The World’s Best Waffles

waffle with strawberries on a green plateI say on the sidebar to this blog that I’m concentrating on “company” food, not on what I made for dinner Tuesday night.  It’s not really cheating for me to include this recipe, since I have made it for an overnight guest–once.  These waffles have been a Saturday breakfast staple at our house for almost 20 years, as I can remember making them when Gideon was a baby.  (I probably got started making them because we were given a waffle iron as a wedding present.  Thanks, Steve and Evelyn!  That waffle iron lasted a long, long time.)  Over those same 20 years I’ve made various changes of my own, so I now feel comfortable posting the recipe.  The original is from a cookbook I’ve mentioned before, Beat That! Cookbook by the inimitable Ann Hodgman.  You know a cookbook is good when the pages are splattered and covered with notations.  That’s certainly true for my copy of this one.  Ann titled this recipe “The Only Waffles Better Than That Damn Mix” (her language, not mine!).  The mix she’s referring to is Pepperidge Farm’s Homestyle Pancake and Waffle Mix, which I’ve never seen on a grocery store shelf.  But then, I don’t buy mixes.  (Hoity-toity, aren’t I?)  I do make these using freshly-ground flour from my grain mill, but don’t let that scare you off.  I think they’d be very good (just not as good) made with store-bought white whole-wheat flour.  You can mix up the dry and the wet ingredients the night before. I’ve tried mixing up the batter completely the night before and putting it in the fridge, but I’ve decided that it’s not as good that way.

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