We hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve - Welcome to 2007!
Happy New Years!
Happy New Years!
We just added up the new recipes we made in 2006 - crazy! We did just about 500 recipes... I wonder if we will break that this year!
What better way to start the new year than with a hearty warm breakfast? Again, I went to the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book and found a recipe for Hazelnut Waffles with Pear Compote. I actually made this last week and Jeff requested it again this morning. We received a gift at Christmas from friends out west that included some fresh crisp pears from the Harry & David company and this looked like a perfect way to finish them up! The first time I made these I had a bit of trouble - it was early in the morning and when I mixed up the ingredient list, the batter was so stiff and un-waffle like. It then dawned on me that the recipe did not call for any real liquid! I asked Jeff to read through it to make sure I was not missing anything, but after flipping through a couple other recipes, it looked like we found an omission. The other recipes in the book call for about a 1:1 ratio between the flour and liquids, so I ended up adding about a cup or so of buttermilk until it looked "right".
You can make these light, tangy and crisp waffles with a Belgian iron or you can use a conventional style maker as we did - if you want super-crisp waffles, I suggest using the Belgian though. Even though these golden waffles are completely whole-grain, we did not find any bitter or strong "wheat" taste some people detest when using whole-wheat flour. Spelt and oat flour are the main dry ingredients and have their flavor enhanced by finely ground toasted hazelnuts for a rich nutty background.
The compote is a simple mixture of sliced pears, apple cider, sugar, a bit of butter and fresh ginger root for a mild bite. Once the pears are tender and the liquids have a chance to thicken, a sweet hint of orange is added from Grand Marnier. Feel free to leave it out, but I highly suggest trying it as it adds a tantalizing zing to the pears. We were thinking of making some scrambled eggs to have along side, but we opted to enjoy these with just a couple slices of salty bacon I cooked up and quickly snapped a photo before digging in so the waffles would stay crisp.
You can make these light, tangy and crisp waffles with a Belgian iron or you can use a conventional style maker as we did - if you want super-crisp waffles, I suggest using the Belgian though. Even though these golden waffles are completely whole-grain, we did not find any bitter or strong "wheat" taste some people detest when using whole-wheat flour. Spelt and oat flour are the main dry ingredients and have their flavor enhanced by finely ground toasted hazelnuts for a rich nutty background.
The compote is a simple mixture of sliced pears, apple cider, sugar, a bit of butter and fresh ginger root for a mild bite. Once the pears are tender and the liquids have a chance to thicken, a sweet hint of orange is added from Grand Marnier. Feel free to leave it out, but I highly suggest trying it as it adds a tantalizing zing to the pears. We were thinking of making some scrambled eggs to have along side, but we opted to enjoy these with just a couple slices of salty bacon I cooked up and quickly snapped a photo before digging in so the waffles would stay crisp.
500 new recipes!!! I'm speechless. Way to go! (How are you going to beat that!)
ReplyDeletenot only 500 recipes but 500 DELICIOUS , ORIGINAL & GREAT recipes !!! thanks again for your wonderful guys ...
ReplyDeleteI wish you a "bonne année" . May 2007 brings you all you deserve !!!
& HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you, great members of the culinary in the country community .
Hello! Long-time reader & 1st time commenter here. Just wanted to say I love your blog and frequently print out recipes to try. I wanted to say thanks for the Spaghetti Pie recipe...it was a hit this fall when I made it--big enough a hit for it to be the main course for my Christmas Eve dinner (served with garlic-cheddar-chile biscuits and followed with a ricotta cheesecake, woo calories!). Anyway, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteErika - I don't know... but it will be fun to try!
ReplyDeleteSabine - Thank you! Happy New Year to you as well!
Ms DaFarm - I'm excited to hear you liked the Spaghetti Pie! Your dinner sounds delicious (especially the cheesecake.. I love it, but just don't make it enough!)