Buttermilk Waffles
Well hello there. I know it's been a while since I've been around here. I've missed blogging and cooking a lot. That lousy week of feeling crummy turned into two more lousy weeks of feeling crummy, so I spent a lot of my time lying around doing nothing and periodically feeling sorry for myself because, simply put, I'm a big wimp when I don't feel well. I get all whiny and grumpy, and am generally bad company to be around. And I was even grumpier because I lost all motivation to cook, bake and blog. Not. Fun. But now that I am finally feeling better, I have a lot of lost kitchen time to make up for, so let's talk waffles, one of my favorite breakfast foods.
I've always had a love-hate relationship with breakfast. I love breakfast and breakfast foods. I hate eating breakfast too early. I've always been this way. When I was in elementary and high school, it was a gargantuan effort to eat anything so early in the morning, which was then compounded by the parental-induced stress of being nagged to "eat a good breakfast" so I can study well, have energy, yadda, yadda, which obviously did nothing to improve my appetite. Once I got to college, where my classes began later in the morning and my appetite had enough time to sufficiently kick in, I was actually hungry for breakfast, and went willingly to the dining hall to enjoy the only meal of the day that was actually prepared fairly well, and where I could sit in the morning quiet and enjoy my food.
Now that I'm running my own household and am not tied to any schedules, I get to indulge my love of breakfast on my own terms, and weekend breakfasts in our house don't start until 9AM or later. Although I'm somewhat of an early riser, I don't head to the kitchen too early. I'll sit and leaf through a magazine or a cookbook, surf the Internet, and enjoy the stillness and quiet of the house for an hour or so. When Peter gets up, I'll start getting breakfast ready. These waffles are a regular on the breakfast rotation.
As a kid, the only waffles I ate were of the Eggo variety, and little did I know what I was missing--until I made my first batch from scratch. Now, the toaster takes a back seat to my waffle iron, and I happily combine wet and dry ingredients that produce a crispy exterior, a tender, pillowy interior and all those square divots to hold a slow-melting pat of butter and drizzle of warm maple syrup. And with only a tablespoon of sugar in the batter, there's no reason that these dimpled disks need to be eaten just before noon. Use a couple of them to bookend your favorite deli meats, cheeses and assorted condiments. Have them hold a shmear of your favorite nut butter and marmalade. Serve them with ice cream and fresh berries for an easy dessert. These are so versatile, that being a breakfast lover is not required.
Buttermilk Waffles
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 T. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 stick (8 T.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cups buttermilkPreheat a waffle iron. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
In one bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In another bowl blend together the eggs, melted butter and buttermilk. Note: Make sure that the butter is not too hot when you pour it into the eggs, or you will end up curdling the eggs. Also, the buttermilk mixture might look a little "lumpy" and thick once you have combined all the wet ingredients--this is normal.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, blend the ingredients together using large strokes, making sure not to over-mix the batter. The batter will be on the thick side and have texture--this is normal.
Depending on how large your waffle iron surface is, use a 1/3 cup or 1/2 cup measure to pour the batter onto the waffle iron. Transfer the cooked waffles to a large baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. Serve with warmed maple syrup and butter, or any other way you prefer.
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I LOVE YOUR BLOG. F EEL LIKE IM READING JULIA AND JULIA