The batter for these waffles can be made the night before, an especially good thing for brunch entertaining! I have included two fruit sauces that are delicious on waffles and we often add a few dollops of yogurt. We also like using fresh fruit maple syrup.
Make the Waffles:
2 cups sifted unbleached flour (see below)
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk, well shaken
½ cup butter, melted (see below)
Helpful tip: You can use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour & 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour.
Equipment: A Belgian waffle maker
Preheat waffle maker. Preheat a warming oven.
Sift and measure the flour; sift again with baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. In a large bowl. Beat the eggs until light and lemon coloured. Slowly mix in the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients and blend well. Mix in the melted butter. Place ¼ of the batter on the waffle maker, close and bake until lightly browned and crisp. Remove and place on a large baking pan and put in a preheated 180 F oven to keep warm while finishing the rest of the waffles. Continue baking the rest of the batter in the same way.
Helpful tip: the waffles freeze very well. Just thaw, pop in the toaster on medium heat until they crisp up.
Here are two of my favourite fruit sauces that I try and make when the fruit is in season to serve with the waffles but you can use frozen berries. Or…you can just throw some fresh, in season berries on top. I like to top off the berries with some plain Greek style yogurt. However, if I were making these for my Mom….nothing else will do but heaps of whipped cream with the berries.
Both sauces will keep, in the fridge for about 1 week. Otherwise, freeze for a later use. You can adjust the amount of sugar in the sauces to suit your taste.
Strawberry Sauce – can be made up to 4 days ahead and you can reduce the recipe by half. Make sure to use in-season, local strawberries. They simply cannot be beat for both taste and colour!
Makes 6 Cups
8 cups halved fresh or frozen strawberries
¼ cup water
1 tsp. orange peel, finely grated
1 cup sugar
½ cup corn syrup or Agave Syrup
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
In a large saucepan, bring strawberries, water and orange rind to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and orange juice, return to the boil, turn heat down a bit and continue to simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Remove from heat; place in a bowl and chill until ready to use.
Blueberry Sauce – can be made 4 days ahead and you can reduce the recipe by half.
Makes 8 Cups
8 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 ½ cups apple juice
1 Tbsp. lemon rind, finely grated
1 ¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup or Agave syrup
¼ cup lemon juice
In a large saucepan, combine blueberries, apple juice and lemon rind; cook over medium heat stirring and mashing berries a bit, leaving some whole, for about 15 minutes or until mixtures comes to a boil. Gradually stir in sugar, corn syrup and lemon juice. Return to a boil and turn heat down a bit and simmer, stirring often, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat; place in a bowl and chill until ready to use.
If the sauce is a little too thin for your liking, combine 1 Tbsp. cornstarch with 2 Tbsp. cold water, then slowly stir into the boiling sauce for a minute before removing from the heat.
Helpful link to Melting Butter in the Microwave.
