Foodie Friday (+1) - And in the morning... I'm making WAFFLES!

If you noticed my Twitter last week, I happily tweeted (twitted? twatted? w/e) that I made waffles for the first time! And no one died! That's what makes it a real accomplishment.

For some reason, I'm always nervous when I try to make something for the first time, it scares me. I don't like to fail (which makes the whole point of this blog rather ironic), so I tend to put it off. Breakfast foods are even more intimidating for some reason - probably because we (The Hubs and I) aren't big breakfast people. BUT I had a ton of blueberries to use up from our failed July 4th breakfast plans, and The Hubs doesn't like eggs so I needed a way to use them up in a way he'd eat them. (In his defense, though, he offered to just eat bacon and sausage for breakfast. *rolls eyes*)

I searched on the Big Oven app I have on my iPhone (it's a 3GS, don't get too jealous), and found a basic waffle recipe that seemed relatively easy. I busted out the waffle iron we received as a wedding gift *cough3yearsagocough*, and got to mixin'. The waffle iron we have is a Cuisinart, and it made the waffle timing stupidity-proof - which means I even figured it out! xD (There's a light that switches from orange when cooking to green when done... I'd let it sit an extra minute to help crisp up the waffles after the green came on.)

The recipe (courtesy of princessfiona on Big Oven.com)
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, well-beaten
• 1/2 stick butter unsalted, melted (add more for a crispier waffle - I didn't do this, but I might next time!)
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the waffle iron until it's good and hot.
2. Whisk together the DRY ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the WET ingredients in a separate bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients into the well. Whisk gently... the batter should have a pebbly look when mixed. 
3. At this point, you can add a 1/2 cup of anything you'd like. (I added fresh farmer's market blueberries!)
4. Add about 1/2 cup of batter to the hot iron, close the lid and DO NOT OPEN until the steam has almost stopped (or your light switches to green xD). If not serving immediately, keep warm in a 200-degree F oven. 

 The waffle-cooking line! Whooo!

What I learned:

• I'm going to add a little more than a 1/2 cup of blueberries, or try adding the blueberries to each serving individually, next time. Might even mottle them a bit first, to get more blueberry goodness! I might also add a little vanilla extract next time - I think it'd add a little richness.
•  Try to keep the batter to the middle as much as you can. If they go too much to the left or right, they ooze over. Not that it's a big deal, but it gets messy.
• Oh, and I'm going to try cooking spray next time - these suckers stick like whoa, even when cooked and crispy! I had to pop them off with a spatula, haha.
• These are very tasty, but not very sweet. A great transport for maple syrup - unless you don't like maple syrup, like me. xD Still liked them, though!
• Don't stack them on top of each other while waiting to serve them - they get soggy. Eh heh. (I learn these things for you! So you don't make the screwups I make! Eh heh, yeah, that's the ticket...)
• These freeze BEAUTIFULLY. I layered wax paper between each one in a big ziploc bag, and to use them in my toaster, I just cut 'em in half and pop 'em in. Quick, tasty breakfast! LOVE IT. 

To eat them, we cooked bacon on the Foreman (which makes me feel like a dork (or Michael Scott), but whatever, it worked) and buttered them up. We didn't have maple syrup, but now we have a reason to buy some - 'cuz I can make waffles! WHOOOO!