Light and Fluffy Waffles

this simple recipe can be a perfect go-to for consistently light and fluffy waffles or pancakes

I feel like everyone needs a couple of standby recipes they can always pull out in a pinch that never fail to be crowdpleasers. And here’s the real secret recipe - they don’t have to be fancy things. You’re probably not serving Ina Garten, and sometimes the old adage of KISS (“keep it simple, stupid”) is truly the way to go.

I’m excited to share some of my own personal go-to recipes (including my Ramen Noodle Salad, which I will link to here once I post it), and my first is a classic recipe for pancakes and waffles that will always turn out light and fluffy due to a secret ingredient — extra baking powder.

Let’s get a few quick things out of the way. First, baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable. They do almost completely opposite things. Baking powder is a leavening agent in baking; it makes things rise and puff up. Baking soda delays that process and always your ingredients to spread out more. If you’d like to read more on the science of these products I would direct you to this fantastic article . But for our purposes, just understand you can’t swap one for the other.

Second, subbing whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour in my recipe will result in denser pancakes. Whole wheat flour does not rise as fast or as much as APL. The choice is yours, but subbing it will change the “fluff” factor.

Finally, speaking of time, the more time you allow your mix to rise, the fluffier your pancakes will be. So I do recommend some “resting” time to allow the baking powder to do it’s thing, but it’s not 100% necessary if you’re on a time crunch.

Ok, let’s cook!

Special Equipment: 1 non-stick pan OR waffle maker

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 TBSP baking powder

• 2 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 egg

• 1/4 optional add-in ideas: blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas,* nuts, rainbow sprinkles (!!)

  *bananas will make your mixture much wetter, so I would recommend adding them straight on top of the pancakes once they are in the pan, and not folding them in. If you do plan to fold them in, add 3/4 cup milk instead of 1 cup.

Instructions:

1) In a mixing bowl, whisk together all your dry ingredients

2) In a separate bowl, mix together your wet ingredients

3) Slowly add your wet ingredients into the dry, then fold in any add-ins if using (see note above on bananas)

4) Place mixture in the fridge for up to an hour to allow mix to rise.

5) Pancakes: About 10 minutes before cooking, place a non-stick large pan on the stovetop at medium, and add fat of choice (I like using bacon fat!)

Waffles: About 10 minutes before cooking, turn your waffle maker to 350 on the grill setting (I use a panini press with waffle attachments) and spray attachments LIBERALLY with cooking spray, top and bottom.

6) Scoop about 1/4 cup of mix at a time into pan/waffle makers. Pancakes take about 2 minutes on each side. Waffles take about 5 minutes. Note: Don’t turn your pan/maker up too high or you’ll run the risk of burning the outside while the inside it still raw.

Serve immediately with plenty of butter and syrup.