Kristen got me a waffle iron two Christmas’s ago, and in all that time I’ve been looking for a really good basic waffle recipe.
The first ones I tried were the easy pancake mix variety, which tasted exactly like pancakes, not bad, but not waffles. Next, I tried the more complicated recipes that came with the waffle iron. One of them included lemon juice which I thought was an odd choice, but the waffles were pretty good. Still, it wasn’t the sort of recipe that makes you want to go through all the effort.
Finally, we found a recipe on Myra Fitch’s homepage. She said it was her favorite recipe which actually came with her waffle maker years ago. It was by far the best waffles we’ve tasted, they were light and flaky with that perfect waffle flavor.
Homemade Waffle Recipe
1 3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 eggs
7 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups milk
Preheat the waffle iron. Sift the dry indredients into a medium sized bowl. Separate the eggs, putting the egg whites in smaller bowl. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff. (If you are using an electric mixer, you can beat the egg whites first, then beat the batter without having to wash the beaters. The reverse is not true. If you beat the batter first and you have to wash the beaters before beating the egg whites.) Add the egg yolks, oil and milk all at one time to the dry indredients. Beat until there are no lumps in the batter. Fold the egg whites into the other batter using a spatula or other flat utinsel. Put a full 1/2 cup of batter in your waffle iron to make a 9-inch round waffle. This recipe makes about eight 9 inch waffles.
If this recipe makes too many waffles for one setting, try freezing the waffles you do not eat. After the waffles have been cooked in the waffle iron, put them out on a cooling rack. When they are cool, place them in a plastic bag, taking out as much air from the bag as possible. Then freeze the bag of waffles. The next time you want a quick waffle, microwave one from the freezer for about 45 to 60 seconds. They are almost as good as fresh waffles.
Note from John: I realize the seperating and folding of the egg whites sounds like a lot of extra work, but it’s definitely worth the effort. This step has been in all the better waffle recipes I’ve tried and it seems to be one of the key differences between waffles that taste like waffles and waffles that taste like “square pancakes.”
It’s a stupid thing, but I always forget. You can’t butter toast with a fork. Well, you CAN, but it’s extremely annoying and takes forever – the butter starts melting and sticking and will go BETWEEN the tines instead of across the toast surface. And I know this because every so often I’m too lazy to get up and get a butter knife from the drawer when I have a fork right in front of me. Yes, it’s my own fault – LOL.
I made some beer battered onion rings today, I didn’t follow a strict recipe but winged it after reading a few different versions on the web. I used a 50/50 combination of flour and bread crumbs, plus some salt and garlic powder.
John and I came out of the grocery store the other day to find a flyer/menu under the windshield of the car for the “Happy Cafe”, a new Chinese restaurant in town. A few days later we stopped in to take advantage of their lunch specials – $5.15 a platter, which included rice, soup of the day, hot tea, as well as a few interesting bite-sized appetizers, and the option to have it all without MSG, which we requested. The food was excellent – fresh and tasty; the restaurant itself was tiny (I think it only had 8-9 tables) but had a very peaceful atmosphere, and was very new and clean.
