Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Waffles

This Christmas, the inlaws were kind enough to buy each of the kids kitchen gadgets, and while the rest of the siblings got sandwich presses, we got a waffle iron... Honestly, I think they grabbed the wrong box by accident - but what a great mistake!!!

So yesterday for breakfast, I finally got around to making my first batch! It was the hubby's last day off before going back to work, so he needed a treat, and boy, were they worth the effort!

I went straight to Martha for this recipe, I figured if someone knew how to bump up a plain waffle recipe just a tad, it would be her. Heads up: LOTS of butter here. Eat slowly, stop when you're full. Remember the rules. Now grab your favourite mug of coffee, and get cooking!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (8 Tbsp) melted unsalted butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, separated, room temperature
• 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 
  

veg oil to oil the iron

Directions:

Plug in your waffle iron. If it's new, they say to wipe it down with a damp cloth and dry it off. Mix together your dry ingredients. Martha says sift, but I never do that. I heard on a show a while back that if you just whisk things together, it will more or less have the same effect, so that's what I do.

For the buttermilk: Does anyone actually buy this stuff for recipes??? I mean, I can understand for a drink or something, but otherwise I just use that standard old trick of 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice and add milk to make 1 cup - in this case doubled. It might not be exactly the same, but I'm just not willing to spend the money on extra ingredients.

Melt the butter. Mix with buttermilk. Separate eggs, and add yolks to the wet mixture, along with the vanilla. Whip the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, then fold the egg whites in. 

I use a ceramic pastry brush to slather a little oil on the grill. Fill each waffle mold - in my case two - with about 1/3 cup of batter, and spread it out sort of quickly so that it covers the entire area. I noticed that you really need to make sure you fill the iron all the way to the top for the right mold to come out, but at the same time they also say to not overfill it. 

Cooking time is about 3-5 minutes per batch, but I found the better measure to be when there's no steam coming out anymore. Store them in a 200 degree oven on a cookie sheet until they are all done. 

Review: These waffles came out tasting even better than I imagined. The cinnamon was the perfect added touch. I would not change a thing about the recipe. The one thing that I didn't love had nothing to do with the recipe, I think. These waffles were not crispy at all. From what I read on the internet, there are two important elements in crispy waffles: butter and heat. Well... there was no shortage of butter. Sadly, my waffle iron is probably a lower end model. There is no heat control whatsoever, it just plugs in. I froze the leftovers and this morning my my hubby toasted one up in the toaster oven. It's much crispier!

Enjoy your breakfast, and have a great day!