I made a very special waffle this month. If you know me at all, you know how much I love my birthday. I love having one day all to myself (yes, I know I am the only person to ever be born on November 3rd). I love the gifts and the hugs and how everything seems to sparkle just a bit, just for me. You know that episode of HIMYM where Lily wakes up at midnight on her birthday to put on a tiara and go back to sleep? I already have mine picked out for this year. I think I love my birthday because of my mother. Something my mother truly excelled at was birthday mornings. She was so good at making you feel special on your birthday. A week before she'd find out what kind of cake you wanted-- schwarzwälder kirschtorte for my sisters, strawberry tart for me. On my birthday, I'd wake up early before school and go downstairs where the dining room table wore the prettiest tablecloth and was covered in our best dishes. There would be the birthday chair, the most beautiful cake, and a glittering heap of perfectly wrapped gifts. We'd hug and eat and open gifts and then I'd be off to school, feeling like the most special kid in the world. It was special. She made it so, so special. I've tried to adopt her birthday customs. J's birthday was earlier this month and I woke up and made a yummy breakfast which I brought him in bed. He's not much of a cake person but he is very much a bacon and eggs person so I made waffles. I made waffles with cheese and bacon in the batter and eggs on top, stuck a little candle in it and set it next to some fresh-squeezed orange juice and a small heap of gifts.
I think it made him feel special and that's all I wanted. A special morning for a special man on a very special day.
Waffles are more than just breakfast to me. I'm not sure when it happened since I was never especially crazy about them before but in the past few years, it's happened. The glory of batter and hot iron, of lemon zest or chocolate chips or shredded cheddar. The elegance of pure maple syrup and fresh blueberries. I just love it. Last month we were poking around our local kitchen goods store and found a Belgian waffle maker on sale and bought in right away. We had a small, American-style waffle maker but it was never quite satisfying enough. With this new one, everything changed.
The other thing that probably sparked my wafflevolution was the discovery of a very good recipe. Before I found it, I would just google a recipe, pick the easiest and go with that. And it was never anything special. It was always a little too dry or blah or too sweet or not sweet enough. I found my recipe in one of my favorite, yet simplest, baking books; High Altitude Baking, v. 2. Fort Collins sits at 5,000 feet above sea level and some recipes require a little tweaking. But not this one.
A good friend Heather moved in next door last summer with her sweet daughter Juliet and we started having Saturday waffle breakfast parties. We had a particularly wonderful one yesterday. We invited Sarah and Blue and Heather and Juliet and we made a truly yummy breakfast that needed an extra table and 4 kinds of fruit. I squeezed about 16 oranges into juice and we drank two bottle of champagne. Heather made eggs and bacon and I made the waffles and we had more toppings than I could count.
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| not shown here: all the waffles and most of the toppings. ha. |
When I'm having a good time, I forget to take pictures. That's what happened here. I have one of the table pre-waffles and I have one of our happy smiles. But I don't think I need a photo to tell you how good these waffles are. I hope you trust me by now.
Happy Sunday.
Make some waffles.
Share them with the people you love.
Waffles
adapted from High Altitude Baking, 2nd Edition by Patricia Kendall
I've made these on both a Beligan and an American-style waffle iron. Both work well, though the Belgian is infinitely yummier, for some reason. Another beautiful thing about these waffles is how simple they are to alter. I've made them with 1 tsp of lemon zest and then covered them in powdered sugar. I've added shredded cheddar and bacon to the batter and reduced the sugar to 1 tbsp, omit the vanilla. I've added 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips. The options are endless. This recipe is for bare-bones waffles, ready to be dressed in your finest toppings. Some of our favorites include: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, nutella, whipped cream, pure maple syrup, lingonberry jam, raspberry jam... basically any jam. My favorite combination is Smucker's low sugar strawberry jam and Nutella or fresh blueberries, the lightest drizzle of maple syrup and topped with whipped cream from the can.
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup whole milk
2 tbsp canola oil
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup whole milk
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat waffle iron.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, whisk together well.
In a seperate bowl combine egg, milk, canola oil, and vanilla. Whisk well.
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until smooth.
Add batter to center of waffle iron and cook until golden.
Serve immediately or keep warm in an oven set to 150-200 degrees placed directly on the oven racks.
Happy Sunday.
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| One of our Saturday waffle breakfasts pre-Christmas and pre-Belgian waffle iron. (Heather, Juliet, and my sister Anna) |
