I’m going to need you to do a little something for me this weekend.  

Yes.  It’s Wednesday.  We’re planning ahead.  This is important.  

I think you and I should make it a point to seriously relax this coming weekend.  See… it might be our last chance to really take it easy before the new year.  Before we know it we’ll be swept away by Thanksgiving, festive flavored lattes, contemporary holiday music, visiting relatives, cranberry cocktails and company parties.  

This weekend though… this weekend we can take it easy.  

To help us with our plan, I’ve come up with the perfect weekend breakfast:  yeast risen waffles with maple and black pepper bacon.  

We’re taking it slow this weekend.  Are you in?

**But wait!  You don’t have a  waffle iron?  It’s ok.  These Milk Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes with a side of Maple Black Pepper Bacon should put  you in an equally great food coma.  Not to worry.

Yeast risen, overnight waffles are pretty stellar.  

Make the batter Saturday afternoon, let it rise on the counter for an hours or so.  Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready for breakfast on Sunday morning.  

On Sunday I stirred my batter a bit and let it to rest on the counter for an hour to come to room temperature and rise a bit.

The batter will be goopy, but don’t let that deter you.  These beauties bake up crisp and full of yeasty, maple sugar, nutty flavor.  Adding white whole wheat flour adds a touch of nuttiness to compliment the brown butter.  Yes… these waffles are full of character.  

Don’t even get me started on the bacon.  It sweet and spicy and… bacon.  It’s inherently perfect.  

Weekend Waffles

     adapted from King Arthur

     makes 2 big square (four sectioned) waffles, enough for 2 and a half people.

     Print this Recipe!

1 1/2 cups whole milk

7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted until browned bits appear

3 Tablespoons maple syrup (the real stuff or simply use brown sugar)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Heat the milk until it is hot but not boiling.  Place it in a large bowl (you’ll need the room for expansion) and mix in the browned butter, maple syrup (or brown sugar) salt and vanilla extract.  Stir until the mixture has cooled to lukewarm.  Add the eggs, flour, salt and yeast and stir all together.  If there are a few lumps, that’s fine!

Cover mixture with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  The mixture will begin to bubble.  

You can cook the waffles at this point, or place the batter in the refrigerator to rest and develop flavor overnight.  

Remove the batter from the fridge about an hour before you’d like to eat breakfast.  Stir the batter and let it come to room temperature.  When ready to cook, preheat the waffle iron and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Add 1 1/2 cups of batter (depending on the size of your waffle iron) and cook until golden brown.  

Top with butter and syrup and anything good. 

Maple Black Pepper Bacon

     this couldn’t be easier!  thanks for the recipe Rachel!

as much bacon as you’d like

maple syrup (the real stuff)

black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.  Place bacon strips on sheet, close but not overlapping.  Drizzle with maple syrup, about 2 or 3 Tablespoons per 10 bacon strips.  Sprinkle with as much black pepper as you like. Bake for 10 minutes then remove pan from the oven and carefully flip bacon strips over.  Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the bacon reaches your happy point of doneness.

Please.  Take a few moments to dig through your kitchen cabinets to find your waffle maker.  Please do this.  I’ll wait.

….. There?  Find it?

Now.  Please.  These waffles need to be made now, tonight, first thing tomorrow morning, or whenever you get hungry… now?  They’re that good.

I need to go wash my hair.  That’s not a euphemism for anything.  I really need to wash my hair.  By the time I come back, I hope you’ve preheated that old waffle machine.

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

Print this recipe!

For the Bacon

10 slices of bacon

1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray and line with foil.  Arrange bacon in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle generously with brown sugar.  Place in the upper third of the oven and bake until sugar is caramelized and bacon is brown and crispy, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Immediately remove bacon slices using a pair of tongs.  Place them on a cutting board (not paper towels, they’ll stick!) to cool before chopping.  Once cool, chop the bacon into bite size bits and set aside.

For the Waffles

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cups canola or grapeseed oil

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

*If you don’t eat bacon for some reason, try adding 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon to the batter.  Yum!

Set up your waffle iron on a level, clean surface and turn on to preheat.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar.  Whisk to blend.  In a  medium bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold.  Once almost fully incorporated, add the bacon bites.  Stir.  Try not to over mix the batter or the waffles will become tough.  It’s ok if a few lumps remain in the batter.

Cook according to your waffle machine instructions.

Serve with maple syrup and strawberries.

You know that team building exercise you might play at sleep-away camp that requires you to fall backwards into the waiting arms of a fellow camper?  The Trust Fall?  The basic idea is that you completely let yourself fall backwards, trusting that the person behind you has arms outstretched to catch you before you hit the ground.  It’s a very literal way of saying “Hey!  I’ve got your back!”  or “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall.”  If the person you’ve entrusted to catch you is not paying attention and flirting with her sleep-away boyfriend as you fall… well, you might have trust issues for life.  Not cool.

I bring up the old Trust Fall because we’re talking about sandwiches.  Sandwiches are serious business.  I feel like I need to do a good round of Trust Falling with someone before we’re allowed to make each other sandwiches.  Like I said… sandwiches are serious.

I need to know that someone has got my back when they make me a sandwich.  Who’s making me a sandwich?  No one… that’s not the point.  It’s all about trust, and care and attention.  Like… which slices of bread they choose from the loaf, and how the mayonnaise doesn’t sneak over the edges, and how the tomato slices are just thin enough, and the lettuce is mostly dry from the washing.  Sandwiches have a lot of details.  There’s a lot going on.  I need to trust that my sandwich maker can handle these details… you know?

What?  Too much?  It’s just a sandwich?  Yea… a sandwich.  I take my sandwiches to heart.  I haven’t done the old Trust Fall with the young gentlemen at my local sandwich shop, so frankly, I don’t know if I can trust them to make me a sandwich… ridiculous, but true.

So, yes.  I’m a touch neurotic about my sandwiches.  That’s just how it goes.  Because I’m so ridiculous, I usually make my own.

This time around I made my own mayonnaise, because, holy heck it’s easy!  Mayonnaise is a simple emulsion of egg yolk, flavors like mustard and seasoning, acid, and a fat like canola oil or olive oil.   Olive oil will make a strongly flavored mayonnaise.  I went for a roasted red pepper (I bought a jar) version using grapeseed oil as the fat.  This version creates a slightly looser mayonnaise than the one you might scoop from the store bought jars.  For a plain mayonnaise you can make with a bowl and a whisk, check out this tutorial.  It’s handy.

Roasted Red Pepper Mayonnaise

adapted from Fat

Print this recipe!

makes about 1 cup of mayonnaise

1 large egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1 roasted red pepper, coarsely chopped ( I used the jarred variety.  Easy!)

3/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil

Combine egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, and chopped roasted red pepper  in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Mix for about 30 seconds.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper and whirl again.

With the machine running (I know it’s loud), gradually add the oil until the mixture starts to thicken and emulsify.  I added the oil in a steady, but very thin stream.  The mixture will start to emulsify at about the 2 minute mark.  Once it starts to emulsify, you can add the fat more quickly.  If the mixture is too thick for some reason, just blend in 1 teaspoon of boiling water to thin it.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.  Lasts for 3-4 days.

The Best BLT

makes one sandwich

2 slices of your favorite bread, toasted

3-4 slices of tomato

2 leaves of butter lettuce, rinsed

4 -5 slices of crisp bacon

generous slather of roasted red pepper mayonnaise

Cook up bacon and drain of a paper towel.  Rinse lettuce leaves, and pat dry.  Slice tomato slices and let rest on a paper towel, allowing some of the moisture to be absorbed.

Toast bread and slather with as much roasted red pepper mayonnaise as you like.  Top with bacon, tomatoes and lettuce.  Top with other slice of bread and you’re in business.  Holy yum!