Homemade sausage patties and savory chive waffles...

10 new recipes for us this week - our favorites this time were those Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting, the Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Leek Frittata and just because they were so easy, those Classic Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Jeff has been asking for a breakfast-for-dinner night, so we prepared these Sour Cream and Chive Waffles with Sausage and Spiced Syrup dish that had a very intriguing combination of savory and sweet.

We have had plenty of sweet waffles (we have even made them into cookies!), but I don't recall us ever making a savory version. What makes these waffles savory? The combination of onion-y chives and tangy sour cream! They do have a couple teaspoons worth of sugar, but that is more for even browning than sweetness.

Before we worked on those waffles, we got our hands dirty by making rounds of delicious homemade sausage patties! Lean ground pork, steak seasoning, whole fennel seeds, fragrant smoked sweet paprika and a handful of fresh chopped parsley. This meaty mixture does have a tendency to want to stick to your hands when working with it, so just keep a bowl of water nearby and dip your fingers in once in awhile and it will help. While they were busy cooking in a skillet, we warmed up pure maple syrup with a cinnamon stick and a couple whole cloves to let their flavors infuse, creating the spiced syrup.

Speaking of that syrup, I did need to sway a bit from the original recipe. Instead of the spiced syrup I ended up with, the recipe called for heating lingonberry preserves. However, I had no luck finding it after visiting three stores, so Jeff and I both agreed that maple syrup would work for us. If you do happen to come across some and want to make that sauce, warm up a cup worth of the preserves, along with the cloves and cinnamon stick we used, and add a tablespoon of lemon juice along with a splash of water to loosen the mixture up.

You'll end up with about three full batches of waffles, so to keep the others warm and crisp while waiting, heat your oven to its lowest temperature and just set the cooked waffles right on the racks. We both enjoyed the chive-flecked waffles with their light texture and savory nature, but those sausage patties stole the show! The little nuggets of fennel perked up the sausages with little bursts of anise flavor and the alluring nature of the smoked sweet paprika captivated my attention. If you are not a big fan of pork, you could switch that out for ground turkey or chicken to lighten the patties up. If you are a little adventurous and looking for a different take on waffles, this may just be the recipe for you!

Recipes
Sour Cream and Chive Waffles with Sausage and Spiced Syrup