Happy Life, Happy Wife

When we got engaged, I think the first thing I registered for was a waffle iron.  It’s a little bit ironic that I got it from one of my least favorite people, but that’s a story for another day…

I always thought waffles would be really hard to make from scratch.  Way too hard for me.  After having it for almost three years now I’m finally getting the hang of it.  I’ve bought the waffle mixes (bleh!), used pancake mix to make waffles (eh), and then just put the waffle iron in the back of a bottom cabinet (the dead zone).

I’m starting to freak out a little bit because my 100 Recipe deadline is FAST approaching.  I only have until 5/12/11 to complete them all in time.  In order to combat the acceptance of failure, the best course of action seemed to be to gather all of the recipes I needed for all of the recipes I have left to complete.  I came across this recipe on About.com and thought to myself, “It is on the list, so I might as well try it again.”

But let me first tell you about one of the problems I always had when making waffles:  they’d burn.  The first time I made them, I set my iron to medium and they burned.  The second time I made them, I turned it down to medium-low and they burned.  The third time I made them, I turned the dang thing down as low as it would go… and they burned.

So this recipe saved my waffle life by telling me to do the opposite of what my common sense told me.  Waffles burning?  Turn UP the heat.

One of the things I always struggle with is not over-mixing the batter.  “Stop stirring, Beth.  You’re ruining it.”  And, as you can see above, I was able to stop myself and create this lovely, lumpy batter.

And that’s why the waffles came out so nice and fluffly 

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose (AP) flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 ¾ cups whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Required Equipment:

• Waffle iron
• Cooking spray (I use Pam for Baking)

Directions:

1. Preheat your waffle iron to its hottest setting.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat eggs thoroughly.  Whisk in sugar, milk, and oil.
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir gently until just combined.
5. Spray both surfaces of your waffle iron with cooking spray.
6. Ladle ½ to ¾ cup of the batter on the iron and close it.  Some of the batter may leak out the sides, but that will help you adjust how much batter you’ll need for the next one.
7. Cook until the waffle iron indicates it’s done or until no more steam comes out and the waffle is golden brown.
8. Carefully remove the waffle and serve immediately.

Serves: 4-5 waffles

Notes:

• If you’ll be making several waffles at a time, preheat the oven to 200 degrees F and transfer cooked waffles to the oven to keep warm.