Sunday morning. It’s quiet and overcast. The perfect light for photographing. The Civil Wars are playing in the background from the speakers of my husband’s computer. Nothing fancy. Fresh flowers from the store sit on the messy table that still needs to be cleaned. Reminding us winter is just a season. The fog will soon lift. And the streets will bustle with activity and noise. But the quiet, that awkward, revealing sound I so often avoid, is majestic right now.
I’m making our favorite weekend waffles. A recipe I’ve been playing with for months now. Tweaking, an inch at a time, until they come out perfect. It happened this morning. So crispy on the outside you can hear the fork break through. But so tender in the middle it softens the initial blow. They soak up the messy maple syrup while still holding their shape. All the while cradling the blueberries we had on hand.
The dishes sit on the table exactly where we left them. We linger in the quiet a little longer. Waiting to go to church, which doesn’t start until well after lunch. I’m still full from the waffles. We head to church. But this time it’s not out of routine. For awhile, a long while, it felt like that’s all that it was. But that’s a conversation for another day. We’re welcomed by a symphony of guitars, , or rather three, playing calmly in the background. And almost to a crescendo, the service begins with a clang of silence. We pause for meditation.
“Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven’t the answer to a question you’ve been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you’re alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”
—Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
Many months have passed where I couldn’t hear it. Nor did I want to. I’m good at filling the blank spaces. But today I hear it. That awkward, revealing silence. The hum of the house. The beat of my heart through my ear canal. The car driving by on the uneven road. The crunch of the fork breaking the waffle. It has somehow turned into a majestic sound.
- 1 1/2 c.white whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1/3 c. unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 c. lukewarm milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp. orange juice, fresh
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Heat waffle iron on high heat. I set mine to 5 (out of 6). Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Add the dry ingredients to a medium bowl. Stir.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt butter, about 45 seconds. Add in milk and continue to cook for another minute.
- Whisk in egg, orange juice, and vanilla extract until combined.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Tiny lumps may remain.
- Add batter to heated waffle iron. I typically err on the side of adding less batter. Remove cooked waffle and place on a baking sheet without stacking. Stacking causes waffles to become limp due to the steam. Place in oven to keep warm. Repeat.
- Top with fruit and 100% pure maple syrup.
- Save leftovers in the fridge and reheat by placing the waffle back in the griddle or heat on the stovetop to ensure crispiness. Heating in the microwave will cause waffles to soften.
Looking for a waffle iron? Here’s what I use. Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.
Check out my post over at Mint today.
these look like perfection
I am such a big fan of waffles. These look super healthy, and I could definitely make these.
Love the unique addition of orange juice. Can’t wait to try them!
I forgot to mention, the orange juice helps cut the acidity of the wheat making it more palatable. Maybe a soon to be tip of the week!
Beautiful post Melissa… the waffles aren’t bad either ; )
Have a great week.
Jen
I really need to get a waffle iron… my husband would love these!
Thank you for the beautiful words about “quiet moments”–they are so precious.
You must get a waffle iron. Changed our breakfast-loving life. We got ours (a Waring Pro) from Costco for only $40.00. It’s a good one.
This was such a beautiful post Melissa, you write so wonderfully (and make such incredible looking food).
I want to hear more about why you can’t hear the silence…you intrigue me dear lady. I’m hoping you’ll be making these for me next week, we have a lot of cooking to do and no time to do it in. Lovely post and beauty shots that turn up the drool factor to 10.
Ahhh Sundays. Thanks for sharing your waffle recipe- you know I can’t wait to try it! xoxo
i am beyond excited to try these…. have been looking for a palatable whole wheat recipie for AGES…
Yum! Can you please send me a tall stack of those?
Melissa, I LOVE this post. You are continually inspiring me. I went a little fauxmartha crazy this past week and literally made one of your recipes every night!! I made your no rise pizza crust, pesto pasta, black bean tacos, enchiladas, lasagna, taco soup and pop tarts. It was a great “fauxmartha-week”. 🙂
Nothing better than waffles for breakfast. These sound lovely!
I’m happy that you have intention and beautiful (and all unique) silent moments and perfect waffles in your life, sweet lady. Love this post. You’re great.
Lovely. I could almost hear those waffles, really.
The quiet Sunday is something I relish – thanks for such a beautiful reminder. I think I know what I’ll be making tomorrow morning.
weekend waffles with whole wheat flour sounds like ultimate thing to do each weekend.. your pics are wonderful as always 🙂
Yum and yum! Definitely going to pin this 🙂 Beautiful post as well, my friend.
We had our yearly ice storm in OK last night, so of course I woke up thinking that I needed to run out and buy a waffle maker. I also needed a waffle recipe to christen said waffle maker. So I googled “waffles” and wasn’t satisfied the results. So my next google search, naturally, was “melissa coleman waffles”. I have no real reason why, except apparently I associate you with the goodness of waffles. These were truly amazing!
I’ve been looking for a good whole-wheat waffles recipe, thank you!
Beautiful pictures, again.
These are the best waffles I’ve ever made! Loved that there’s no egg white folding! Thanks for the recipe!!!
Yeah! So glad you liked them! Thanks for reporting back! I never found that folding egg whites helped, and it just made for another dirty bowl.
hi melissa,
can these be made with regular whole wheat flour? they look delicious.
They definitely can! They are a little more wheat-y tasting. But you can always sub in a little all-purpose for the wheat to balance it out.
I made these for our Easter brunch. Fabulous, crispy on the outside and flavor was great. I used 1/3 regular whole wheat, 2/3 all-purpose flour. This will be my go-to recipe. Thanks!
Delicious. And easy. Thanks!
Could I use almond milk in place of regular dairy milk in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it myself, but I don’t see why not. Let me know how it turns out it you do!
I just tried it and it was wonderful! I used almond milk in place and it was great. Best waffle recipe I’ve made.
Hi Melissa,
I made your waffles today and they turned out really great!
I recently received a waffle iron for my birthday after we had, for a few years, quite unsuccessfully tried to use our old one, not believing that it probably was due to the iron that the waffles never came out right.
I made your waffles with coconut oil, cashew milk and an egg replacer and tried it with 1/3rd of the batter for just me (my waffle iron is one of those with the five heart-shaped petals) and was kind of over-optimistic when pouring the batter into the iron 😉 So the batter was flowing out of the waffle iron and I was already seeing myself scrubbing the thing for an hour, but after 7 minutes the waffle was absolutely perfect and the batter held so well together that even most of the overflown stuff came off directly. I was so surprised and happy and the waffle was really crispy on the outside as well – at least at the one end where the waffle was not far too thick for my poor waffle iron 😉
I will definitely make these again, thank you!
Hi Melissa! This looks like an amazing recipe and I will try to do it tmrw! Just one question regarding the microwave part. I don’t have a microwave in my kitchen, so can I melt the butter on the stovetop and the milk too?
Hi Shaikha! You can absolutely do that. I developed this recipe when we had a microwave and now we don’t. I should update this. I typically melt the butter until half melted and then let the heat of the pan and the butter to melt the rest while also cooling the mixture and then add the milk.