Breakfast in bed, you say? Plug in the waffle iron and mix up the batter for Mom. These waffles are delicious and easy enough for the littles to help make (there is no proofing time required).
The recipe, from Santa Barbara home cook, master gardener and author Valerie Rice and her new cookbook, “Lush Life: Food & Drinks from the Garden” (Prospect Park Books, $35), calls for beet sugar, which can be found at specialty stores and on Amazon, and jam for topping. Rice likes to use apricot or berry jam made from fruit in her garden, but feel free to use Mom’s favorite.
Belgian Beer Waffles with Beet Sugar and Summer Jams
Makes 12 to 14 waffles
Ingredients
1¼ cups Sonora wheat flour or white whole wheat flour
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
2 eggs, whisked
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted, plus more for cooking
1 tablespoon lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8-ounce bottle pilsner beer, such as Stella Artois, divided use
½ cup Belgian pearled beet sugar
Directions
In a large bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the flour and add eggs, ½ cup melted butter, lemon juice, vanilla and half the beer and whisk to incorporate completely. Whisk in the remaining beer. (Batter can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
The pearled sugar should be added right before you make the waffles. When ready to cook, heat up your waffle iron and stir the pearled sugar into the batter. Brush iron with melted butter, ladle in ¼ cup batter and cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
Serve waffles with your favorite jams or plain with butter and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
— From Valerie Rice’s “Lush Life: Food & Drinks from the Garden” (Prospect Park Books, $35)
