From Scratch to Scrumptious

After growing up eating Eggos, homemade waffles seemed bland. Not enough flavor and not enough sweetness. That’s why I combined my favorite pancake recipe with a standard waffle recipe to make a waffle that tastes like a dream! This recipe marries the best features of homemade and store-bought waffles!

Here’s a time-saving trick for the week: Whip up a batch ahead of time and freeze for a quick weekday breakfast. Then, reheat enough to feed your crew all at the same time!

You can imagine how painfully slow it is to wait on a toaster with five hungry kids all wanting breakfast. I pop frozen, homemade, waffles into the oven and finish getting ready while my house fills with the smells of breakfast. When they’re done, everyone can eat at the same time! (Seems like magic, doesn’t it?)

A waffle is similar to a pancake recipe except that it has more sugar to get a good caramelization on the outside for that perfectly crispy edge. It’s also a bit richer with more fat and eggs.

Flour: all-purpose flour. To properly measure flour, scoop into a measuring cup and level off the top. Alternatively, measure by weight with a kitchen scale.

Sugar: granulated sugar. The sugar caramelizes against the heat of the waffle iron to create the crispy edges that encase the fluffy center. Plus, these waffles are sweeter, closer to the flavor of store-bought.

Baking powder: levening agent that makes the waffle rise up while it’s cooking in the waffle iron. This is the magic ingredient that makes the middle fluffy.

Salt

Milk: Any type of milk works fine: whole, 2% or fat-free. Of course, the higher fat your milk, the richer your waffles will be.

Vegetable oil: I prefer to use vegetable oil instead of butter because it keeps the waffle moist. More vegetable oil in the batter also helps the edges to become crispy, kind of like frying the batter in the waffle iron.

Eggs: double the eggs of a pancake recipe

Vanilla: Flavor for your waffle to keep it from being bland!

Optional Chocolate Chips: If you want a treat, throw in a handful of mini chocolate chips!

This from-scratch recipe is simple to make. No separating eggs and beating egg whites. If something is too complicated to make, odds are, most people won’t make it, or they won’t make it more than once. I feel the same way! I don’t want any more steps than necessary!

Dry Ingredients: First, in a large, shallow bowl, whisk the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. I like to use a whisk to break up any lumps of flour that will have trouble mixing into the wet ingredients.

Wet Ingredients: Combine the wet ingredients: milk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Use a whisk here to be sure the egg is really beaten. Just like you don’t want blobs of flour, you don’t want streaks of egg!

Batter: Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Here’s where the shallow bowl really helps. Using a wooden spoon or strong whisk, stir mixture until the lumps are nearly all mixed in.

Rest: Rest the batter 5 minutes. This gives flour lumps some time to absorb the moisture. Heat up your waffle iron during the resting period. Then, give it another gentle stir with a whisk to break up the last of the lumps. Small lumps are ok.

Cook: Cook according to your waffle iron directions. I use a regular iron (not a Belgian waffle iron).

Choose a wide shallow bowl. A shallow bowl is easy to tell how much of the dry ingredients have mixed in. Extra points if the bowl is made of glass for extra visibility!

A deep bowl makes mixing hard work. It’s nearly impossible to see what’s going on in the bottom of a deep bowl. I’ve missed pockets of flour hiding beneath waffle batter plenty of times.

If possible, serve the waffles immediately as they come off the waffle iron. They’ll be the hottest, crispiest and most moist at this point.

Do not stack waffles. They’ll get soggy and floppy. Not a good look for a waffle.

If you can’t serve the waffles right away or you want to wait for everyone to sit down together, keep the waffles warm in a 200°F oven in a single layer directly on the oven racks.

The longer the waffles sit in the oven, the drier they become. I once made a double batch, one waffle at a time, and waited for everyone to sit down together. That first waffle turned into a waffle cracker. So sad.

If you want to make a massive amount of waffles and also want everyone to eat together, I recommend making the waffles in advance, freezing them and reheating them in the oven all at once. See Freezing Homemade Waffles below.

Once waffles have cooled, store in an airtight container or a storage baggie in the fridge for 1-2 days.

This really takes homemade waffles and elevates them to the convenience of store-bought waffles. I love doing this! In fact, I’ll usually make a double batch, serve the first half and freeze the rest for a weekday breakfast.

Once waffles have cooled, stack up with a sheet of waxed paper between each waffle. Store in an airtight container, storage baggie, or wrapped in aluminum foil. Freeze up to 1-2 months.

Preheat oven to 250°F. Place frozen waffles directly on oven rack and heat 10 minutes until warm.

Not only do the waffles become nice and crispy, they all come out at the same time! Try doing that with a toaster!