Cooking with Dorie Greenspan's "Waffles: From Morning to Midnight"

[Chris Hennes]

Waffles: From morning to midnight

Dorie Greenspan

0-688-12609-X

also in paperback here.

 

 

Over in the Waffles! topic, @Nancy in Pátzcuaro mentioned the existence of this book, published in 1993 -- I had no idea it existed, so I didn't get a copy until last week. I'm planning on giving a few of the recipes a try this week, and I know a couple others have the book, so I figured it was worth a topic of its own.

 

Who has it, and what have you made from it?

[Chris Hennes]

Banana-Oatmeal Waffles (p. 46)

 

These are a sweet-ish breakfast waffle made with old-fashioned oats, seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, and including sliced bananas in the batter. They are not a light-and-shattering-style waffle, but are pretty substantial. I found them sweet enough in their own right to eliminate the need for syrup, though that's what Greenspan suggests as their accompaniment.

 

Exterior:

 

Interior:

[Chris Hennes]

Blueberry-Yogurt Waffles (p. 52)

 

These were not actually the original plan for dinner tonight, but there were fresh blueberries at the grocery store today, so given this week's theme it seemed appropriate. I've never tried adding blueberries to waffles before: I guess I thought the berries would be too big, and wouldn't cooperate with the iron. This turned out to be a non-issue, and in fact they worked quite well. I found the recipe to be a bit too sweet, so in the future I'd be inclined to cut the sugar in half. Also, none of her sweet waffle recipes have any salt in them, which I think is crazy, so I added a quarter tsp. 

 

 

[Anna N]

Oh oh.  I just added "find waffle iron" to my to-do list.

[Chris Hennes]

Crispy Cornmeal Waffles (p. 44)

 

I used Bob's Red Mill coarse ground cornmeal here, which gives these waffles an excellent texture. They are just barely sweetened with maple syrup (in the batter), and are topped with orange supremes in Gran Marnier. My only criticism is that I'd be inclined to make far more orange topping than the recipe calls for, probably going up to a full orange per waffle. Overall the dish was delicious, however. Note that the batter is quite thin, so you can get just about any interior texture you want based on how full you make your iron.

 

[Chris Hennes]

Scallion Waffles and Sesame Chicken Salad (p. 70)

 

Tonight for dinner I made something actually intended as a dinner food.. These are completely savory waffles with the flavor profile of scallion pancakes, more or less. They are served with a sesame-flavored chicken salad which I thought was OK, but needed something crunchy added, and probably something acidic. Obviously those are easy changes to make on the fly, so I suggest tasting your chicken salad before serving that then modifying it as needed.

 

[Chris Hennes]

Mashed Potato Waffles with Garlic-Rosemary Oil (p. 137)

 

Another savory waffle, this one reminiscent of knishes and pierogies. The seasonings are onion, olive oil, salt and pepper. Her serving suggestion was a garlic-and-rosemary-infused olive oil, which was fine but really sort of superfluous. The waffles are crisp for a few seconds right out of the iron, but that fades fast. I think they might be more interesting texturally if you added cheese to them to get those little crispy bits, then maybe some chives, and served with sour cream. 

 

[Chris Hennes]

PB&J Waffles (p. 92)

 

These are really peanut butter waffles with jelly as the topping. I think Greenspan missed an opportunity here by designing these for kids (the whole chapter is called "Just for Kids"). There's no reason an adult wouldn't like a peanut butter waffle, but they needed more crunch and more peanut flavor. The recipe calls for crunchy peanut butter and leaves it at that. My inclination would be to make them with smooth peanut butter, potentially increasing the quantity a bit, and then to fold in a large quantity of coarsely chopped roasted peanuts before baking. I think you could also cut back on the sugar and add salt (I did add salt, but could have added more). Since the outside of these waffles is not crispy, something with more texture would be nice. Then you could top them with gochujang instead of jelly  . 

 

[Chris Hennes]

Spicy Ricotta Waffles with Grilled Pepper Strips (p. 140)

 

The waffles themselves are pretty straightforward, with the addition of ricotta and copious amounts of black pepper. By themselves they actually come out tasting very eggy, which was sort of interesting since the actual amount of egg in them is no different from any other waffle in the book. The red pepper topping goes well with them, though a bit of acid would have been nice. All told I'd be inclined to serve these with a dollop of ricotta on top, and some tart tomatoes added to the red peppers layered over that.

 

[Chris Hennes]

Polenta Waffles with Creamy Goat Cheese Sauce (p. 158)

 

Despite Greenspan's comments to the contrary, I still sort of expected these to be denser than they actually turn out to be. Despite being almost entirely polenta, the little bit of flour and baking soda give enough lift and structure that they are actually very light, soft and tender. The flavor was pleasant if a bit nondescript. The goat cheese sauce is just goat cheese and milk with a little Herbes de Provence.

 

[kayb]

I give up. I ordered it.

[Chris Hennes]

Mustard Waffles with Chunky Egg Salad (p. 82)

 

These are a basic savory buttermilk waffle with added dijon mustard, black pepper, and chives. They are served with egg salad: she provides a recipe, which I more or less ignored. I did make mine with her suggested amount of mustard, but used gherkins and capers instead of red, green and yellow peppers. I ate the first waffle like a civilized human being, sitting at my table, waffle on a plate (though I ate it with my fingers, so maybe not too civilized). It was good, but not amazing. The second waffle I at as fresh as possible, peeling it off the iron, smearing it with egg salad, and eating it within seconds without giving it time to cool or soften. Excellent.

 

 

 

[MelissaH]

On 3/2/2017 at 10:15 PM, Chris Hennes said:

Mustard Waffles with Chunky Egg Salad (p. 82)

 

These are a basic savory buttermilk waffle with added dijon mustard, black pepper, and chives. They are served with egg salad: she provides a recipe, which I more or less ignored. I did make mine with her suggested amount of mustard, but used gherkins and capers instead of red, green and yellow peppers. I ate the first waffle like a civilized human being, sitting at my table, waffle on a plate (though I ate it with my fingers, so maybe not too civilized). It was good, but not amazing. The second waffle I at as fresh as possible, peeling it off the iron, smearing it with egg salad, and eating it within seconds without giving it time to cool or soften. Excellent.

When my copy of the book arrived, this was the first recipe that really jumped out to me, with the egg salad. I might need to have friends over for lunch.

[Smokeydoke]

I just noticed this thread. Everything looks great.

 

One question: are her waffles crispy? I've been on a hunt to make the perfect waffles, but I need one that will stand up to ice cream and topping and not get mushy. So far, most of the recipes I've tried taste great, but come out soft.

[Chris Hennes]

It depends on the waffle - some are crispy, some are not. And some are crispy when very fresh, but lose it quickly. For the crispest possible waffles you might take a look at Air Waffles. I've also had good luck with these yeasted waffles.

[kayb]

My copy has arrived. I'm intrigued by the basil-parmesan ricotta waffles-as-bruschetta. Also the PBJ waffles for the grandkids.

[Chris Hennes]

Cinnamon-Raisin Whole Wheat Waffles (p. 38)

 

I skipped her "Velvet Cream Cheese Spread" topping for these waffles, to their detriment I think. The waffles themselves are fine, but truth be told raisins are never going to be my favorite thing, whereas cream cheese frosting definitely makes that list. If I make these again I will definitely make her suggested topping.

 

[Smithy]

Chris, would another dried fruit work in those? I too am not crazy about raisins, but dried cherries or cranberries get fairly frequent use in our household.

[Chris Hennes]

I don't find the flavor combination of cherries or cranberries and cinnamon to be particularly appealing, so I'm not sure there's a lot of point in using this recipe as a jumping-off point.

[Anna N]

 

  All of you knew I'd eventually cave. 

 

This is the waffle from page 106. It is meant to be part of a ham and cheese waffle sandwich but I decided to forgo the ham and the whole sandwich idea.  The batter was extremely thin and I am grateful that I thought to put the waffle iron on my glass top range  as it made clean up easier.   The waffles are very light and fluffy and pleasantly cheesy. I was tempted to mess with the recipe from the get go but decided to try it as is first.  The batter made seven of this size of waffle so I will freeze the other six.

 

[blue_dolphin]

These Mustard Waffles with Chunky Egg Salad p 82 have already been reviewed above so I just posted them over in the Breakfast thread but decided to add my waffle comments here, too. 

The waffle recipe is available online at this link.

 

My yield was six 1/2 cup, 7.5 inch diameter waffles.  They softened rapidly after coming out of the waffle maker but crisped up nicely in the CSO.  I froze the leftovers and they reheat nicely.  

I ate some as open-faced egg salad sandwiches for lunch yesterday as soon as they were made.  I re-heated a few wedges for cocktail nibbles with a smear of chèvre.  I finally got around to plating more or less per the recipe with arugula (I dressed it lightly with a preserved lemon vinaigrette) and tomato for breakfast this AM.  Excellent combination.  

I'll make these again. 

 

[andiesenji]

On 3/4/2017 at 10:24 AM, Smokeydoke said:

I just noticed this thread. Everything looks great.

 

One question: are her waffles crispy? I've been on a hunt to make the perfect waffles, but I need one that will stand up to ice cream and topping and not get mushy. So far, most of the recipes I've tried taste great, but come out soft.

 

I get crisp waffles by substituting 1/4 cup of CORN STARCH for a "scant" 1/4 cup of the flour. Maybe half a tablespoon less because corn starch absorbs more liquid.  

[blue_dolphin]

Buckwheat waffles with orange marmalade butter p 58

In addition to a small portion (1/4 to 3/4 all purpose) of buckwheat flour, these also contain rolled oats, wheat germ (I subbed ground flax seeds) and walnuts so they're more of a multi-grain waffle than just buckwheat.

The header note says these are best made in a deep-grid Belgian waffler. I used the thinner one I have and got four half cup, 7.5 inch diameter round waffles from a half recipe.

They are to be served with maple syrup and an orange marmalade compound butter (1/4 cup marmalade whipped into 1 stick of butter and shaped into a log).  I substituted lemon rosemary marmalade and found it a bit soft to slice into pretty pats - I'd just pack it into a little pot - but the flavor is quite nice.  No maple syrup needed. 

 

[Chris Hennes]

Inspired by @blue_dolphin, I made the buckwheat waffles for dinner tonight. These aren't a crispy waffle, so the walnuts are an important textural component (in fact, I'd probably add more). I'm not sure it's really necessary to make a compound butter with orange marmalade, I think you could easily just serve these with butter and marmalade separately. I also found the almond extract a bit incongruous - I'd probably omit it next time.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Cinnamon-Raisin Whole Wheat Waffles with Velvet Cream Cheese Spread p 38

The waffles have a nice flavor and come out nicely crisp but soften quickly.  Dorie says to "butter" them with the cream cheese spread (3T cream cheese whipped with 1T heavy cream, 1.5 t cinnamon and 1 t sugar), then pour maple syrup over.  I thought it would be too much but the cream cheese isn't particularly sweet and balances the maple syrup.    The spread isn't something I'll make again (it makes me think of cinnamon raisin bagels which I hate) but I'm glad I tried it. 

The peach was not in the recipe but was in the kitchen and was excellent!

Edited July 28, 2019 by blue_dolphin (log)