Family Food: Waffles of Insane Greatness
Two years ago, I bought a Belgian waffle iron purely on the strength of Molly’s post recommending two outstanding waffle recipes, Marion Cunningham’s yeast-raised one and the Food Network’s Waffles of Insane Greatness (WIG). Prior to reading Molly’s post, I had never considered making waffles at home. Waffles weren’t even high on my list of favourite breakfast (or dessert) dishes. Today, waffles are permanent fixtures on my breakfast repertoire. Both T and CH love homemade waffles. The recipe for Waffles of Insane Greatness resides in my Blackberry because WIGs deliver a shatteringly crisp exterior (a priority in CH’s books) while maintaining a tender, moist interior (vital to T). And because they don’t call for yeast, they can be made pretty much at the drop of a hat (of high importance to me).
Why am I only sharing this recipe now? I guess things have been a little insane with our little man of late. Over the past month, he came down with the flu, then a cough, and now an intestinal bug. So, he has been sleeping badly and he’s lost his appetite. Dealing with sustained sleep deprivation, projectile vomit and a kid that doesn’t yet know how to blow his nose leaves mommy a little barmy, too. Somehow, in situations like these, whipping out a recipe with a trippy title like Waffles of Insane Greatness seems appropriate.
Earlier this week, while the rest of the family was fast asleep, T and I were in the kitchen at 5am making WIGs because T woke up with a tummy ache and couldn’t be coaxed back to sleep. He sat in his high chair nibbling on toddler-friendly homemade nut-free granola, occasionally raising his arms to rock to a favourite tune—Elmo’s Song rates high on his playlist (I am grateful that our son generally remains genial even when ill). Across from him, I measured out waffle ingredients. In my sleep-starved stupor, I mistakenly added ground cinnamon to the wet rather than dry ingredients. Thankfully, it made no perceptible difference to the finished product. As I took in our little domestic tableau, I concluded that it was rather apt that we were making Waffles of Insane Greatness. Our life is currently insanely great and greatly insane.
These waffles, on the other hand, are always great—no insanity required. My own little tweak to this popular recipe is to occasionally add a little fruit to the batter. They are best served straight out of the waffle iron, although they hold up well to freezing and reheating. They are lovely topped with a pat of butter and drizzled with maple syrup. But I personally prefer mine with jam, especially the soft set kind that Christine Ferber is adored for. Sometimes I serve these waffles with a quick blueberry compote and some whipped cream. T gets his served with the faintest drizzle of maple syrup or topped with homemade apple puree. He also enjoys them neat. My unhealthy husband likes to slather his with whipped cream and maple syrup. And recently, he’s whipped up a batch of peanut butter caramel which he likes to dollop on the waffles with great glee. For dessert, whipped cream, homemade vanilla ice cream, lashings of David Lebovitz’s CBS (caramel beurre sale) and chocolate fudge sauces from The Perfect Scoop and a sprinkle of toasted almond flakes do make these waffles ludicrously good.
P.S. The 30-minute wait for the batter to do its thing was the perfect interval for me to give T his bath. Thereafter, he ate almost an entire cinnamon-banana waffle, which I hope means that he’s on the road to recovery. I usually have half or two-thirds of a waffle at most.
P.P.S. If you’re searching for a whole-wheat waffle recipe, do check out our contributor, Dawn’s awesome recipe!
Waffles of Insane Greatness
Adapted from Molly Wizenberg’s blog, Orangette. These waffles are great as they are. But if you wish to add some fruit, I have included apple and banana waffle options which are highlighted in red. I’ve also read that cooked bacon bits are lovely sprinkled into the batter.
Makes 3 waffles on the Waring Pro
105g (¾ cup) all-purpose flour
30g (¼ cup) cornflour/corn starch (not cornmeal)
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine sea salt
1½ tsp sugar
(Optional) For apple waffles: ¼ tsp ground cinnamon; ¼ tsp ground ginger; ⅛ tsp allspice
(Optional) For banana waffles: ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
120ml (½ cup) whole milk
120ml (½ cup) buttermilk
80ml (⅓ cup) vegetable oil (I use coconut)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
(Optional) For apple waffles: ½ apple, grated
(Optional) For banana waffles: 2-3 small bananas (between 85-130g), peeled and roughly mashed
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and any spice you may be using. Whisk to mix well.
Add the milk, buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Whisk to blend well so that few (if any) lumps remain. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat your waffle iron. We usually leave ours at its maximum setting. It’s useful to grease the waffle maker just for the first waffle. If you’re adding fruit to the batter, do so at this point, just before you use the batter. Gently stir to ensure that you get some fruit into each portion of batter. Pour the appropriate amount of batter into the hot waffle iron (ours comes with a measuring cup). Cook until golden and crisp.
About Su-Lyn Tan
Su-Lyn is Aun's better half and for many years, the secret Editor behind this blog known to readers simply as S. Su-Lyn is an obsessive cook and critical eater whose two favourite pastimes are spending time with her three kids and spending time in the kitchen. She looks forward to combining the two in the years to come.
Dear S
Reading this post makes me laugh and I don’t mean that in a cruel way. A few months back, my own little one, IG,had a nasty cough…a cough that requires a neubiliser to open up his airway. Add a runny nose and you have a sick baby who couldn’t even nurse properly,let alone eat his solids. I wish I had read your post then… Even if I could not offer him a hot waffle then to soothe him, at least your writing could have brought me comfort and some laughs on those sleepless nights. I’m off to buy a waffle machine to whip up a batch of these waffles! With a name like that, both the little and the big boy will be insanely happy!
P.S here’s wishing you and your cute family the best of health always!
Dear Ade, Thanks for stopping by and thank you for the good wishes. I’ve watched and read a whole range of bizarre things on the Internet because of sleepless nights 🙂 It’s always nice to know that you’re not alone, though. I love visiting moms’ blogs. T needed a nebulizer a month ago, too. Real traumatizing for mommy. I hope your little one remains happy and healthy, too!
Hi S,
Great writing and great recipe! I especially like this line – Our life is currently insanely great and greatly insane. This about sums up parenthood for those in the know 😉 Wish my 2-yo has the temperament of your son though.
I’m gonna dust off my waffle iron and try out this recipe. Always happy to find recipes suitable for toddlers. Thank you and please keep them coming!
Hi Charissa,
Thanks 🙂 It feels like as T gets closer to his second birthday, he’s developing stronger opinions and becoming a whole lot more demanding. He is definitely no angel!
I hope your 2 year-old enjoys these waffles.
S
Hi S,
i got so inspired to try out your recipe and hoped onto Amazon and got myself a waring pro waffle machine. But sadly I have blowed out my home’s circuit breaker once and melted 3 transformers.
I was wondering if you got your machine locally or from overseas like me. If you did get if from the States are you coupling your machine with a transformer?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Clara
Dear Clara,
Oh dear 🙁 I bought our Waring Pro waffle machine from Sia Huat (it’s now available at Tott). We’ve melted a couple of transformers ourselves, too. We’ve not had much success with them and have had to give away some appliances as a result of that.
Hi Clara,
I really do hope you read this although I understand that this post was written a year ago!!! I just got myself into the same situation as you and am feeling so upset right now.
May I know if u managed to solve your problem with the transformers?
I look forward to your reply.
Regards,
Felicia
I have the Waring Pro waffle maker from Sia Huat too. Used to have waffle parties with it. Now, less than 10 parties later, the machine no longer works. Bad investment. 🙁
Oh dear 🙁 We’ve had ours for five years and use it on a weekly or fortnightly basis. It hasn’t failed us yet. Have you tried to get it fixed?
Hi S
I’m dying to buy a good waffles maker and try out your recipe, after reading this post! You mentioned that you had your waffle maker for five years – is this the Waring Pro and is this the one that you mentioned that you had bought from Sia Huat? Which model and how much was it?
Also, does this particular model blow out your transformers? (You mentioned this; were you referring to this model of waffle maker or some other appliance?)
Thanks so much for your help.
JK
Hi JK
Thank you for your email. Yes, we’ve had the Waring Pro for five years or more now. We bought it from Sia Huat and you can get it from ToTT now. It’s a single waffle maker. I don’t think the model we have is still in production. They’ve released newer models since. They go for close to $300 but are worth the investment since they last a long time. Because we bought it at Sia Huat, there was no need for transformers and it didn’t blow up 🙂 I was just advising against buying one online to save money and then having to use a transformer because it’s designed for US use. In our experience, even with transformers, it’s hard to make appliances that have heating elements work well.
I received my Waring waffle maker today and tried this recipe – it’s awesome! Thank you! Now, I just need to make, erm, 12 more waffles to pay for the machine 😉
Hi, I’ve tried this recipe today and mine didn’t come out as crispy. The colour of the waffles is not even too (spots). Do you know what caused this? Am i undermixing it? I’m using Waring maker too and I’ve set the temperature to 6 which is the highest.
I have really good experiences with the Waring Belgian waffle maker. I got the double version since I have 3 kids. Best investment I had ever made.
Dear Lin, Sorry for the delayed response. Did you pre-heat the waffle iron before you made your first waffle? I also try to ensure that the iron returns to the optimum temperature before I make each subsequent one. It’s the cornflour that makes them super crispy. Greasing the iron with a little melted butter also helps even browning.
How much did you purchase the waffle maker from sia huat? I am interested in getting one as well after reading the reviews as well as your blog post!
hi Wei Cheng, we bought it so many years ago that I’ve forgotten. You can check out the ToTT website. But it seems that they now only sell the double waffle maker. Frankly, there are many more waffle iron options these days