Something From Nothing Waffles

It’s not all bad being snowed in.  There are, after all, always waffles.

After DH and I awoke and realized that through the night the town had not bothered to plow our street we settled in to be stranded until his father was finished with the heavy equipment.  DH suggested that we make the best of it and have a leisurely breakfast.  He suggested bacon, eggs, toast, and waffles.  Sadly, we were both in denial about the storm and neither of us made a stock up run to the grocery store so there was no bacon and no toast.  Eggs we did have, and well, waffles can basically be made out of nothing so I set upon the adventure of making waffles out of nothing.

As a wedding present, my mother gave me The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook [affiliate link] by Mary Corpening Barber & Sara Corpening Whiteford.  It’s a beautiful book that in the five years that we’ve been married I have barely cracked open and I’ve certainly not actually cooked anything from it.  But I was certain that I didn’t have all the ingredients for my regular waffle recipe so I figured perhaps The Bride & Groom had something that I could experiment with.  And on page 183 I found Mom’s “Flyaway” Pancakes with Melted Berries.  Melted berries aside (we neither have them in the freezer nor in the yard since it is the middle of winter and covered with a foot of snow… no self respecting berry bush would be fool enough to shoot out anything close to a blossom at this time of year), the recipe sounded kind of “doable” except for two main ingredients: buttermilk and sour cream.  Buttermilk is an easy enough remedy, add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk, let stand for 10 minutes and voilà — buttermilk!  Sour cream on the other hand I figured would be a bit of a challenge.  But no!  It’s actually nearly as easy as buttermilk!!  Simply make buttermilk and then add butter!!!  So, I set off to make “flyaway” waffles with the limited ingredients that a snowed-in kitchen often provides.

Mom’s “Flyaway” Waffles

This recipe is adapted from the aforementioned cookbook.  I think these are the appropriate substitutions for a snow-stranded skant kitchen.  If you are at all prepared, I think you should probably have most of these items in your fridge, freezer or pantry.

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar (I actually used Rapunzel Pure Organic Whole Cane Sugar [affiliate link] just for the fun of it)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt (I love pink himalayan salt, but any kosher style salt will do)
2 whole eggs
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon of melted butter

If you’re anything like me and don’t keep special items like buttermilk and sour cream on hand you’ll need some substitutions.  This morning I had to punt.  Here’s what I used:

• For 1 cup of buttermilk: mix 1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
• Four the ½ cup of sour cream: mix ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons of milk with 1 teaspoon +  1/8th teaspoon of vinegar to get “buttermilk” and then add a heavy 5 tablespoons of melted butter, let set 10 minutes.

Mix both of your equivalents up before you start the rest of the mixing so that you can get your 10 minutes out of the way first.  While those two things are setting up, you can put together your dry ingredient mixture and your wet ingredient mixture.

For the dry ingredients, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Sifting is optional, but I love my sifter and find every excuse in the book to sift things together.  I honestly think it makes a difference.  When my mother comes over and has biscuits at my house she always asks what I do differently to her recipe to make them so fluffy.  Two words… I sift.  Bride and Groom does not suggest that you sift the ingredients, but I say, what can it hurt?  Also, sifting does this amazing thing where it creates a little well for your wet ingredients to be poured into without having to disturb all the fluffiness that your sifted flour created!

Next comes the wet ingredients!  Melt your butter (if you’re doing in the microwave don’t scald it like I always do).  While the butter’s melting, crack two whole eggs into a bowl and whip them up nicely.  Then pour in the melted butter, the “buttermilk,” the “sour cream” and add the baking soda.  Whisk everything together so that it’s well incorporated and then pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients (into that awesome little well that your sifter created for you).

Whisk your batter until it’s all combined.  Mine didn’t look particularly smooth, and the minute I turned my back it rose… nearly out of the bowl!!  Then comes the fun part.  Creating the waffles.

There were a few items that DH and I received as wedding presents that I wondered what in the world I would ever do with.  My crock pot was one of them.  Once I got over the initial fear of owning a crock pot (my mother never used one so I had no idea how magical they really are) I developed a deep love and devotion to it.  The other is my waffle iron.  My mother always made Belgian waffles growing up and I hated them.  I longed for the little tiny squares of a regular waffle and always imagined that when I “grew up” I’d have my own normal waffle iron.  When the wedding gifts started to arrive I opened one to find a Waring Pro Belgian Waffle Maker [affiliate link].  I won’t say that my heart fell, but I was hoping for a regular waffle iron.  However, nothing could part me from that waffle iron now.  I simply love it, and I attribute most of my waffle success to that kitchen appliance.  I swear by it.  It makes the best waffles.

I will caution you, don’t overdo it on the batter.  One tiny scoop too much and you’ll have s spluttering, spitting waffle iron oozing batter out the sides and all over your kitchen counter!  All that baking soda and baking powder reacting with everything to make those waffles delectable and fluffy will make them rise right out of your waffle iron if you put too much in.  I have found that putting just enough batter to cover ¾ of the iron will give you almost a complete round waffle with no spillage.  And I personally think that the irregular edges look more decorative!

So it is absolutely possible to make something out nothing… and it tastes amazing too!

breakfast, Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook, home cooking, recipes, snow, snowmageddon, waffles, winter