Having spent the last three weeks playing with savory waffles, this week E and I wanted to do some sweet waffles for a change. So I went back to the classic buttermilk waffles that we enjoyed so much, and decided that I’d do a bit of an experiment: Make cinnamon vanilla buttermilk waffles by adding a bunch of cinnamon and some more vanilla to the Classic Buttermilk Waffle recipe I wrote about a few weeks back.
- Make Cinnamon Vanilla Buttermilk waffles by adding 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and an additional 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the classic buttermilk waffles.
- Make homemade buttermilk from regular milk and some lemon juice.
The Chances I Took
The strongest argument in favor of this recipe – I thought, up until this morning – was that we had all the ingredients. After all, we had everything we needed for the classic buttermilk waffles, right? Wrong. I realized this morning that we didn’t have any buttermilk. At which point E mocked me. After all, why go to the store and get buttermilk when we have milk and any number of acids (vinegar, lemon juice, etc.)?
Now, I’d never made homemade buttermilk before. Both E and her sister mocked me last week for buying store-bought buttermilk, which I took with good humor. So I figured: Why not? I decided to use some lemon juice, and combine 2 3/4 tablespoons of lemon juice with 1 3/4 cups of 1% milk to produce some buttermilk.
It seemed to work, though I had my doubts because I’m nothing if not suspicious.
When preparing the dry ingredients, I added two teaspoons of cinnamon. It made everything smell wonderful, especially while mixing all the dry ingredients together. And finally, when finalizing the batter I added an extra dash (about half a teaspoon, maybe verging on a full teaspoon) of vanilla extract.
Doubts take hold - and are dispelled!
When I had finished mixing the batter, it seemed…awfully soupy. Maybe I’d just gotten too used to really thick, hearty batters from the last three weeks of savory waffles, but this batter seemed downright liquidy. I was really quite worried that it wouldn’t firm up into yummy, crispy, fluffy waffles.
But my doubts were pointless! Because even though the batter was really soupy going into the waffle iron, it grilled up beautifully with a particularly crispy outside crust while leaving the interior light and airy. We had them with maple syrup, and they tasted great with strong notes of cinnamon. They were a bit more vanilla-forward than the Classic Buttermilk waffles, as expected, but really these waffles are defined by their cinnamon flavor.
Overall, a great success! And they’ve given me some great ideas for new experiments in the fall…
