Sunday Breakfast: Buttermilk Waffles

For the past few weekends we were always craving for Belgian waffles. While we can easily go to a restaurant and order them, it’s just nice to be able to make them at home especially on a Sunday when you feel like just lazing around and not gearing up to go anywhere.

Belgian waffles with dollops of whipped cream.

So last Sunday we decided to head down to Calgary and get the All-Clad 4-square waffle maker exclusive only to Williams-Sonoma. We’ve been longing to get this gadget since last December but with Christmas and all the other purchasing we did, we reached our spending limit in no time. (Yes, there is always a limit! I don’t need help yet.)

All-Clad 4-square waffle maker.

We like this waffle maker as it’s non-stick and the grooves are deep which can hold a lot — fruit, syrup and lots of whipped cream! Also, the reviews on this gadget were very good and there was an in-store rebate. The waffle maker came with a few recipes and we decided to try the recipe for Buttermilk Waffles. I should indicate here that the recipe makes twelve 4-inch waffles so we opted to use the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma website which makes eight 4-inch waffles.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. sugar

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the buttermilk, butter and vanilla until blended. Make sure you give some time for the melter butter to cool down and that your buttermilk is not so cold. We made a mistake of adding the melted butter into the cold buttermilk right away so the butter coagulated. I’m just glad we didn’t add it to the yolks or the whole thing would have been a waste. We warmed up the buttermilk and butter mixture and allowed it to cool for a bit before we slowly added it to the egg yolks. (It’s like tempering eggs when making custards so it wouldn’t curdle.)

Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Add the flour mixture to the yolk mixture and whisk until smooth. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Lots of frothy egg whites!

Using a rubber spatula, fold 1/2 cup of the egg whites into the batter, then carefully fold in the remaining whites.

Do not over mix!

We poured about 1/3 cup of the batter into each well of the waffle maker and closed the lid.

Just the right amount.

The waffles turned golden brown and crisp around 5 to 6 minutes. However, our indication they were done was that the steam coming out of the waffle maker subsided. Serve on a plate with fresh fruit, maple syrup, a little dusting of powdered sugar and dollops of whipped cream. Yum!

With some mandarin oranges.

These may well be the best waffles we’ve ever had. They’re thick but they’re also light, airy and crisp. For sure we’re going to try a lot of different recipes, even the savoury ones. I heard the fried chicken and waffles are very good.

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Sunday Breakfast: Dutch Baby

Puff Pastry Breakfast (24 Oct 2009)

French Toast