Waffle Wars

I’ve used the same waffle recipe from The Joy of Cooking for years. It’s easy to make, has a great texture, great flavor, and the waffles are nice and crispy on the outside. So, I was more than a bit skeptical when my sister, Annie claimed to have the best waffle recipe ever. Mine was definitely better… Right? I decided the only thing to do in this situation was to make Annie’s recipe and see for myself which waffle really was supreme.

Annie’s Waffle Recipe

With strawberries and whipped cream

Annie’s waffles plain

 

I actually ended up making her recipe on two separate occasions. The first time around I didn’t get a picture of the waffles until they were half eaten and it didn’t seem fair to put it up against mine. We actually ate them two different ways as well. The first time with just regular butter and syrup, and the second time with strawberry sauce and whipped cream. As far as the recipes go, they are almost identical except for a couple of differences… my recipe uses all butter, Annie’s uses oil. Her recipe also separates the eggs into yolks and egg whites, which then need to be beaten into stiff peaks and gently folded in. So there’s a little extra work there. So what’s the verdict? Well… it’s not so clean-cut as that. Let me explain.

Annie’s recipe actually produced slightly crispier, lighter textured waffles. I think the crispness was due to the oil and the lighter texture to the egg whites. However, her recipe was more time-consuming and required use of a beater for the egg whites. I thought the flavor of the oil came through too much in the final product, but Seth said he didn’t mind it. I prefer the buttery flavor of my waffles and think they hold up better to toppings such as the strawberries without getting as soggy. Plus the recipe is just easier to make.

My Waffle Recipe

With bananas and pecans

My waffles plain

So? What recipe did I like better? I think I’m going to stick with my tried and true recipe. However, I’m a little curious as to how a couple tweaks might improve it. Maybe next time I’ll try a half oil/half butter waffle and/or beat the egg whites to make a lighter final product. It’s probably going to take several experiments to find out just what produces the perfect waffle, but I’m up for the task. I mean, there are worse things in life than sampling waffles, am I right?

Want to try the recipes and decide for yourself? Check ’em out and let me know what you think!

Crunchy Delicious Waffles with Peach Sauce

This weekend I felt like a fancier version of my favorite waffles, so instead of serving them with syrup, I whipped up some peach sauce! This was very easy to do especially using the frozen sliced peaches I had on hand. I like to keep frozen fruit on hand just for this sort of thing. You never know when you’ll want a nice fruit sauce, berry/fruit dessert, or even a smoothie! There are million delicious uses for frozen fruit.

Also, as far as this waffle recipe goes, I typically use all white flour, but they also taste delicious using 1 cup white, 3/4 cup wheat flour. Want to make your waffles extreme fancy? Top the peaches with whipped cream!

Waffle Recipe

Peach Sauce Recipe

Gingerbread Waffles (Updated Version)

What better way to enjoy the weekend before Christmas than with Gingerbread Waffles? As soon as I saw these I knew I had to make them. I love the spices used in gingerbread: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. These waffles were very easy to make and had a great flavor, not too overwhelming, but not too subtle either.

Maybe it was because the batter was more dense or something, but these took about twice as long to cook as my regular waffles and didn’t come out quite as crunchy. I also thought the texture was a bit on the spongy side.

Original Gingerbread Waffle Recipe

I really liked the idea of these waffles, but they weren’t quite to my liking as far as the texture was concerned. So, I combined the gingerbread elements of this recipe with my waffle recipe. I tested this version out today and it was just as delicious as I’d hoped. These still took a bit longer to cook than the plain waffles, but they turned out more crunchy on the outside than the original gingerbread waffle recipe  and had a lighter, more delicate texture.

Karen’s Version of Gingerbread Waffles

Ingredients:

1¾ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

3 large eggs, well beaten
4-16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1½ cups milk
3 tablespoons unsulfured molasses

Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

In a small bowl whisk together eggs, butter (the more butter you use the crunchier they’ll be, I find that 8 tbsp is perfect), milk, and molasses.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg/milk mixture. Gently whisk together just until combined.

Baking time and amount of batter will depend on your individual waffle maker. I use about a cup of batter for 2 waffles and mine take about 4-5 minutes to bake. I like to bake mine until they are a dark golden brown. Cooking spray usually isn’t needed if you use 8 tbsp or more butter in the batter.