Monday, November 12, 2012

Butternut Squash... Waffles?! Sweet!!!

Yesterday we pureed half of my butternut squash.

Now it's time to get to the good part!

WAFFLES!!!!!

Yeah, I'm a waffle freak.  I'm only too happy to comply when my daughter says she wants them for dinner.  And since I have a gorgeous Belgian waffle iron that I got at the local thrift store, it's even easier to get the perfect waffles.

Waffles, though, aren't particularly healthy.  We all know this.  Rather than avoid these delectable and addicting slabs of joy, though, I incorporate nutritious foods into the mix.

Like butternut squash.  

mmMMmmm!!!

large butternut squash at the edge of my late October farmers market bounty

Butternut squash is naturally sweet, so a butternut squash puree quite naturally fits into a waffle recipe.

I've made squash pancakes before, but since I haven't had a waffle iron in a very long time, I've been unable to create butternut waffles.

Until now.

I raced to the computer and pulled up recipe after recipe.  I wanted my first butternut waffle batter used in my waffle iron to be perfect.  Finally, I found one that particularly intrigued me.

Butternut Squash Sour Milk Waffles.

Shocked look.  "Huh?"


Yeah.  It doesn't exactly sound mouth-watering... mainly because of the "sour milk" part of the name.

But!

Buttermilk waffles are extremely delicious, and I'm not exactly the type of person that would gulp down a glass of that stuff.  Eew.

So, I was intrigued.

Ok, the recipe title wasn't the only thing that caught my eye... I was also rather enamored with the blog name:  Hippo Flambé.

Hippo.

Flambé!!!

Ok, sorry... I'm over it.  But isn't that name just... awesome?

Anyway, the blog creator, Robin, posted a butternut squash sour milk waffle recipe, and I had to try it. I had all of the ingredients, I was hungry for waffles, and I was driven by my taste for adventure.

Plus... Hippo Flambé!  Yeah, I'm pretty deeply infatuated with the blog name.

Just... say it out loud.

For me...?

Innocent, pleading eyes


I guarantee it'll have you giggling with joy!

Once I had the recipe (linked above by name) on my monitor, I grabbed up all the ingredients and started mixing everything together.  I have to admit, I took a few shortcuts and made a few changes, but that only goes to show the versatility of the recipe!

See, by the time I got started, I was feeling pretty lazy.  

This means that I totally ignored the order of operations and just threw everything together, one ingredient at a time.  With something like Belgian waffles, this can often result in a big, sad mess.

But not this time!

I had zero problems with the batter deciding to do its own thing.  It worked exactly as it was supposed to...

Including its decision to leak out of the waffle iron when I put too much batter inside!

a LOT of batter leaking out of the waffle iron.  Perfect, completed waffle sitting to the side.

Oops.

So, fair warning:  The recipe calls for baking soda, which will cause the waffle to rise as it cooks.  I know what you're thinking...

"Duh."

But I have to be sure to include that piece of knowledge for anyone who is as scatter-brained as I am!

Speaking of baking soda...

One of the changes I made was to increase the amount of sugar in the recipe.  I actually doubled it.  The baking soda made the waffles too salty for my taste.  Of course, in the future, simply cutting the salt out would keep me from having to double the sugar.

I also changed the flour ratio in the recipe.  It called for one cup of whole wheat and one cup of white.  Personally, I like this, but I knew my husband and daughter wouldn't.  I elected to modify that to 1 1/2 cups of white and 1/2 cup of whole wheat.

The result?

I had the most complexly textured, mouth watering waffles ever!

Go check out the recipe for Butternut Squash Sour Milk Waffles on Hippo Flambé.  You won't be disappointed!



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