Weekend Waffles

There's a weird thing that happened when I started blogging about food.  I want to spend all my time making sweet treats and left-field dishes that are blog worthy.  My desire to cook a square meal for my family becomes  less and less.  I've always preferred baking to cooking, but now whipping up a main dish and sides that aren't pretty for the blog just isn't as much fun.  One of my favorite dinners is actually breakfast.  We all love sitting down to omelets or waffles after a long day.  The thing about waffles is that are lots of 'levels' of difficulty.  On one end pop an Eggo in the toaster.  The other side of the spectrum are yeasty Belgian waffles.  I actually love all waffles, but I have 3 go-to recipes depending on the occasion.  The quickest and easiest is a mix.  Yes, I use a box occasionally.  But, I only use Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix (Nope, Krusteaz isn't paying me to say that--I just like them).  It creates a fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside waffle.  The third and most complicated is an amazing overnight rising yeast waffle.  I hate to tease you, but I'll have to save this recipe for another day.  My every day waffle is pretty simple, but dirties waayy too many bowls for my general enjoyment.  So, if you're looking to make friends this weekend, or if you're too lazy to make a 'real' dinner, give this a try this weekend.  Note, this recipe only works (as far as I know) in a Belgian waffle maker.  

Belgian Waffles
(Make 4-5 Round Waffles)

• 4 eggs (divided)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups buttermilk (or 2 cups milk and 2 Tbl lemon juice-combine and let sit for 10 minutes)
• 1/2 cup melted salted butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbl baking powder
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbl white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 
  
• Combine the egg yolks, vanilla, buttermilk and melted butter in a bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk (or sift) together the dry ingredients.  Stir the dry ingredients into the milk mixture until just combined.  In a 3rd bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold the egg whites into the batter (it's okay to see white spots here and there-don't over mix).  Cook in your waffle maker according to directions.  My machine takes 2-3 minutes per waffle.