Recipe below. First, some (unnecessarily in-depth) background. Once upon a time I went through a phase my family probably remembers all too well, during which my supreme goal in baking was to drastically alter original recipes, the first time I made them, in order to make them "healthier." This included but was not limited to a) substituting whole wheat flour for regular "processed" flour as often as possible (i.e., as often as a recipe called for flour); b) using applesauce as a 1:1 replacement for butter in baked goods; c) adding ground flaxseed to e-v-e-r-y-thing, which consequently meant decreasing any fat in the recipe, since there is fat in ground flaxseed; and d) arbitrarily decreasing amounts of butter, sugar, or whatever other ingredients I deemed unhealthy. I may be forgetting some of my "techniques." It took a series of many more failures than successes for me to finally realize that baking is an exacting science. It is not forgiving of a novice's whims, certainly not when said novice is ignorant of basic points of culinary chemistry.
Now, of the aforementioned adjustments, some of them I do still use, in moderation. (The applesauce-for-butter one I do not, and I only have whole flaxseed on hand for a cracker recipe I've been meaning to try.) Moderation also happens to be the key to receiving a cake recipe just as it is, without one plea (forgive the irreverence), because three sticks of butter or not, it's dessert. You're not going to eat all three sticks of butter by yourself. Let dessert be dessert, for crying out loud. I did just today make a 50% whole wheat ciabatta that turned out fabulously---that is one area where I'm more than happy to use whole wheat flour, but I did it under the expert guidance of Peter Reinhart. (Love ya Pete.)
The reason I write all that on this particular post is because I recall making these honey-yogurt waffles (which I actually made into pancakes, cause heck, it didn't really matter to me what the original recipe said, even in the TITLE) at the height of my whole grains madness. No doubt because the title caught my eye as sounding healthy. I probably went ahead and used all whole wheat flour and omitted the butter and added flaxseed, who knows. Tonight, however, I returned to this recipe for the first time in years and made them exactly as the recipe indicated, in the wafflemaker. They were splendid. They did not taste healthy; they did not taste like a self-consciously "sugar-free" breakfast, and while it is unusual to see a handful of oats thrown in to a waffle recipe, it was clearly not done as some half-baked attempt to make the recipe "healthier," because you can always sense---well, taste---when that has happened. The flavor is subtly sweet and I think they're great waffles.
Honey-Yogurt Waffles
adapted from Williams-Sonoma.com, which cites it as adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Waffles from Morning to Midnight (did not realize that!)
Serves 2-3
These do get pretty dark because of the honey---at least mine did, though the picture on Williams-Sonoma looks very pale in comparison!
1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. milk
6 Tbsp. plain yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farms whole milk)
2 1/2 Tbsp. honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat your wafflemaker. Melt the butter and set aside.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the milk, yogurt, honey, egg, and vanilla in a small bowl til very well combined (it will take some time for the honey to incorporate). Pour liquid ingredients over the dry and lightly whisk until combined. Fold in the melted butter. Pour 1/3 cup-fuls (or however much your wafflemaker manual specifies) of batter into the wafflemaker and bake til deep golden. You can hold these in a 200 degree oven for up to half an hour if necessary. Serve with butter and maple syrup.
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