I <3 Raised Waffles + Oven Bacon

Holy cow am I having a sugar craving….I don’t know what it is…maybe all the fudge I ate in Colorado. I think there is probably enough fudge in Colorado alone to feed the entire world. EVERYONE sells fudge, what a wonderful place.

I’m sitting dangerously close to the kitchen where the sugary cereals reside and I’m totally jonesing for a huge bowl of honey nut toasty o’s and some ice cold milk. I figured writing a post might keep my hands occupied and prevent them from wandering into the bag of cereal.

Back to the point..this post is about raised waffles. Delicious, buttery, yeasty, light, crisp, maple syrup hoarding waffles. I know I’m probably the hundred millionth person to blog about these waffles but I have to, because, everyone should know about them and everyone should make them and maybe just maybe you hadn’t heard about them before and now you know and your life is like 150% better now that you do. (talk about a run-on sentence) So here goes.

Raised Waffles

This recipe is really nothing new. I think it was actually in the original Joy of Cooking, but until I read about it on eatmakeread I was completely ignorant to it’s existence and now I am in love. The steps and ingredients that I modified from the original recipe have been noted.

Ingredients

dry

• 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast. (If you have instant yeast go ahead and add it in with the dry ingredients and if you only have active dry yeast dissolve it in the 1/2 cup of warm water)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp baking soda

wet

• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup warm water
• 2 cups milk (I used 1%, but you can use whatever milk you like, the original recipe calls for whole milk)
• 1 stick of butter, melted

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl (emphasis on large because the yeast will cause the batter to rise) combine the flour, yeast, melted butter, sugar, salt, milk and water and, using a standing mixer or some old fashioned elbow grease, beat until smooth.
2. Cover the mixing bowl with saran wrap and let sit on your counter overnight. If you’re living in an extremely hot climate without adequate AC, say over 75 degrees F, go ahead and put it in the fridge, but otherwise the counter should be fine.

the next day

3. Pre-heat your waffle iron.
4. Beat in the eggs and baking soda.
5. Ladle batter onto your hot waffle iron and cook until lightly golden and crisp.
6. EAT! 🙂

This was the awesome, I’m guessing 70’s, waffle iron that was provided in the rental home. What I liked most about it was that it made square waffles! My waffle iron does the big round ones, which are fine, but I like square better.

Oven Bacon

This is really simple, but you have to have patience, it takes about 20 minutes. Take it from me, be patient, it’s well worth the wait.

Ingredients

• BACON!!!!

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 375.
2. Arrange bacon on a cookie sheet. It’s ok if the strips are slightly over lapping.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until desired crispiness.
4. Eat!

Bacon in action! This is a dish dubbed “The Murph Pack”. I’ll post this recipe another time.

Enjoy!

Bad day? Trust me, all you need is some waffles and a corn-bag.

Ok so here’s the low down. I leave for Joe’s Valley, Utah, in ummmmm 28 hours. I have this morning to finish up the assignments that will be due over break and what do I do? I write a new blog post. Seeing as we’re on the topic of school I got my exam results from last week! 98% on bio, and 95% on nutrition. (touchdown dance) I celebrated on Saturday with french bread pizza + Gin & soda. It felt wonderful to finally relax.

I don’t only celebrate for good days. Sometimes it can be just as satisfying to celebrate a terrible day. So bad it’s laughable. Murphy’s law to the max. It’s on those days I tend to lean towards breakfast for dinner. Nothing is quite as comforting to me as a huge plate of pancakes or hot off the griddle waffles topped with real maple syrup.

Ingredients

Adapted from Cooking Light

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon (very important, tastes amazing)
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups milk (any kind, 1%, 2%, whole if you’re feeling crazy)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp sugar (or more depending on how sweet you like your waffles)

Procedure

• Pre-heat your waffle iron.
• Combine flours, cinnamon,salt, baking powder in a large bowl. If you’ve got a sifter (which I proudly just bought!) then break it out and sift these ingredients together.
• Combine milk, oil, and egg yolks in another bowl and add to the flour mixture. You’re going to want to stir that until the bater is smooth.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer (or just a large bowl) beat the egg whites at a high speed until foamy. Then add in the sugar mixing until soft. Fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter.
• Coat the waffle iron with oil of some sort (cooking spray, butter, oil + pastry brush)
• Go ahead and spoon as much batter as it takes to cover your waffle iron and cook until the steam stops coming out.
• Top with whatever you like! I used pure maple syrup on mine.

And right before bed, there’s nothing like a cup of hot tea and a corn-bag, to set your day right.

Oh and Grandma,thanks for introducing me to the corn bag as soon as I was born. My life would truly be lacking without it.

Well that’s all I’ve got for you today. And yes, I’m supposed to be working, but since I’m at school and the boyfriend is at home I was able to sneak and finish this post before I leave for Joe’s. He’s such a slave driver. I’ll try and put up a post while I’m gone, chronicling the food and cooking adventures that are sure to be had while we’re camping for 9 days in Utah. Now, I want to end with two pictures.

1. Target has by far the WEIRDEST shopping carts.

2.Isn’t this just the cutest mug? Totally my favorite. I’ve had to fight for it on several occasions when people have tried to talk me into giving it to them. (ahem…Logan)

See you in 10 days!