Waffles with maple syrup

Waffles with maple syrup are great for breakfast. You use the same ingredients as you do for pancakes, except you separate the eggs and add beaten egg whites in the final stage of mixing. As a result they are much lighter than pancakes, which I find, tend to be a little bit heavy, leaving you feeling like you’ve overindulged.

The search for the perfect waffle recipe hasn’t been easy. The first attempt really just consisted of making a pancake batter and cooking them in a waffle iron. There’s an overwhelming supply of recipes out there that point you in this direction. But they resulted in square, latticed pancakes that didn’t give the lightness nor crunch of a waffle. Then we cottoned on to the idea of separating the egg and adding the beaten egg white last. We had varying success.  It wasn’t perfect, but there was a definite improvement in the texture. We were on the right track. The problem now was adjusting the batter so it didn’t have too much sugar, or vanilla or a whole lot of egg whites. So paring it all down we came up with the recipe below and it worked a treat. I wouldn’t ordinarily add salt to the mixture, but without it, the waffles were fairly tasteless. A quarter of a teaspoon of salt was just what they needed.

Unfortunately, to make waffles you need a waffle iron – an extra piece of kitchen equipment that may end up at the back of the cupboard.  There is a vast selection of electric ones out there if that’s what you want. Not only do they cost a lot,  but a whole lot of storage space is required when its not in use. After looking far and wide, we came across a nonstick, stove top version for $20 from the local kitchen supply store. Perfect. It took a little while to get used to using it, especially as you can’t see what’s happening inside. After much experimenting, we discovered that 1-2 minutes on each side on a low – medium heat, cooked the waffles perfectly. Timing is something you may have to play with until you discover how long it takes using the waffle iron you have. But it’s definitely worth the effort.

The recipe below makes around 14 waffles (depending on how many you need to experiment with to get the cooking just right). Don’t be tempted to alter the quantities if you don’t need that much. We have discovered they are great to freeze. All you have to do is cook all the mixture, leave the waffles to cool on a cake rack, thenplace them in a ziplock bag and pop them in the freezer. When you want waffles for breakfast just pop them in the toaster and heat them up. We usually use the defrost setting and then cook them lightly. Woohoo – better than toast!!

• 250 g plain flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 60g butter
• 2 large eggs (700g size)
• 1  1/2 cups milk

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Melt butter.

Separate eggs. Combine egg yolks and milk  and mix together. Add egg yolk / milk mixture; and melted butter to dry ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Beat eggs whites so they are firm but not too stiff. Fold in egg whites being careful not to over beat the mixture. The batter should be light and fluffy.

Lightly grease and heat a waffle iron and place dollops of mixture in the centre of each square. The mixture will spread out when you close the lid. Cook for approximately 1 -2 minutes on each side or until crispy and brown.

Serve with fresh fruit and maple syrup.