Fridays are “BFD” (Breakfast For Dinner) night at our house. We are all tired from the school/work week and the cupboards and fridge are often a little bare, but we can almost always put together a breakfast-style meal (and if I can pair it with a brunch cocktail like a Salty Dog, all the better). Sometimes we make french toast, pancakes or a dutch baby, but waffles are the crowd-pleaser.

My recipe for waffles is adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (I finally got a fresh copy!!) which remains my favorite resource for the basics. I use a combo of unbleached and whole wheat flours which makes for a hearty, but not heavy, waffle (whipping the egg whites separately keeps them light as well). Just slightly sweet, balanced nicely with the tang of yogurt—these are my favorite waffles. We eat our waffles with summer’s frozen berries warmed with maple syrup and some good bacon if we’re lucky.

BFD Waffles (feel free to eat them for breakfast!)
Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

Note: While I think whipping the egg whites separately does improve the texture of the waffles, when I am feeling lazy sometimes I skip this step and just add the eggs whole to the yogurt, and the results are still quite tasty.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 3/4 cup yogurt (if you are using a firm yogurt, you may want to thin it a bit with milk)
2 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled slightly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat your waffle iron.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix together the yogurt, egg yolks, butter and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Beat your egg whites with a whisk until soft peaks form (you can use a mixer for this—I always do it by hand). Fold the egg whites gently into the batter.

Oil your waffle iron and spoon the batter on to the hot griddle. The batter will be thick, but will spread when you close your iron. Cook until browned (time depends on your waffle iron). Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven. Sometimes I double a batch and freeze the leftovers between sheets of parchment and reheat them in the toaster oven.

Variations: Add a sprinkle of granola or sliced almonds (shown above) on top of the batter before you close the iron. Sometimes we also crumble bacon on the batter or add thin slices of apple or pear.

–SCB