that can be paired or used with cream cheese include lox, deli meats, cheese, cucumber, sausage patties, tomato and egg. You can also use different kinds of spreads like avocado, pesto, hummus, baba ghanoush or tzatziki to build a sandwich. You can make an Italian pizza bagel with tomato sauce and mozzarella or a Greek bagel with tzatziki, olives, cucumber and feta.

Sweet Toppings

• Bagel flavors like cinnamon, raisin and blueberry can be topped with sweet spreads to make an even sweeter dessert. Spreadable sweets like Nutella, syrup and apple butter make for a breakfast bagel for people with a sweet tooth. You can top a bagel with almond or any nut butter and honey or melted butter sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. The combination of peanut butter and sliced bananas also makes a good bagel topping.