Waffles

As with my new crock pot, I decided this week to give my new waffle maker a try. Overall, I was satisfied with the results and the waffles tasted light and fluffy, though I still need to work on figuring out the right amount of batter per batch. These waffles can be topped with fresh berries if desired, or just good ol' maple syrup, which is what I used.

Waffles
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse's "There's a Chef in My Family" 
2-4 servings (depending on how many waffles people want)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.

2. Separate eggs. There are three ways to do this, all require extreme gentleness, as you do not want to get any yolk mixed in with the whites. First, you can gently crack the egg along the side and over a clean bowl gently transfer the yolk between both egg shell halves until the white is completely separated and in the bowl below. Second, you can again gently crack the egg along the side and over a clean bowl gently transfer the egg to your hand, with fingers slightly separated, allowing the white to fall between them into the bowl while still holding onto the yolk without breaking it - the key is not to break the yolk. Or third, you can gently crack the egg along the side and open into a special store bought egg separator - my mother has one of these at home, but I find it to be more of a hassle than it's worth. I usually do a combination of options one and two. With each egg make sure to crack it over a new bowl and later combine the whites, since you don't want the possibility of the second egg yolk breaking and contaminating all the whites below. I would offer some helpful photos, but as I work alone in the kitchen and only have two hands, you'll have to make due with this tutorial video from Good Housekeeping.

3. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, until the sugar is completely dissolved in the yolks.

4. Add the milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract to the egg yolk mixture and whisk to combine.

5. Add the egg yolk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk just until blended. Do not overmix!

6. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks begin to form.

7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the waffle batter. Do not overmix! For more on folding, see this helpful demo (plus bonus recipe!).

 8. Preheat waffle iron and coat with cooking spray. My waffle iron heats up in roughly 1-2 minutes, but if yours takes longer, preheat it earlier in the recipe.

9. Once waffle iron is heated, pour enough batter in the iron to just cover waffle grids. As this was my first time using this particular waffle iron, I had a bit of trouble gauging how much batter to use...

Hello overflow!

10. Close waffle iron and cook until golden brown, roughly 2-4 minutes, depending on your waffle iron. Repeat cooking with remaining batter. You also might need to spray the waffle iron between batches with cooking spray to prevent the waffles from sticking.

11. Enjoy!

Nutritional Info per Serving (I got 4 double waffles out of this batter and had 2 double waffles for a serving, so this batch made 2 servings of waffles):
Calories 470; Total Fat 17g; Cholesterol 251mg; Sodium 697mg; Total Carbs 59g; Protein 18g