Please Pass the Waffles

I've had people suggest I share recipes, and I've been thinking about it, and even had a recipe page at one point. I'm not going to pretend I love to cook and do so regularly, because everybody who knows me, knows that's not true. However, as weird as that may seem, I do love to browse through recipe books -- and get one of my sisters to try some delicious looking morsel I found. One of my favourite cook books is by my friend, Judy Walter: At Home in the Kitchen. By clicking on the link, you can visit her blog, where she hasn't posted anything recently, but there are tons of great recipes from her book which you'd probably enjoy.

In any case, perhaps this will be the first of more recipe sharing posts.

commercial waffle iron

No question, waffles have been served and enjoyed in Hutterite kitchens for many, many years. Mostly they're made in the family kitchens, although there may be some communities who still have a commercial waffle iron. Many years ago, our communal kitchen used to have two, but when they stopped working, they were never replaced for some reason. But our waffle irons weren't as modern looking as the one in the picture. They made round waffles, too, but were big and heavy and took up a lot of counter space. Back then we had waffles served with syrup and sliced grilled bologna for supper regularly.

I wonder if there's still a colony who uses a waffle iron in their communal kitchen. Somehow I never hear of waffles being served in the communal kitchen anymore and I wonder why. If you're from a colony that still serves waffles in the 'big kitchen', I'd love to hear from you!

My family's first waffle iron came from a garage sale and although it took a long time to heat up, we still had many a waffle feast with it. These days we're using a newer model which we got as a gift. We mostly eat waffles when we have family supper. (Many colonies have days when the families all eat in their own home, as opposed to the daily routine of eating in the communal dining hall. For our colony, Sunday is when we have family breakfast and supper.) My sister whips up the batter from scratch, every time. We've tried a few recipes over the years, and I find the best recipes are the ones where the waffles are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. One of the recipes we've tried is from my friend Judy,'s cook book, mentioned above. She allowed me to post it here. Thanks, Judy!

Waffles

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Heat waffle iron. In mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add remaining ingredients, beating until smooth.

 Pour batter from cup or pitcher onto centre of hot waffle iron. Bake about 5 minutes or until steaming stops. Remove carefully with fork.

Variations:

Blueberry waffles

Sprinkle 2 tbsp blueberries over batter for each waffle as soon as it has been poured onto waffle iron.

Strawberry Waffles

Slice 1 quart strawberries. In chilled bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream cream and 2 tbsp powdered sugar until stiff. Top baked waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.  

I'm sure many people have special waffle memories of their own, I'd be delighted to hear some. In the meantime, get out the waffle iron and enjoy this simple but scrumptious feast. If you try this recipe, please tell me how your waffles turned out.