Basic Buttermilk Waffles & Maple Syrup

After many, many weekends away, Shaun and I woke up on Saturday with nothing to do and nowhere to go. While I do make a mean scrambled egg, I decided to test my skills on a new recipe for this lazy Saturday.

Enter your basic buttermilk waffles. You'd be very surprised to know how challenging it is to find a simple, straightforward recipe for this classic dish. For the classics, there are few that I would consult. Betty Crocker, my mom, my grandmother's scraps-of-paper-recently-turned-recipe-book, The Joy of Cooking...and in this case, Alton Brown. With his signature obsessive recipe making of the mad scientist variety, it seems as though he knows that he's talking about.

Basic Buttermilk Waffles & Maple Syrup
*Adapted from Alton Brown
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp sugar
3 eggs, beaten
2 oz butter, melted
2 C buttermilk* (and if you don't have any, find out how to make your own, below)
Vegetable spray, for waffle iron
Maple syrup (the real, Vermont kind)

Preheat your waffle iron. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and melted butter. Add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until combined, but do not overmix. You'll have a few lumps in your batter. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Spray the hot waffle iron with vegetable spray and add the batter. Do not overload the batter, or you'll end up with a giant mess, like I did.

Since my waffle iron makes one lonely waffle at a time, I kept them warm on a sheet pan in a warm oven set to 200 degrees.

*Make your own buttermilk: If you wake up with the urge to make hearty buttermilk waffles, but don't have that one elusive ingredient, try making it yourself. Mix 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Let sit for about 10 minutes while it curdles and then use in recipe. I doubled mine and put it together in a large measuring cup for easy access.

And while we were at it, we decided to have breakfast on the terrace, the latest place to get a makeover at the Humiston house.

So there you have it. A basic and easy waffle recipe that can easily be jazzed up with some blueberries, strawberries or even some nutella and powdered sugar thrown on top. Since my strawberries that I'd been saving all week turned out to be covered in mold, we went au naturale. So what do you think? Do you do waffles for breakfast? Have you ever made your own? From a mix? Or are you a fan of the Eggo?

Dutch Pancakes at Linda's Pancakes

During our recent family trip to Aruba (where we celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary), indulgent foods were not in short supply, whether surf and turf at Madame Janette's or decadent, buttercreamy red velvet cake at Moka's. Oh and did I mention the gooey, cheesy bagel sandwiches at Dushi Bagel? Well today I'm adding another to the list. Its Linda's Pancakes, an outdoor eatery off of Palm Beach serving up pancakes of the Dutch variety. And since it's no secret that I'm a serious sucker for a good pancake, imagine my excitement over a full dinner plate sized super thin pancake that wasn't quite a crepe yet not quite the thick, fluffy American-style concoction that we've all come to know and love. Color me intrigued. With a multitude of options and one looking better than the next, I opted for a sweet and savory combination of brie, honey and walnuts atop a giant flapjack.

I know, brie? on a pancake? And the answer is yes, a million times yes! The creamy, salty nature of the brie drizzled with sweet honey and a bit of crunch with walnuts baked right into the pancake made this one dish that I was happy to try...and subsequently devour.

But if cheese and syrup just aren't your thing (did I mention that in addition to the honey I felt it compeltely necessary to add sugary sweet pancake syrup on top?), there were a boatload of other option, both sweet, savory and everything in between. Take, for example, this pineapple pancake served with a hefty coating of powdered sugar and a shot of rum. It's the island life after all!

If rum and breakfast just scream ick, Linda's also offers traditional, plain jane pancakes or dressed up fruit pancakes like this pineapple and strawberry covered version.

And while the brie-honey-walnut version was divine, I have to take a moment for Kim's bacon and apple pancake. While it looks simple, the apple slices and bacon pieces were baked right into the pancake itself, taking that whole sweet and savory thing to a new level. Oh, and I should tell you that I've never had a better helping of bacon as the crispy yet perfectly greasy version that was being stored inside.

So there it is...yet another breakfast option on my favorite island. I swear I don't eat like this when not vacationing...

Dushi Bagels of Aruba

One of my favorite places to eat in Aruba is Dushi Bagels/Charlie's Grill, a sweet little spot in front of the Playa Linda on Palm Beach. The outdoor eatery is famous for not only the Dushi Bagel breakfast (perfect for morning fare), but also their Charlie's Grill burgers (holding it down for the lunchtime crowd). Gotta love a spot that multi-tasks.

Though I touched on my favorite Aruban breakfasts after last year's trip, I unfortunately didn't snap a photo to capture the serious yumminess of the Dushi Bagel. While they aren't quite New York bagels (but what is?), they are pretty darn close and still way ahead of the frozen/Lender's bagel movement. Loaded with scrambly fried eggs, slices of ham and stringy cheese of the seemingly Swiss variety (what kind precisely, I haven't quite figured out yet), this bagel sandwich is the perfect way to start the morning, especially after a jog in the extreme Aruban heat.

And if that mouthwatering photo isn't enough to get you going, check out their serious cheeseburger lunch, served complete with French fries on a wooden board. Talk about making a $9 lunch feel super special and decadent to boot.

So there you have it. A quick round-up of my favorite breakfast and lunch spot, Aruba-style. Just pass the coffee with evaporated milk, and I'm set to tackle any day...if only this were acceptable on a daily basis here back in the States...