Waffles - Mom

Most weekends had a pancake day but occasionally my Dad's persistent requesting would pay off and we'd have waffles.  Mom hated making them, absolutely hated it.  I tried making waffles once when I was young (sharing my Dad's love of them) and it was a disaster.  I can't remember what the reasoning was, whether it was my inexperience in the kitchen at the time or just Mom not wanting me to make so much of a mess so early in the morning but I made pancake batter and used it in the waffle iron.  It might have worked but I think I opened the waffle iron too early and half of the waffles stuck to one plate and half on the other, and I couldn't scrape them out in big pieces.  I don't remember if I got yelled at but I was told to get the pancake griddle out and make pancakes then spent the morning after breakfast scraping out the waffle iron.  I didn't try again.

A few years ago, Mom's seriously cool industrial-esque vintage waffle iron with its heavy metal plates finally broke.  It did nearly 30 years of service in our family and it was an ancient hand me down inherited by Mom from one of Grandma Ross' friends who was moving.  Mom rejoiced when it broke thinking she would never have to make them again and Dad insisted on buying a new one.

I don't have a waffle iron so I've been waiting to get my hands on a waffle iron to add them to the blog.  I can understand why Mom hated making them, whisking egg whites before breakfast is asking a bit much of anyone, and the old waffle iron only did two waffles at a time so they used to take forever, the new iron now makes four waffles so there's some improvement to the process.

Waffles
Separate the eggs and whisk up to firm peaks
2 egg whites

In your big mixing bowl mix together
1 1/4 cups milk
4 tbsp veg oil
2 egg yolks

Sift into the wet ingredients
1 1/4 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until smooth then fold in the egg whites.

Follow the directions for your waffle iron and cook until golden. 
While these stuck to the upper plate, at least they didn't rip in half!

And a double batch of batter made a big plate of waffles for the whole crew!

Breakfast is served and my nephew Parker pronounced them "Num" on the first bite.

Pancakes - Mom

I thought it was necessary to have a good start to the week today, so even though it breaks with the tradition of pancakes on Saturday, I decided to make pancakes for breakfast on Monday.  I have never really understood why people buy pancake mix, you’re just paying way over the odds for flour, baking powder, and sugar, you still have to add your own eggs, oil and milk, and you get miserable pancakes out of the endeavour, what is the point?
 
Mom’s pancakes were fluffy beyond belief and perfectly balanced at that tipping point of being barely sweet enough to eat plain but made infinitely better by a sugar laden topping that somehow did not make them too sweet to eat.  And this may be the only time she ever made notes beside the recipe of her changes (thank-you Mommy).  I know most Canadians eat their pancakes with syrup, we didn’t because Mom had a brief stint as an apiarist when we were young so we had gallons of clover honey from her bees to eat on our pancakes we also extended the toppings on offer to jam and Dad’s ever present peanut butter.
 
Pancakes
   please note:  either use sugar in the dry ingredients or honey in the wet ingredients - not both
Pre-heat a non-stick pan or electric griddle to medium-high heat, if you don't have non-stick use a regular pan but be sure to lightly oil it before and between cooking batches.
 
In a large bowl, preferably one with a handle and pouring spout mix your dry ingredients together
1 1/2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder (it's the baking powder that makes them fluffy)
1/2 tsp salt
     (and if you're not putting honey in your wet ingredients)
  4 tbsp sugar
 
In another bowl mix your wet ingredients
1 egg (beat well)
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
     (and if you didn't use sugar in the dry ingredients)
  4 tbsp honey, preferably clover honey
 
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients, mix together until just incorporated, it's okay to have some lumps on the batter, it's not okay to over mix the batter which will toughen the pancakes.
 
To test if the pan or griddle is hot enough to cook the pancakes, run a bit of water from the tap over your fingers and flick the drops of water onto the pan, they should dance and evaporate immediately.
 
Pour batter onto the hot pan or griddle into approx 10 cm / 4 inch circles, they will spread out a bit more, if your pan isn't big enough to accommodate make them smaller.  Wait until they are golden on the under-surface and the top has bubbles that stay open when they pop around the edges but still close when they pop in the middle.

 
You only get one flip, once you've broken the seal between the batter and the pan you can't go back, a little peek at the edge is fine if you're not sure it's browned by the time the bubbles stay open but try not to disturb it otherwise.  Also, don't use the spatula to push down on the pancake after flipping while it's cooking, I know it's tempting when the pancake gets a puffy spot and you want the pancake to be perfectly level, but what you're doing is mashing the almost baked batter inside the pancake and creating a tough spot in the finished pancake.  The puffy spot is only a temporary steam pocket and it will deflate itself after you take it off the heat, I promise, and you will have an evenly risen pancake.
 
Mmmm, pancakes with jam, a good start to the week.

 

One last thing, Mom's notes also state to Double the recipe, with two adults and three growing children it doesn't really serve enough for a greedy family, and expect people to be greedy once they get a taste.  

 

Since my household isn't nearly that big, I'll be eating the leftovers for breakfast again tomorrow and given that it's valentines day tomorrow, I had a bit of fun.

Heartcakes with my pink Italian honey made by bees that got to live in a strawberry field.