Happy New Year!

We started the year at church, with a special Sunday brunch in the morning. My sister taught me this recipe for waffles a while back, and I've tweaked it a little here and there and added our new favorite topping to the mix. A little rich, maybe, but why not start the year with deliciousness, right? We did, after all, practically detox on all Japanese food for the following week. Japanese food is good for that.

And speaking of Japan and the New Year, one of my new year's resolutions is to be on here at least once a week. And at least one Japanese recipe a month. Hopefully more often, but gotta start somewhere when somehow I've lost some steam. I blame the pregnancy, but it's hard to use that as an excuse when I've been cooking a lot since the second trimester. Let's blame the major lack of sunlight in the Winter months instead.

I have a passion of my culture and food is so central to it. So why not explore it more and share it with you, my dear friends? So hopefully I still have supporters and followers and please continue to have faith in me. I'm back for real this time, so please frequent this humble little space on your interesting-things-online hunting from time to time.
Our favorite wafffle/pancake/french toast topping is a banana caramel sauce. I got the idea from a book I bought on clearance at TJMaxx one day--purely an impulse purchase. But not one I regret. The dark, rich caramel sauce coating each piece of banana is divine on top of a rich breakfast staple like waffles. And these oatmeal waffles are buttery and tender but crisp and that comforting oat flavor goes so well with it. So when you're feeling decadent and in need of an indulgence, have fun with this easy, probably mostly pantry ingredients waffles recipe.

Oatmeal waffles
makes about 6 large waffles, depending on the size of your waffle iron
1.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1.5 cups milk
1/2 c melted butter, cooled slightly
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla until combined.
  3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until just combined. 
  4. Preheat the oven to the lowest setting with a cooling rack resting over a baking sheet. Grease a preheated waffle iron and pour about 1/3~1/2 cup of the batter into it. Close and cook to manufacturer's directions. Place the waffle on the cooling rack in the oven to stay warm while you cook the rest.
  5. Serve with banana caramel sauce (recipe follows), lightly sweetened whipped cream (to soft peaks), your favorite jam, pure maple syrup, apple butter, or fresh fruit.
banana caramel sauce
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 bananas, peeled and sliced thick
3 tablespoons heavy cream
  1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Once melted, add the honey and sugar and stir to combine. Let the mixture simmer on medium-low until the sugar dissolves and starts to darken a little, 3~5 minutes. Add the heavy cream and bananas and stir until all of the banana slices are coated. Pour into your serving and let cool slightly before serving. (The starches from the banana will thicken the sauce as it cools so don't worry if it seems a little runny when you pour it out of the pan)

2 comments:

Nate said...

These waffles were awesome! They were the perfect wintry morning breakfast!

Nate said...

This is Emily, I think I was signed into Nathan's account when I left the comment, oops!