Belgian Waffles for the Win

The Yank is in the house!!!!

This is one of our favorite things to have with some of the grandkids...

Belgian Waffles. And I hunted and hunted for a recipe that worked, then Sandy Jamison found this one online (Sandy is my son-in-law Jon's mother, and she is the sweetest thing!!!)

And she one-upped me because it's the best. And it's not hard. And no yeast...

I used to have one of those old metal waffle makers. You know what I mean. The kind you see at garage sales.

WALK ON BY!!!!

Seriously, I burned or messed up so many things using that thing, and I'm pretty sure it was trying to burn the house down, too!!!

But then I got a Belgian Waffle Maker for Christmas a few years ago.

OH MYLANTA.

Nothing burns. (I did discover that you have to turn the magic dial to get it hot enough, duh on me.... because the old one just went automatically to gazillion degrees/scorch/burn/smoke)

Once I realized that, we've been besties!!!

LINK TO THE RECIPE HERE BECAUSE I CAN'T BLATANTLY STEAL IT, CAN I????

This is what the batter looks like when you've folded the egg whites into it. That's about the only tricky part, friends. You whip the egg whites and fold them into the batter... and do not skimp on the butter in this recipe....

Also, it calls for Aunt Jemima self-rising flour but I don't have that.... And I make my own self-rising flour by doing this:

1 cup flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt.  (Mix together)

And that gives you self-rising flour!

My beloved waffle maker.....

PHOTOBOMBED BY NEW YORK REAL MAPLE SYRUP!!!!! Just like Fiji Water Girl at the Golden Globes!!!!

And a finished product:

You can add fruit, but I wanted mine with just a little maple syrup... and whipped cream. So good! They are light and fluffy and melt in your mouth. I'm happy just talking about them!

And then there's this, the changing look of Western New York. A local reporter had shown the difference between last January 3rd and this one.... One was insanely cold, this year wasn't.

But this is a sunrise two days ago.... gorgeous because the cloud bank hanging low over us is a gift from Lakes Ontario and Erie, but when the sun first breaks the horizon, the rays are diffused into this gorgeous palette of colored light:

Isn't that stunning?

But then the next morning we had pouring rain and snow fog... together. An oddity, for sure:

Our temps have done their see-saw dance for ten weeks. A bitter cold and snowy November, then a mild, muddy December with a dusting of Christmas snow... and then mud. And more mud. So much rain....

Folks are fond of saying "You don't have to shovel it", but it's just dreary, my friends! So when the sun peeks through, you get all Ray Bradbury  "All Summer in a Day" kind of excited!

So that's it for this week. Much going on with the writing angle, I'm having so much fun and very excited to have THIS WESTERN collection coming out soon..... 

AND YOU CAN PRE-ORDER IT HERE!!!!

Followed by my first full-length prairie historical in March!

I love delving into the past and who doesn't love, love, love prairie romance??? :)

The wind is howling tonight... temperatures are dropping quickly and it feels like winter's got his sights on us at last.... but there's a kitten pestering my shoulder and food in the kitchen.

God is good!

Multi-published, award-winning author Ruth Logan Herne writes beautiful romances and women's fiction in small towns with big hearts, not unlike the one she calls home! Write to her at loganherne@gmail.com, visit her website ruthloganherne.com  or friend her on facebook!

Carnival-worthy Belgian Waffles with The Yank!

I get no credit here other than being the messenger.

This is not my recipe. And although my daughter Beth's sweet mother-in-law insists I gave it to her, I've never seen it before in my life. My guess is she found it while browsing my laptop when they were here for a visit last year and I'LL GLADLY HOG THE CREDIT!!!!!

But it's totally undeserved and I wish it wasn't because after I combed the Internet once I got my Belgian Waffle maker for a great recipe, the only one we liked was a VCR.

Not the machine that plays tapes, mind you. "VCR" translates to "Very Complicated Recipe" and who needs that in the morning????

Not this Yankee mama! So this recipe is found here: Link To Original Recipe via Saveur

Here is the recipe with my adjustments:

The original recipe called for self-rising flour. You don't need to spend extra to buy self-rising flour. Simple recipe here:

1 Cup Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix. Done. Finis. Perfectamente.  So you can either use self-rising flour for this recipe or use the recipe as written:

InGREDIENTS:

Mix together in large bowl:

1 3/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

In separate bowls:

4 eggs, separated 

(Temporary separation, they will be reunited later!!!! PARTY!!!) Yes, you see 8 egg yolks there, we did a double batch and not one tiny wedge of a waffle was wasted but I had to call help for crowd control!!! Put whites in mixing bowl for beating, even though that sounds so mean!!!

Add to dry mixture:

1 1/4 cups water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 egg yolks

Whisk until fairly lump free, then add in:

2 sticks butter, melted (1 cup) (shush.... butter is all natural, of course it's GOOD FOR YOU!!!)

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.

 My big ol' Kitchen Aid loves a task like this.... Then fold egg whites into the batter, one-half at a time, folding thoroughly.

Yes, you'll still see some of the egg white fluff showing, that's fine, so change that to "Fairly Thoroughly".

Heat waffle iron. No need to spray a non-stick waffle iron, the butter will leave its delicious glaze behind.

Pour a full cup of batter onto the iron, close and watch the steam escape, a great science lesson in evaporations/steam/water cycle, very Earth Science friendly.

Don't fret if a little browned butter drips from the sides... It's no biggie and paper towels become your new best friend:

My iron blinked "ready" at about 4 minutes and they were on the deeper gold side. Some of my peeps like the more tender 3 minute variety, so play with your iron and see what works for you.

These were the best waffles I've ever made, a praise I don't give lightly! 

These are so tender, they don't need syrup or butter, carnival-style with powdered sugar is a hand-held breakfast treat! But they're delicious with butter and real maple syrup, too!!!!

And after all that, I managed to RESIST eating seven of these and ate my salad instead:

But I WANTED the seven waffles, I'm not gonna lie!!!!

Well, after all this cooking, I needed HELP!!!!

Here come the helpers:

Okay, IGNORE this video, it was a short .02 one and I uploaded it by mistake, but it Won't Go Away.

Techno-dunce Ruthy!!!

And here's a sneak peek at next week:

Oh. Yum. And this is what the silverware drawer looked like when my very earnest and adorable helpers were done:

LOVE IT!!!!