waffles or pretzels

Shhhh. Don't tell Cap'n. He went out of town today and as soon as he left, I got the urge to make waffles. Homemade. From scratch. Now, ladies and gents, as you know, I do not like to cook, nor am I good at it. (In fact, I was just whining to the First Mate that he should row ashore and fetch me some supper from some main street strip of neon lighted mortar, glass and steel structure with a window on the side. Really. Yes, pathetic. I know.

Back to the waffles. I found a recipe in my virtual recipe box (www.anywherewitharecipe.com). (Note—that was sarcasm and I do not know if that is a real site or not.) I selected an easy recipe that just included the basic ingredients, which I had on hand. I expected the waffles to look something like this (look at photo to above left). But they didn't. I wanted nice squares, with the waffle pattern, crispy and golden brown.

I think the recipe made 10 waffles on my waffle iron. Did I mention I had to go into the garage and dig around in the hot October heat (it's Florida, okay, so still hot), and get all dusty and sweaty to locate a waffle iron, which I wasn't even sure we had one, but generally we have one of everything, so I figured the odds were with me. Brought the waffle iron inside, and then sat down to cool off and rest and drink some tea. Iced. Cold. Yesssssssssssss!

I get the waffle iron washed up nicely and centered on the work island ready to make the waffles. The recipe took three bowls, several measuring cups, and something to hold the melted butter. Had I any foresight, I would have melted the butter in the bowl that was going to hold the 'wet' ingredients, but, it's me, so that didn't happen. Back to the 10 waffles. The first two (the iron had two spots for waffles) went into the trash they were so bad. Tasted more like pretzels than waffles. Too much salt maybe? I guess I have a generous pinch. I added some sugar and tried again.

The next two were rather rubbery and doughy, very chewy. I can't really describe them accurately, but I managed to consume one, once I dipped it in the remains of the melted butter and some syrup. The next pair I cooked longer. They looked pretty at least, but again, didn't taste wonderful. (I wouldn't be going back for seconds if you know what I mean.) So I added some vanilla extract. Ooooh, pretty! The vanilla did make them a nicer golden color, which made them more appetizing to look at. I left this pair in the iron for four minutes, instead of the two minutes I had used previously, which was what the recipe instructed.

Now those were some pretty waffles. I haven't tasted the pretty ones yet, since I'm still kind of, ummm, feeling the doughy ones still on the way to my tummy. I put the first couple of waffles back into the waffle iron, and heated them some more, and eventually they looked pretty enough to eat after they had browned and crispied up some more. And they probably need lots of butter and syrup. Some fruit and whipping cream probably wouldn't hurt either.

Next time I want waffles—it's Bisquick time; or better yet, Eggo.

Waffles image copyright Matka Wariatka at iStockPhoto.