Weeks ago, our college girl was talking to me on the phone. We chatted about the upcoming holidays. “Hey, Mom, can I have a slumber party for all the girls from our congregation while I’m home?”
“Uh, what age range?”
“I was thinking six years old to college age.”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
So it was that we found ourselves last night and this morning with 18 females in the house, besides me. We temporarily shipped the two Adolescent Male Offspring to another house so as not to have to deal with any volatile mix of estrogen and testosterone. I had always thought 15 souls was probably about the limit of how many could sleep in our house, but it turns out we can accommodate a few more if they are short enough. It was great, really. The Husband and I slept all night, and the girls did not. There was no hysterics or homesickness or even extraordinarily loud shrieking, although giggling we had in abundance. These girls are polite, obedient, and fun. I was so glad they came that I felt privileged to feed them a triple recipe of these waffles for breakfast, along with rashers of bacon and gallons of milk. Don’t let anybody tell you girls don’t eat much.
Make these soon. They stir up quickly, and in the morning you’ll feel so luxurious coming into the kitchen to the yeasty smell of the batter waiting to be transformed into breakfast. If you don’t have a waffle iron, I don’t see why these wouldn’t make delicious thin pancakes.
Marion Cunningham’s Raised Waffles
makes 8 waffles (makes more for me, probably 12)
½ c. warm water
1 pkg. (scant 1 T.) dry yeast
2 c. milk, warmed
½ c. butter, melted
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 eggs
¼ t. baking soda
Use a large mixing bowl – the batter will double in volume during its overnight rising. Put the water in the large bowl and sprinkle the surface with the yeast. Let stand five minutes or so.
Add the milk, butter, salt, sugar, and flour to the yeast mixture and beat until smooth and blended. (I use my grandmother’s rotary beater to do this, but a whisk is fine.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.
Just before you are ready to cook, beat in the eggs, add the soda, and stir until well mixed. The batter will be very thin. Pour ½ — ¾ c. batter into a very hot waffle iron. Bake until the waffles are golden and crisp. Serve with butter and syrup or homemade applesauce.
The batter will keep very well for several days in the fridge, so says Mrs. Cunningham, but I’ve never had any left. I just make up the waffles and refrigerate any leftovers. We pop them in and out of the toaster on another morning.
Now get up and go cook something good.
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