For years, no waffle recipe out there seemed to have the perfect combination of textures and flavors I wanted: Crispy and brown on the outside. Tender on the inside. Cooks in a typical consumer waffle iron. Has enough flavor to compliment a topping besides your typically overpowering American syrup.
And I tried them all: Alton Brown’s waffles are too doughy. Emeril’s waffles are too soft and cakey. Paula Deen’s waffles are dry and nothing to write home about. Top-rated waffles on AllRecipes.com aren’t crispy or particularly flavorful. Our family recipes were hardly better than Bisquick. The last recipe I found online, a Joy of Cooking waffle recipe, was so cakey and flavorless that I finally decided to stand up and do something about it.
Credit:
- Joy of Cooking (inspiration)
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 C flour
- 1 TBS baking powder
- 2 TBS sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp ground cardamom (Tip: If this is your first date with cardamom, don’t overdo it.)
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 C milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick (1/2 C) butter, cut into chunks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation:
- Preheat waffle iron.
- Whisk together milk and eggs in a medium saucepan. Add the butter and warm over low heat just until butter is melted. This mixture should be warm, but not hot — you don’t want to cook the eggs.
- Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Add vanilla and fold milk mixture into dry ingredients with a large whisk, mixing just until combined. Don’t over-mix: a few lumps are better than over-developed gluten.
Cooking:
- Cook on waffle iron until medium-brown. A golden-brown waffle won’t be crispy on the outside.
- Makes 3 waffles in the larger Belgian waffle makers
Eating:
- Top as desired, but pouring syrup on more than a quarter or a half waffle at a time will take the crispy away.