A few years ago, my husband and I went a brunch hosted by a dear friend of mine, and she had carafes of waffle mix prepared and ready next to her state of the art waffle iron. Each guests could choose a mix that was to his liking, and make a waffle fresh and hot for his personal enjoyment. Now, I say his, because my husband was so taken with this nifty waffle making gadget, that he probably could have eaten waffles all day.  So for his next birthday, I got him the self same waffle iron.  It was a wonderful success and he loved it. This is a pretty deal around here, because this man never needs anything (that he hasn’t already ordered for himself on Amazon) and is impossible to buy gifts for, which means that my ideas are often far-fetched and far from home runs. But not this time! I had finally hit home with this nifty gadget that can make delicious fresh hot confections in minutes. So now we are the proud owners of a Belgian Waffle Maker. Of course, he has never made waffles, but I suppose that was never the idea. He gets waffles made for him, and really what could be better?!

Our favorite waffles have always been pumpkin waffles, made with fresh pumpkin. But the batter takes quite a bit of work to make, including roasting pumpkin, so we don’t do it that often. A short while ago, however, I discovered this remarkable recipe. It uses only a few basic recognizable ingredients, contains whole wheat and very little sugar, and is super easy to make. My 2 year old and I threw together the batter and made the waffles by 8am. Oh, and the waffles are delicious. When we made them over the weekend, all 3 boys declared these the best waffles we have ever made. So, this is my new go to recipe, and one I feel pretty good about feeding to my family.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup melted butter (or maybe you could try coconut oil or vegetable oil)
• food coloring (optional – only necessary if your kids are obsessed with colored food)

Method

1. Preheat your iron while you make the waffle batter.
2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and butter.
4. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. The batter will be a bit lumpy; that’s OK.
5. Spray or brush the iron with oil of your choice and pour in the  batter. When the waffle iron beeps, get ready to feast!

 

 

Our latest batch of waffles were blue, because my 2 year old is currently obsessed with adding food coloring to everything and blue is his favorite color. Without the food coloring, they are a lovely nutty brown. Both ways, they taste great!

 

 

 

Our waffle maker makes 4 square waffles and I get 2 scant rounds out of this batter, so about 8 waffles, which is perfect for our family. We usually eat about 6 for breakfast and then the boys have the last 2 later that day. We don’t have leftovers for days, which I like.

We eat ours with yoghurt and fruit, and a drizzle of maple syrup. We also often add a poached egg.

Original recipe from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/