Waffles

Making waffles has become a weekend tradition for us. I will make a whole batch and then freeze the leftovers for breakfasts during the week. We usually heat them up in our toaster oven but you can also thaw them out in the microwave and then briefly put them back on the waffle iron to re crisp and they taste like they were just made. I recently made a few small changes to the recipe that I usually use and it made them even lighter and crispier than before. This recipe is very versatile for the flours you use. As long as the total is 2 cups you can mix and match with whatever you have on hand (white flour, whole wheat, buckwheat, flax, cornmeal, oat bran... you get the picture). I think the combination below that I have come up with is a winner!

Whole Grain Waffles (makes about 4 waffles in our Belgian waffle maker)

1 cup spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tbs oil or melted butter (I used hazelnut oil)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients together whisking to combine. In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients. Heat the waffle maker while combining the wet and dry ingredients together. Let the batter sit while the waffle maker heats up, to give the dry ingredients a chance to absorb the liquid. Grease your waffle maker as needed and put about 1/2 of a cup of batter onto the waffle maker (depending on how big it is you may need less or more). For those waffles you plan on freezing I leave them a little bit on the light side (since they will be reheated/ cooked again) and I also immediately cool them off on a rack (as opposed to keeping them warm, causing them to slightly dry out).