for better or for worse, i seem to have a penchant for innovation, by which i mean, making things difficult for myself. take these crispy waffles for example: i didn’t want to use standard waffles ingredients, such as buttermilk (because seriously, when have you ever had this in your fridge when you needed it?!), or standard techniques, like folding in whipped egg whites (because dragging out the mixer for breakfast is just too much sometimes).
with those requirements somewhat arbitrarily but very firmly in place, i set about trying to find my perfect crispy lazy waffle recipe. aaaaand ate a bunch of really mediocre waffles in the process. fortunately, i also learned some things (and realistically, how bad could a food dipped in maple syrup actually be??).
one of the things i learned, first from cook’s illustrated but then borne out in my own trials, was the waffles made with oil are better than waffles made with butter. it sounds like crazy talk, until we consider that butter contains water while oil does not, and water makes for squidgy waffle insides. i even tried browning butter for one round of testing, as that would reduce the moisture content, but those waffles weren’t as good as the (much easier) oil version.
another thing that i learned was that the waffle iron you’re using matters, as does the temperature you have it set at. much in the way that i am slowly becoming convinced that nothing good will ever come out of my slow cooker, if you have a really poorly designed waffle machine, your waffles are going to suffer. i generally like my machine (this one, using these removable (washable!) waffle plates) because it’s so easy to clean but did notice that there is one spot where the waffles don’t tend to get as golden and crispy each time.
as for temperature, i was fortunate to be able to chat with a professional chef as i was developing this recipe and was lamenting that all of my waffle insides thus far had been soggy. he suggested turning down the heat a bit, so that the insides could cook all the way through before the outsides darkened too much. this simple step definitely improved the end result.
finally, i didn’t mention it before but there was one requirement that i ultimately had to let go of. i really wanted to make blueberry waffles but, alas, even once i developed a recipe that worked well for plain waffles, it just didn’t translate to amazing blueberry waffles. the added moisture (even using small wild blueberries!) prevented the waffles from ever crisping up. in the end, i decided i would rather top plain, crispy waffles with blueberries than eat blueberry filled sponges. the silver lining, of course, is that then you can use any fruit you want without having to worry how it might impact the recipe and final product.
and in the end, that was really all i wanted: delicious waffles without a lot of fuss over equipment or ingredients that are so. far. away. (aka at the grocery store, not in your refrigerator). and now, if you’ll excuse me, i have a waffle iron to go clean…
crispy lazy waffles
Save to BigOven Ingredients
- 90 g. (3/4 cups / 3 1/8 oz.) all purpose flour
- 28 g. (1/4 cup / 1 oz.) corn starch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 227 g. (1 cup / 8 oz.) light sour cream
- 1/3 cup (2 5/8 oz. / 79 ml) extra light olive oil or vegetable oil, see notes
- 1 egg
- 1 packed tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- fruit, maple syrup, etc. for serving
Instructions
- in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, and baking soda. add the sour cream, oil, egg, sugar, and vanilla. whisk until everything is well combined (but don’t overbeat once it’s combined). the batter will be very thick. leave the batter to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- preheat your waffle iron, perhaps to a setting slightly lower than directed by your machine’s instructions (mine calls for cooking the waffles at 400° F but i found 350° F worked better). if you are making a large batch of waffles and want to keep them all warm, preheat the oven to 200° F.
- for an 8” square waffle maker, scoop one cup of batter onto the waffle plates (about half the batter). overfilling the waffle iron leads to dense, mushy center waffles (because the steam can’t lift the waffle if there’s nowhere for it to go) so it’s better to have a few imperfect corners/edges than to cram too much batter in.
- close the lid and don’t peek until the steam stops coming out of the waffle machine (or at least decreases significantly) and it smells like waffles. lifting the lid repeatedly lets the steam escape and we need that steam to lift the waffle so the center isn’t dense and soggy.
- when the waffle is golden brown, remove it and immediately set it on a wire rack to cool without getting soggy or place it directly on the rack of your preheated oven, if you want to keep a large batch warm. keep the waffles in a single layer so they don’t get soggy.
- serve warm with your favorite fruit, maple syrup, etc.
Notes
regarding the oil, if you’re tempted to swap in melted butter, uh, please don’t. there’s no difference in the taste and the texture definitely suffers since butter has more water than oil.
extra waffles can be frozen in an airtight container and reheated in a toaster.
adapted from aretha frankenstein’s waffles of insane greatness (how great is that name?!), found on food 52’s site.
Yum! Made these for the first time this weekend. I am so excited about the Cuisinart Griddler you recommended! It worked awesome! The waffles were crispy as hoped for. Great flavor. Next time I need to double the batch though, because we ate these up in no time.
yay! i’m so glad you loved the waffles and the griddler! and yes, a double batch is always a good idea when it comes to waffles! 🙂 thanks for letting me know how these turned out!