Egg Nog Belgian Waffles

And welcome back!

So, because I'm a scientist, I have this insatible desire NOT to follow a recipe. This includes even Betty Crocker, back in the day, because, I found, that when I actually pay attention to the ingredients, it tastes SO much better. And it turns out that there are reasons for this. For instance, everyone of you probably has this little tub of red-brown powder in the kitchen that, when pressed, you would call cinnamon.

I've hated cinnamon for years.

....and the reason was that the red-brown powder has probably been in your cabinet for YEARS and it used to come in these little tins by McCormick (some of you will remember these...). Basically, it's not Cinnamon. No one else in the world would call this cinnamon. it's so old that all the flavor and aroma has turned to ash and bitterness. Personally, I recommend Pennzy's Spice Company (www.penzeys.com) It's what you'd call a spice merchant. After experiencing the full rainbow of spices from this merchant, I can understand what the whole Columbus this is about. Wow. I mean, wow! Did you know that the brown stuff in the tin, when fresh, is not even really cinnamon??? It's Cassia Cinnamon- which is a fake cinnamon. Something cheaper that was discovered and passed off as the real thing. Ceylon Cinnamon is the real deal. Try smelling some. try tasting some. wow.

But I digress. I'm talking about paying attention to your ingredients when you're making something. I'm talking about smelling your spices to know if they're fresh (because a tsp of that old, gacky brown stuff is NOT the same as a tsp of cinnamon) or if they are just milder than the flavor you want because there was a drought this year (remind me to talk about cilantro some time!)

well, I'm still in the "oh, my, well, I don't think that will taste as good as if I put this in, instead" phase. Hence, the waffles.

I didn't have any milk- I'm not a milk drinker. I used to be a milk drinker. I used to eat cereal. Milk used to be the cheapest beverage besides water. What can I say, I'm Irish. Being Irish, you can eat cheese, drink milk- all your life. You're a mutant (and happy for it!)

But what did I have? hmmm...well, it's getting to be the end of the winter holidays- the Vulcans are chasing off the Snow King, and I have my last container of egg nog. yessssssssss, who EVER developed this was AN ANGEL. or just a really good biochemist. Now, what I'm talking about is actually egg nog "batter"- it's sans alcohol. no brandy. just eggs, milk, spices. yum. and seeing as how spices, such as nutmeg and cinnamon, go really well in waffles, I decided- YES.


so, here's what I did (Egg Nog Belgian Waffles):
for 4-5 10" square waffles:

4 Cups powdered sweet rice flour
1 tsp powdered yeast
1/8 Cup tapioca starch
4 eggs
1/2 C sugar
2 Cups (1 pint) of egg nog
1 tsp double strength vanilla or 2 tsps regular vanilla extract.
3tsps Xanthan Gum

1) 4 Cups of FINELY powdered rice flour
1 tsp powdered yeast (not the granulated packet)
1/8 Cup powdered tapioca flour*

2) mix this together.

3) In a mixing bowl, beat 4 eggs and 1/2 C of white, granulated sugar, to soft peaks- with an electric mixer. **

4) While beating, add 1 tsp of Double Strength Vanilla, or 2 tsp of single strength Vanilla***

5) Beat in 1 Cup of Traditional Egg Nog (NOT SKIM!)***

6) Gradually, sift in the dry ingredients. If you don't have a sifter, slowly add the dry ingredients (or you'll knock your eggs down). The mixture will be getting stiff and thick.

7). Add the remaining 1 Cup Traditional Egg Nog. The mixture should be very runny now.

8). Add 3 teaspoons (tsps) of Xanthan Gum.

9). Heat up your iron. Spray the iron with a non-stick spray.

10). Spoon out your waffle batter onto the iron. I recommend a making a "tester" with just a little bit of batter so you can see how the batter behaves. (too thick- add more egg nog, too runny, add more Xanthan Gum).

11). If you have left overs, make sure you separate them with waxed paper before freezing, or you might have one very large waffle mass for your next meal.


*You can get these dry ingredients at your local Asian supermarket.

**Soft Peaks (Which means that you beat them past the white, foamy part to where, if you take the back of a spoon and touch the eggs, then lift up, you get something looking like mountains. If you go too far, it'll be fine for this recipe).

***The difference is how much liquid you'll end up adding to your mixture. In gluten free baking, you need to really minimize the amount of alcohol you mix with your eggs (which we will discuss later)


Happy eatings!
the irish lass