Waffles!

If there is one food that the whole house gets excited for, it's waffles!

Years ago Mark and I were inspired by Alton Brown of  Food Network's "Good Eats" fame to purchase a waffle iron. As Mr. Brown suggested we got a simple inexpensive model like this one. The first batch we made was this recipe from Good Eats. The waffles were good but not as light and crispy as we had hoped for. A quick internet search by Mark revealed that the secret to truly crispy waffles was corn starch. He found this recipe which I adapted and used to make this mornings waffles.

The recipe below is a doubled version and will make about 8. The waffles freeze nicely. Mark toasts the frozen waffles for a few minutes until they are warmed through and serves them on school/work day mornings. Beats the pants off store bought waffles any day!

To make you need:

1.5 Cups Flour (Whole Wheat or White Whole Wheat are especially good)
1/2 Cups Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder (There are recipes that use yeast instead of chemical leavening but they require more advanced planning than waking up and deciding to make waffles)
2 Cups milk
2 Lemons worth of Zest and Juice
3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs (separated)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Cup Turbinado Sugar
2 Tablespoons Sugar

1. Zest two lemons into a 4 cup measuring cup or a medium bowl. 
2. Squeeze lemon juice from both lemons into the same cup/bowl.
3. Add milk to lemon juice and set aside. (This is a substitute for buttermilk that I like more than using buttermilk itself. I always have milk and usually have lemons. I never have buttermilk.)
4. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, salt,  baking powder, baking soda and turbinado sugar in a large bowl. Set aside. 
5. Separate the eggs. Yolks can go directly into the milk/lemon mixture. Whites go in a separate bowl.
6. Add oil to the milk, yolk mixture and whisk to combine.
7. Pour step 6 mixture into step 4 mixture and whisk to combine.
8. Whip the egg whites that you separated into their own bowl in step 5 until frothy. Add the 2 Tablespoons of (plain) sugar and whip until soft peaks form. Sometimes I do this by hand just to prove that I can do it. Other times I am more reasonable and use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment.
9. Fold whipped egg whites gently into batter, set aside.
10. Pre-heat your waffle maker according to manufacturers instructions. 
11. For my waffle maker I can fit about 6 oz of batter per waffle without it exploding out the side. Cook waffles for about 3 or so minutes until the steam stops and the waffle is golden brown. Trial and error is the only way I know of to come up with the right amount of both bater and time. As I have discovered, steam and smoke can look surprisingly similar.
12. Do let your waffle maker return to temperature between waffles. A hot iron will lead to better texture. 
13. Waffles for a crowd can be kept warm in a 200 F oven.
14. Waffles are especially good with the best syrup ever.

Enjoy!