Dad’s Waffles

I don’t want to be one of THOSE people, so here’s the recipe condensed up front:

2c sifted flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs separated

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 c milk

1/2 c butter melted

Combine dry ingredients, combine egg yolks and milk, add flour mixture and melted butter. Beat until smooth. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

There you go!

Now the important stuff. I’ll start with general good to know info and then on to instructions.

If you have a gigantic Belgian waffle maker like mine, you’ll get 3 waffles, which break into 4 smaller waffles, so 12 total. I always double the recipe because they are delicious, they freeze and defrost well and if I’m going to go through all the trouble of making them then I’m making a lot. (It takes THREE bowls, man)

To freeze- allow to cool completely to avoid ice forming, and then freeze them in a bag or container. They microwave to hot very quickly and are good for quick breakfasts or snacks.

My dad always made waffles when we had them, perhaps because my mom classified the waffle maker as a “gadget” which meant it fell into my father’s domain. I’m sure the recipe came from a cookbook, but they’ve always been “Dad’s Waffles” to us.

Ok, you ready? You need three bowls. The biggest should be used for the milk and eggs yolks, because that’s where all the ingredients end up. The flour mixture is a smaller bowl. The egg whites need to be beat so pick a bowl with higher sides that works with your mixer. It’s really tough to whisk egg whites to foam by hand, so unless you have a lot of stamina and time, or a bionic arm, you’ll need a mixer.

Ok, now that you have chosen your bowls, it’s time to melt the butter. We don’t want to be mixing boiling hot butter into our eggs and milk, so melt it in the microwave and then set it aside to cool.

I have never a day in my life sifted flour, so while the recipe says sift, feel free to skip it. Mix up the dry ingredients and set them aside.

Now comes the fun part. Separating eggs! There exists a kitchen tool to assist with this, but I don’t have one so I do it the way I learned in Home Ec, which is to (VERY CAREFULLY) crack the egg shell in half over a bowl (the egg white bowl) and then pass the yolk back and forth between the shell halves until the whites are in the bowl, then toss the yolk into the large bowl.

It is very important that no egg yolk is mixed with the whites, or you won’t get maximum fluff, and you want fluffy waffles! If this stresses you out, use a smaller bowl to collect the white one egg at a time, and then dump into the mixing bowl. That way if you mess one up, it’s only one egg instead of the whole batch.

Ok, now we’ve got melted butter, mixed dry ingredients, one bowl with egg whites and one with yolks. Add the milk to the bowl with the yolks. I always use the higher milk amount, probably because I’m a lazy flour measure-er.

Once you’ve beaten the egg yolks into the milk, add the flour mixture half at a time, and once mixed, add the cooled melted butter.

Now plug in the waffle iron and spray or rub it with a non-stick substance like Pam or butter.

Ok, it’s time to beat egg whites! Put your mixer to high mode and beat the egg whites until they look white and foamy and have thickened. When you think they are done, beat them a little more for good measure and then put your mixer away cause we’re done with that.

Now, plop the white foam on top of your batter in the big bowl. It should slide out in one piece. DO NOT STIR. This is where “folding”, which is actually not anything like folding, comes in. Use a wooden spoon or spatula (or other longer handled spoon) to reach under the white foam and pull batter from bottom to top. Do this a few times. The egg whites will still be visible and will not be mixed in. You’re going for a marble-y, batter/egg white look. It is better to under mix than over mix. When scooping batter for a waffle, just make sure you have both batter and egg white in your cup.

These waffles fluff up quite a bit, so do not overfill your waffle iron or it will overflow all over your counter, which will not only be a gigantic mess to clean up, but also make you sad at the wasted delicious waffle batter. Leave at least an inch around the edges. For my large waffle iron it’s about a 1 1/2 c of batter per waffle. Practice makes perfect!

See, that wasn’t so bad! I didn’t even tell you about that one time…just kidding.

Enjoy Dad’s Waffles,

Nic