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Waffles were made for cold, wintry Sunday morning breakfasts. Nothing beats the crispy, golden brown warmth of a home-made waffle on such mornings; yes, I said homemade – not those ice-puck eggo’s from the freezer. Who wants to open up the freezer when it’s chilly enough anyways?! Plus, making waffles at home is such a snap that all you need is 4-5 pantry essentials, a simple waffle maker and some maple syrup to top them off.
The recipe below is the waffle batter in its simplest form - it will produce some very nice, light buttery waffles with just a hint of sweetness. You can use this as the base to flavor them up as you like – some chopped nuts, a little vanilla, some berries to top it perhaps? We use buttermilk in our waffle batter at times, and there are some very fancy things you can do like folding in whipped egg whites separately - I will experiment with these over the next few months and see how they turn out. For now, a simple recipe to start off with will show you that making waffles at home is not much more difficult than popping a frozen one into the toaster oven. (Heck, you can just make a bunch and create your own frozen waffles for the week if you prefer)!
THE RECIPE: LIGHT AND BUTTERY WAFFLES
YOU’LL NEED (makes 5 waffles):
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup all-purpose
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/4 cup butter (melted)
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Beat eggs with a fork in a medium mixing bowl. Add in the milk and the melted butter; stir to combine.
- Add in the brown sugar and mix well to remove any big lumps.
- Add in salt, baking powder and the flours.
- Whisk until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed and batter becomes smooth.
- Caution: DO NOT overmix; it is ok for little bubbles or lumps to remain. You don’t want to overwork the batter.
- Leave batter aside for 5 mins. In the meantime, preheat your waffle iron to the browning setting you desire.
- Spray waffle iron sides with non-stick cooking spray once ready to pour in batter.
- Pour in 1/2 cup of batter into the center of the hot waffle iron, and cook as instructed in your waffle iron manual. (On my Cuisinart, I prefer the 4 setting and wait for the cooking light to indicate they are done)
- Don’t worry if you find your waffle sticking to the top part of the iron when you go to remove it. Gently pry it away with some tongs and it’ll peel right off.
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Sticky Waffle - don't fret!
- Continue cooking rest of the batter; use the non-stick spray once more in between if you feel the waffles sticking a lot. Serve hot with maple syrup or your favorite waffle toppers.
NOTES:
- While the recipe above yeilds enough waffles for two for breakfast, you can easily double all the ingredients if you need more waffles.
- Extra waffles are easy to store; just let them cool before sticking them, using sheets of wax paper between each, into a ziploc bag and throw them in the freezer. Voila – you’re own brand of frozen waffles are ready – just throw them in the toaster oven (toast on both sides to your desired brownness) and you’re all set.
- Combining equal parts of whole wheat flour with all purpose flour helps enhance the flavor and adds a nice nuttiness to the waffles. You can certainly use just one type of flour if you prefer.
- Replace brown sugar with plain old sugar if you must; brown sugar just goes better with this I feel. I might add a little more sugar the next time to up the sweetness a bit more.