A brief history of Waffles…

‘Twas the Sunday before Christmas, and time for brunch!

Measuring cup, metal bowl, small glass

Start by separating eggs. Whites go in the mixing bowl. Yolks go in the measuring cup. The small glass is my way of separating eggs without major disasters.

Yolks in measuring cup, whites in bowl, with electric mixer

After you separate the eggs, use an electric mixer to whip the egg whites. The key is to get as much air as possible in there to make them fluffy.

Four yolks in measuring cup. Beaten whites in bowl

After beating the egg whites, set them aside. I put them in the refrigerator to keep them cold, but don’t forget about them later! Remove one beater from the mixer if your measuring cup won’t accommodate the two beaters.

Beaten egg yolks with almond milk and electric mixer

Beat the egg yolks. Then add milk. We use almond milk in the house. I don’t notice a difference from cow milk as far as the finished product.

Beating egg yolks and milk with electric mixer

Beat the yolks and milk together, being careful not to spill.

Flour, baking powder, salt, mixing bowl

Assemble your dry ingredients.

Dry mixture in bowl. Yolk/milk mixture in measuring cup

Getting ready to add the yolk/milk mixture to dry ingredients. Be sure you mixed up the dry ingredients first, so the baking powder is distributed through the flour.

Bowl with ingredients. Empty measuring cup.

After you mix in the yolk/milk mixture, you’ll have something dough like.

Dough-like stuff in bowl. Water in measuring cup.

I use about 2C of water to add to the dough-like mixture. It’s important to add about 1/2C at a time. You want it to gradually thin. If you added all the water, it would end up as lumpy batter. Stirring the thicker batter helps to smooth it out.

Waffle batter, soy oil bottle. 1C mesuring cup

When you have something that is like a thin-ish pancake batter, add oil. This keeps the batter from sticking to the waffle iron. You’ll still need to spray the waffle iron with cooking spray, too.

Waffle batter in bowl. Blueberries in colander.

We like to add blueberries. I’ve tried other berries, but most stick to the waffle iron badly.

Heating waffle iron

Plug in your waffle iron and set for your favorite temp to properly brown the waffles.

Batter in mixing bowl. Beaten egg whites in metal bowl.

Remember those egg whites from earlier? Time to fold them into the batter. Don’t overdo it.

Batter in bowl, ladel, waffle iron

Mixed properly, your waffle batter should look like this.

Cooking spray and waffle iron

When the iron is hot, coat top and bottom with cooking spray. Not too thick but more if you have berries or something in the batter that might stick to the iron.

Waffle iron with batter

Ladle the batter into the waffle iron. Be careful not to add too much, or it will seep out the sides onto the counter as it bakes and expands.

Cooking waffles with steam

This was steam coming off the waffle iron as the waffles cook, but you can’t really see the steam in the picture.

Waffle iron with green light

When the waffle iron beeps, they are ready!

Cooked waffles on iron

If all went well, your waffles are ready to eat!

Waffles on rack. Waffle iron.

If you don’t have hungry mouths ready to eat, place the waffles on cooling racks. Don’t stack them on one another, or they may get soggy.

Waffles on cooling rack

One batch makes four “flats” of waffles in my waffle iron. Yum!

Plates with waffles and omelettes. Christmas tree.

And Sunday brunch is ready to eat, next to the Christmas tree.

Waffles and omelettes

Waffles and omelettes, ready to eat. Thanks for joining us for Sunday brunch!