Potato, Apple and Bacon Waffles

A week ago or so I made up a batch of these lovlies for breakfast and have been craving them ever since. Sweet and savory Potato, Apple and Bacon Waffles are kind of a mashup of a hearty German potato pancake and a sweet apple pancake baked on a waffle iron for extra crispiness and crunch. A little bacon is thrown in for a salty, smoky contrast to the sweet apple and for balance.

Why I waited to make them again is a puzzle to me, because they're so easy to put together...especially if you use precooked real bacon bits. Making dinner (or breakfast if you're more of a traditionalist) is simpler still when you start with frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes and just a little Bisquick. Who doesn't like a quick and easy breakfast-for-dinner recipe in their arsenal?!

Ready to make an easy "brinner" for the fam? Gentlemen (and ladies), start your waffle irons!

Potato, Apple and Bacon Waffles

Makes 8 waffles

• 4 C frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes, thawed
• 8 slices bacon, cut into dice, fried crisp (or 1/2-2/3 C REAL bacon bits
• 2 apples, peeled and cored, cut into 1/4" dice
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 6 T Bisquick (I use gluten-free Bisquick to make these GF)
• 6 T milk
• 1 t salt and extra for sprinkling on the finished waffles to really make the flavor pop!

Preheat your waffle iron while you toss the batter together.

In a large bowl, mix the potatoes and sprinkle with Bisquick. Add bacon, apples, egg, milk and salt. Mix all together well.

My waffle iron uses no oil; if yours needs to be oiled, prepare your iron as needed.

Use half the batter for the first batch of waffles, if your waffle iron makes 4 at a time like mine. I like to press down firmly on the waffle iron handle for 30 seconds or so to get good initial contact on both sides of the waffle - I think it produces a crisper waffle in the end.

Carefully remove the first batch of waffles and do the second. 

Serve with real maple syrup and a sprinkle of salt. Yes, I said salt. It makes a BIG difference!

NOTE: Leftover waffles? Put thinly sliced cheddar between two waffles and grill on both sides in a buttered skillet until the cheese is melted and the waffles crisp. Delish!

NOTE 2: Although I haven't tried it, I can't help but think these would make a kickass base for sausage gravy! Hmmmmmm......

Sweet Savory Triple Corn and Sausage Waffles

Bless you Dillner Family Farm CSA, I LOVE you! Why?

Having been raised on canned vegetables on sale from the local A&P ("Creamed Corn - 3 Cans for 38 Cents"!), fresh veggies were a revelation. 

As a kid, I despised asparagus. Tell me, do they still commit the atrocity of canning asparagus today? Have you ever eaten long, slimy spears from the tall Green Giant can? Or, perhaps, grayish green Argo peas that were forced to give up their natural sweetness and "pop" by being overcooked and nearly brined to mush in the salty canning water? A shiver goes up my spine just thinking about the veggies of my youth.

The only fresh vegetables I recall as a kid at the family kitchen table were red cabbage - sweet and sour German-style, Brussels sprouts - boiled to a stinky, sulfurous death, and cauliflower - with cheese sauce, so who in their right mind didn't love THAT?! Oh, and carrots thrown in with celery, potatoes and onions along with a chuck roast - maybe with a packet of dry Lipton California Onion Soup Mix if my mom was feeling all fancy - in the old speckled blue enameled oval roaster. That Sunday roast was a classic.

I'll never forget having FRESH, crisp, bright green asparagus with hollandaise-kissed Eggs Benedict for brunch at Uncle Harry's place in Baltimore. "No thank you I don't like asparagus," I averred. "Try these, you'll like them," said Uncle Harry. 

Well, they sure didn't look like any asparagus I'd ever seen on a plate in front of me before, so I trusted my very sophisticated (a least to my young Pittsburgh eyes and experience) uncle - he of the very cool silver Jaguar XKE and fabulous taste in both clothes and decorating style. Trust him I did. From that moment on, a new world of culinary adventuring opened up before me. And I am forever grateful.

Fast forward to today and the fam can tell you that it is rare when we don't have fresh veggies on our plates, even in the dead of winter. Occasionally, you might find canned corn in a soup or - rarer still - frozen petite peas when we have a roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. (I'm a sucker for tiny sweet peas with mashed potatoes and gravy. Sometimes - when I think no-one is looking - the inner four-year-old me will mix them all together. Blush.)

CSA season in our house today is a delightful abundance of very fresh-from-the-farm produce. So far, since early June, we've enjoyed lots of greens - spinach, kale and many types of lettuces, yellow and green squash, red and golden beets, onions, fresh garlic, gorgeous tiny and sweet strawberries, blueberries, kohlrabi, tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and lots of fresh, unbelievably sweet corn. This last week, the corn was sooooo sweet that our hands were sticky when we finished husking it!

We're a family who loves homemade waffles, so when I considered making fresh corn fritters somehow thoughts turned to fresh corn waffles instead. My usual gluten-free waffle uses corn flour and cornmeal, wouldn't corn kernels make this a triple threat celebration of corn? Too sweet perhaps?

That's when I decided to add beautifully browned crumbles of down-home, savory sage sausage to the sweet batter. A sweet and savory combo waffle drizzled with real maple syrup over all? Breakfast simply couldn't have been any better.

You know what? I still have another cup or so of corn kernels left. What will I do with the last of last week's sweet corn and all the new Dillner Family Farm produce I'll pick up on Thursday? Hmmmmmm...thinking.......

Sweet Savory Triple Corn and Sage Sausage Waffles

• 1 1/4 C flour (use a good gluten-free flour to make this GF - I use Jules GF all purpose flour)
• 1/2 C corn flour
• 1/2 C cornmeal
• 2 t baking powder
• 3/4 t salt
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1/2 C cooked & well-browned breakfast sage sausage - nicely browned sausage gives a good depth of flavor to the waffles (if you can't find sage sausage, a good quality regular breakfast sausage will do just fine)
• 1 C corn - cut fresh from the cob
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 C milk
• 5 T butter, melted

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat egg whites in a separate medium bowl until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.

Beat egg yolks and milk together. While beating, add the melted butter and continue to whisk until the mixture is homogeneous. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Add beaten egg whites, folding gently until well incorporated and finally add the sausage and corn. Mix these in gently, too.

Bake the waffles according to your waffle iron directions, keeping each batch warm as you finish up the batter. Serve hot with syrup for brunch OR dinner.

Apple Bacon Black Pepper Waffles With Cracked Black Pepper Bourbon Maple Syrup

Hooray! It's brunch-for-dinner night! Honestly, tonight's dinner didn't start out to be waffles...originally they'd been planned for Sunday brunch...and the Sunday before that...and...well, you get the idea that we've been meaning to make them for a while. 

Somehow busy weekend plans and chores got in the way of a leisurely Sunday morning of cooking and brunching, especially now that warmer weather has just begun to peek from behind those winter skies. Although we never were able to find time to make them on a weekend, why not make crisp-outside, tender-inside waffles a reward for a hard day of weekday work? So we did.

My basic gluten-free waffle recipe (for a regular gluten-filled version, just substitute regular all purpose wheat flour - you know...Pillsbury or Gold Medal or whatever) was the base for a little bit of sweet, little bit of savory version filled with tart apples, smoky bacon and the bite of just a little black pepper to make an adult waffle. Topped, of course, with an equally adult syrup of bourbon, REAL maple syrup and cracked black pepper for a bit of heat to counter the maple-y sweet.

What to serve next to the entree when bacon was already inside the waffles? In our case, a simple mix of fresh blackberries and blueberries with a maple blood orange drizzle. Brunch...oops, make that DINNER was served! That's all we needed. Then again, maybe a blood orange mimosa or kiwi bellini might have taken brunch-for-dinner right over the top. Next time.

Apple Bacon Black Pepper Waffles 

With Cracked Black Pepper Bourbon Maple Syrup

Makes 2 waffles - 4 sections each

• 1 C maple syrup, the REAL stuff!
• 1 t. coarsely cracked black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 T bourbon 

Mix syrup and pepper in a small pot and simmer for 3 minutes - gently. Let cool slightly and add bourbon. Done.

• 1 1/4 C flour - Jule's gluten free all purpose flour or another GOOD gf blend if you want to make these gluten-free
• 1/2 C corn flour
• 1/2 C cornmeal
• 2 t. baking powder
• 3/4 t. salt
• 3/4 t. coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, sliced thinly and cut into 3/4" lengths
• 5 slices thick-sliced peppered bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 C milk - I use skim milk...eliminates the calories...NOT!
• 5 T butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients, flour through sugar. Put the egg whites into your small mixer bowl and beat until the whites are still, but not dry. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat by hand the egg yolks and milk, then quickly beat in the melted butter. Add these to the dry ingredients and mix well by hand with a fork. When everything is well incorporated, add the beaten egg whites and fold them into the mixture with a rubber spatula until they are thoroughly mixed in. Add the apples and bacon and mix just until distributed throughout the batter. Let the batter rest an hour or up to 3 hours before baking. 

Now you're ready to make the waffles! Only you know your waffle iron. Only you know how much batter to use. My waffle iron holds 2 cups exactly. Yours may hold more or less. Only add what YOUR waffle iron holds so it doesn't ooze out the sides and make a mess.  My waffle iron doesn't need oil either. If your waffle iron needs it, use it. I LOVE my Cuisinart waffle maker!

Bake the waffles according to your waffle iron directions, keeping each batch warm as you finish up the batter. Serve hot with syrup for brunch OR dinner!

NOTE: I like to use leftover waffles for a breakfast sandwich. Take 2 waffle sections, put a thin slice of cheddar cheese between them and grill on both sides in a skillet until the waffles are crisp again and the cheese is melted. YUM!

Gluten-Free Cheddar Jalapeno Waffles with Spicy Fried Chicken & Bourbon Maple Syrup

Meat & Potatoes in downtown Pittsburgh has the most AMAZING Fried Chicken and Cheddar Jalapeno Waffles with Bourbon Maple Syrup! Or so I’ve heard. 

Although the hubby orders them almost every time we hit up M&P for Saturday or Sunday brunch, I’ve never even tasted them. Not that I haven’t wanted to, mind you…the old gluten enemy prevents me from tasting even a tempting smidgen. Damn gluten.

This morning I got my sweet (okay, more savory than sweet) revenge! I made all of it from scratch and gluten-free. Take THAT gluten!  You will not defeat me…(cue the evil laugh here)! I’d go into all the glorious detail of small sighs and moans that escaped my lips whilst in the throes of fried chicken and waffle ecstasy, but I’ve probably said more than enough already. Suffice it to say, the hubster declared my version even better than M&P…smart man.

(That old Gluten Devil not an issue for you? Just substitute regular all purpose flour for the gluten-free flour and proceed. Easy!)

Gluten-Free Cheddar Jalapeno Waffles with 

Spicy Fried Chicken & Bourbon Maple Syrup

Serves 4

• 2 chicken breasts, cut lengthwise into 3 "fingers" each - more if the breasts are really big
• 1/2 cup panko, gluten-free to make this GF, regular if gluten isn't an issue
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/4 cup canola oil, divided

• 1 cup maple syrup, the REAL stuff! If you're going to do it, do it RIGHT! Otherwise you're wasting good bourbon.
• 1 1/2 tablespoons bourbon - more to your liking

• 1 1/4 cups flour, Jule's gluten free all purpose flour or another GOOD gf blend - regular if gluten isn't an issue
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 jalapeno chile pepper, seeds and ribs removed, minced very finely
• 2 eggs, separated (You know this means the yolks from the whites in different cups, don't you? Otherwise, do not go further in the recipe. ; - )
• 2 cups milk
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
 

Chicken: In a plastic bag, mix panko, cornmeal, spices and salt well. Add the chicken fingers and shake, coating each finger well.
 

On a baking sheet with a raised edge all around, drizzle 1/2 the oil and spread it evenly over the sheet. Put it into the oven for a minute to heat up...do NOT let it smoke. Place each chicken finger on the hot oil in the sheet, leaving room between each, drizzle the rest of the oil evenly over the chicken fingers. Bake for 15 minutes, turn each one over and bake another 10 minutes or so until crispy. Remove to plate and keep warm while you make the waffles.
 

Syrup: Mix syrup and bourbon. Done.
 

Waffles: In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients, flour through sugar.  Put the egg whites into your small mixer bowl and beat until the whites are stiff, but not dry. Set aside.
 

In another bowl, beat by hand the egg yolks and milk and then quickly beat in the melted butter. Add these to the dry ingredients and mix well by hand with a fork. When everything is well incorporated, add the beaten egg whites and fold them into the mixture with a rubber spatula until they are thoroughly mixed in. Add the cheese and jalapeno and mix just until  distributed throughout the batter.
 

Now you're ready to make the waffles! Only you know your waffle iron. Only you know how much batter to use. My waffle iron holds 2 cups exactly. Yours may hold more or less. Only add what YOUR waffle iron holds so it doesn't ooze out the sides and make a mess. My waffle iron doesn't need oil either. If your waffle iron needs it, use it. I LOVE my waffle iron!!!!!
 

Bake the waffles according to your waffle iron directions, keeping each batch warm as you finish up the batter.
 

Assembly: Put a waffle on the plate, pile on a couple of chicken fingers, drizzle with syrup. Enjoy!

NOTE: No, this dish is not for the novice cook.  Even if you aren't new to cooking, enlist help. This is a lot of morning work that is WORTH it, but it's always more fun to have fun with a friend while you're cooking. A brunch time Bloody Mary helps, too.