Waffle Wednesdays is a labour of love

Who doesn’t love a warm waffle drenched in pure maple syrup? I’m not talking about blueberry waffles or fancy Belgian waffles. I’m talking plain old waffles – freshly prepared from scratch.

I love making waffles for my family. For me, waffle-making is the essence of home and comfort food. Waffle Wednesdays is our favourite morning around our house. Most days, I’ll reach in the freezer and grab some left-over waffles from the double or triple batch I make on the weekend (so I’ll have extras). But some days, like today, I’ll get up a little early and whip them together. It doesn’t take much.

There’s another benefit of making waffles: they remind me of my mother. And I have transferred those fond memories to my kids. So when the waffles are cooking and the smell is permeating the house, we all think and talk of her and those memories just make it taste better.

My recipe is simple and no fuss. It takes all of 3 minutes to make the batter.

1. Combine in dry bowl:

• 1 3/4 cups white flour;
• 1 tbsp of baking powder;
• 1/4 tsp salt .

2. Combine in wet bowl:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 cups of milk

3. Pour wet ingredients into dry bowl and stir until combined.

4. Spoon onto a hot waffle iron.

I read somewhere that you know when the waffles are done when they stop steaming. This is mostly correct, but don’t wait for all the steam to disappear or you’ll have dried out waffles. I always end up opening and closing the top to check them anyway, but you’ll get a feel for it after a few.

Whatever you do, make sure you eat them warm with pure maple syrup. There is absolutely no excuse to eat artificial syrup in Canada. It is the quintessentially Canadian experience.

Enjoy your Waffle Wednesday!

Postscript: It turns out that Waffle Wednesdays is a popular concept – there is a Waffle Wednesday Facebook page, a Chief Waffle Officer out there and quite the Twitter discussion. Who knew?