Waffled French Toast with Strawberry Butter

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This recipe is so simple, it makes me wonder why I never thought of it on my own.  But I have the happiest of reasons...

The days have been just a little crazy around here lately.  Ole Sweetie-Pi's youngest daughter announced her and her fiance's intentions to be married this September and then asked if  I be willing to help her with the food, along with several of her friends and family.  Of course, I'm thrilled to be included and have spent countless hours scouring cookbooks and the net and delving into the recipes and  food memories of friends for the best of the best.  In spite of the stresses and the many moments of uncertainty, I am loving every minute of this!

As it happened, while looking for girly-girl recipes, I discovered this delightful waffled French toast with strawberry butter recipe.  It's included in Best of the Best, The Recipe Hall of Fame cookbook, edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. I love the reddish-pink butter, smiles, and who doesn't love waffles or French toast.  This would be  perfect for a special occasion breakfast with "just the girls."

Waffled French Toast with Strawberry Butter
(from Best of the Best,The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook)

I halved the recipe for the two of us, but I'll give you the recipe as written.

1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt (I omitted)
2 tablespoons butter, melted (I omitted)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon vanilla (my addition)
8-10 slices bread

Preheat waffle iron and grease if necessary.

In a shallow bowl (I use a pie plate) with a flat whisk, combine milk, eggs, sugar and salt, then melted butter.  Dip bread slices, one at a time, in egg mixture and drain.  Bake in waffle iron 2-3 minutes, until brown.  Serve with Strawberry Butter.


Strawberry Butter

1/2 pound butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered (confectioners') sugar
10 ounces frozen strawberries, thawed and drained

Combine all in a mixer or food processor until smooth and creamy.  This is best served at room temperature, but can be stored in fridge for several weeks.  Yields 2 1/2 cups.

Oatmeal Apple Pancakes

It's been a while since I've seen you at breakfast time so I made these pancakes.  I should probably be embarrassed to admit this, but I'm going to say it anyway.  You know those prepared packages of instant oatmeal cereals that come in the variety pack.  Well, I love those, and the apple one is my favorite.  The moment I saw this recipe I knew I was going to love it; and I do.

Ole Sweetie-Pi didn't care for these as much.   He thought these tasted okay, but too cookie-like in flavor and somehow the word limp was used to describe texture.  Sigh.

These golden oatmeal apple pancakes are hearty in texture.  The oatmeal gives it substance, the apple gives it texture.  There is just the right amount of sweetness  with the brown sugar and generous amount of cinnamon  (I enjoyed these plain) but with maple syrup, divine.

I found them to be a little tricky to cook.  The oatmeal causes kinks in the batter (for lack of a more technical cooking term) so that when they are flipped, they tend to break apart.  I found that making smaller, thinner pancakes and using the widest spatula I had worked much better and by the second batch I was able to have a pancake that wasn't a jumbled (but still delicious) heap of pancake. 

Oatmeal Apple Pancakes
(from About.Com: Gourmet Food)

2/3 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large apple, peeled and grated
 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup pecans (optional)

In a large bowl, mix together the oats and buttermilk and allow to stand for 10 minutes to soften the oatmeal.

On a piece of waxed paper or in another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Whisk together the egg yolks, brown sugar, and melted butter. Add this to the oats and buttermilk.

Stir in the grated apple.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients until just moistened. Stir in the pecans, if using.

Whip the egg whites until soft peaks are formed and then gently fold them into the pancake batter.

Heat up a large fry pan or griddle over medium high heat. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan. Using a quarter-cup measuring cup, measure the pancake batter into the hot oil. Cook each side until browned (about 3 minutes).

Serve with warm maple syrup.

Maple and Banana Nut Pancakes

It's been a little bit since I've had you over for breakfast, so when I woke up this morning, I decided to make a pancake recipe that caught my eye a short while back.  Now that I have this picture posted, I wish I had sliced up some bananas to pretty up the plate and to show that these really are banana pancakes and not  look like all the other pancakes I've posted on this blog, but hindsight is 20-20.  I'm going to have to ask you to use your imagination here.

Gosh, these were good; Ole Sweetie-Pi and I liked these a lot.  They remind me of  banana bread, so if if you like banana bread, I think you'd like these pancakes.  The maple that is added to the batter adds the right amount of sweetness, sour cream makes them tender, and the banana flavor, while present, is subtle.  I like the addition of the whole wheat flour; to me it revs up the nutrition as well as deepening the flavor. 

These were a little tricky to cook; I ruined the first half dozen I tried (recipe states it makes 14 four-inch pancakes). Even though I had the heat on medium, the first batch burned rather quickly and badly; the second batch didn't burn quite so badly.( I presume it's because of the high sugar content of the maple syrup and the bananas.)  I  reduced the  heat to a medium low, thinned the batter a tad, reduced the size (to the four inches recommended in the recipe, grins)  and it seemed to work much nicer. 

Maple and Banana Nut Pancakes

(Maple Syrup Cookbook by Ken Haedrich)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

2 eggs
1 1/2 to 1 1/3 cups milk
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 tablespoons butter, (one half stick)  melted
1 ripe banana, mashed

In a good-sized mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, stirring to blend.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until forthy, then whisk in 1 1/3 cups of the milk, the sour cream, maple syrup, melted butter and mashed banana.  (I used an egg beater here to mix the wet ingredients and to further mush up the bananas.)

Make a well in the dry ingrdients and add the egg mixture.  Stir, just to blend, taking care not to overmix.  You may want to add a little more milk, a drop at a time, to achieve a desired consistency.  The batter will foam up, that's okay, it's supposed to.  Let the batter rest for a couple of minutes.

In the meantime, preheat a large skillet or griddle on medium high heat. (I found this to be too high.)  Butter or oil lightly.  Drop the batter by heating tablespoonfuls and cook until the pancake bottoms are golden and bubbles are popping on the surface, about one minute.  Turn and cook the second side one minute more.  Repeat with remaining batter.

This is best served with warmed maple syrup.  You can heat a small, microwave safe,  pitcher of it in the microwave for about 30 to 60 seconds, or gently in a saucepan on the stove.  Your food will stay warmer longer and taste better with warmed maple syrup.

Gingerbread Waffles

I'm enjoying a week's vacation at home this week, just puttering about, doing all those little things I've been putting off. I love being home, having become more of a homebody in my middle years. My wanderlust seems to have wandered off, grins, as I find peace and comfort in my little home.

Being at home, though, doesn't mean I give up "vacation food," those foods that are just a little unique, a tad more special, than our ordinary fare, and become a part of our vacation memory.

So, this morning, I was thinking about breakfast. If I were dining out this morning, what would I want to have, I wondered. I found the perfect solution, Gingerbread Waffles at Inn Cuisine. Honestly, as Ole Sweetie-Pi and I sat at the breakfast table this morning, each enjoying our waffle, it was as if we were whisked away to some romantic inn. There was heavy frost on the grass, breezes blowing the maple leaves from our trees, making the leaves dance and skip about the lawn, inside, the cats cozying by the heat. Coffee was waiting. And yummm.. the aroma of warm gingerbread tempting the nose and the belly... The next time I serve these, I think I'm going to pull out all the stops, flowers, music, tablecloth and napkins, the special little things that vacation memories are made of.

These waffles are light, very tender, warm spicy, sweet enough on their own, (maple syrup would be too much, in my opinion) and with a pat of butter, simple and delicious. However, I would like to dress these up; they would be good with a lemon sauce with maybe a scattering of raspberries or a dollop of whipped cream.

Gingerbread Waffles

Preheat your waffle iron. Have ready three separate bowls.

In a large bowl combine:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

In a medium bowl mix together until light and fluffy:1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk

Then add and mixed until combined:
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons butter, melted

In a small bowl beat until egg white forms stiff peaks:
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 egg white

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, being careful not to overmix.

Fold the stiffened egg whites into the batter.

Gently pour batter onto your preheated waffle iron and bake according to the manufacturer's directions.

Serve with topping or sauce of choice.

Close your eyes and dream those wonderful vacation dreams.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes

Weekend breakfasts are a time for us to luxuriate and a time of celebration of our relationship that we don't always make for each other during the week. I'm a morning person (a lark) and Ole Sweetie-:Pi is the quintessential night person (an owl). We share the same roost but not the same hours. When the summer weather is in our favor, we have been known to have our morning coffee on the back deck, catching up on each others news, and watching our cats chase each other about. Ole Sweetie-Pi tries to impress me with his identification of the different bird calls, and I am always impressed.

This summer has been a dashed disappointment, rain with intermittent sun, unseasonably cool, too soon autumn. Thoughts and feelings of cool weather bring out heartier foods, and thus when I saw these pancakes, I had to try them.

Oh my! These are a heavy pancake, filled with wonderful, warm flavors, evocative of oatmeal cookies. The buttermilk makes the pancake a little more tender, and the cinnamon and nutmeg add just the right spiciness. (I don't care for raisins, so I substituted currants.) Topped with warmed maple syrup, we did not mind the too early autumn weather.

I burned the first batch as I cooked these on too high a heat; I would suggest a medium low heat to give them plenty of time to cook through and for the tell-tale bubbles to appear on the top so you know when to turn them. Turning them too soon will cause them to splash about, looking uncomely, but a decisive trimming with the spatula will make them beautiful again.

Tender Buttermilk Waffles

During the workweek, I arise at 4 a.m. I stumble about, first feeding the cats, then becoming their doorman for the first 30 minutes or so, while I rummage and clang about making coffee and uncovering something palatable for a quick breakfast. Usually it's just toast, fruit, yogurt, and coffee; sometimes it's leftovers from the previous night's dinner (grins), depending on what we had.

I don't mind what some would seem as an ungodly hour. The evening stars still shine, but then I see the first light of day peeking over the hills before me. The occasional car speeds by (who else must get up so early, I wonder), tires ripping along the pavement, breaking into dawn's misty silence. Ole Sweetie-Pi slumbers through it all. By the time he arises my workday is half over; I am ready for lunch and now it is his turn to forage bleary-eyed in the fridge and pantry.

But the weekends are ours. Sharing breakfast has become an occasion. We can relax, share our morning thoughts, perhaps dreams we had, make plans for the few unbroken hours ahead that we can our own.

I am up early anyway, even on the weekends, as is my wont, reveling in the solitude of my thoughts, growing hungry, waiting in anticipation for the crack of the first egg.

When asked one morning what he wanted for breakfast, Ole Sweetie-Pi answered without hesitation, "Waffles." I didn't have time to make Coleen's sourdough waffles so I was sent scurrying to my cookbooks and I found this keeper recipe from the good folks at King Arthur's Flour in their 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I cut the recipe in half as there's only the two of us, and it still made 5 huge Belgium waffle sized waffles. The addition of buttermilk makes these tender and light. A good addition to the waffle repertoire!

Buttermilk Waffles
(from King Arthur Flour's 200th Anniversary Cookbook)
(this is their full recipe version; I reduced by half for the two of us)

4 cups flour
2-4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 quart (4 cups) buttermilk
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, melted, or vegetable oil

In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

In a second bowl, beat the eggs and buttermilk together until light and fluffy. Add the melted butter or oil. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together for about 20 seconds. Take care not to overstir or the waffles will become tough.

Preheat your waffle iron, lightly greasing with a pastry brush. Using a scoop or a measuring cup (1/4 measuring cup seemed to be perfect for mine), pour batter into middle of the bottom plate and close the top. The batter should squeeze out to the edges, but sometimes I take the back of a spoon and "help" it. Wait 2 to 4 minutes and once the batter has stopped steaming, lift the lid to see if its brown enough to your liking. If the top doesn't raise easily, the waffle probably needs more cooking as the waffle should release when it's done. Try letting it go for another minute or two before checking it again. If it still doesn't release, gently pry apart, exercising caution not to become burned or damage your waffle iron.

Eat while hot with your favorite topping.

Mile High Pancakes

I like pancakes in general, the kind you can get at a truck stop or diner, the kind at a pancake house, the kind my mom made. Sometimes though they can sit in my stomach, and I feel so uncomfortable that I am left wondering why I thought it was a good idea to eat them.

Here's a simple recipe that I discovered on Recipezaar. With the one tablespoon of baking powder in the ingredients, the pancakes that are so light and fluffy that they almost float off plate. I've renamed the recipe to better describe their quality.


Mile High Pancakes


1 egg
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder (that's right, l tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium sized mixing boil, beat the egg until fluffy. Add milk and melted butter (okay, use margarine if you have to, but we use butter in this house), mix until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix just combined. (At this point I added a tad more milk because I thought the batter was too thick, and I wanted a thinner pancake.) The batter will start to foam up into huge bursting bubbles, but that's a good sign; it means your baking powder is working and your pancakes will have the loft you're looking for. Do not overbeat; overbeating will deflate your batter.

Heat a heavy griddle or fry pan which has been greased with a little butter or vegetable oil on a paper towel. The pan is hot enough when a drop of water breaks into several smaller beads which 'dance' around the pan. Or, you if you have one, you can use an electric fry pan or griddle, heated to 375F.

Pour a small amount of batter (about 1/4 cup) into pan and spread in a circle with the back of a spoon or spatula (the kind used to frost a cake). When bubbles appear on surface and begin to break, and the edges look dry, turn over and cook the other side. You can also slightly raise one corner and see if the color is to your liking.

If you really want to make it nice, warm the maple syrup and serve in a nice pitcher.