A Little Something

Gingerbread Waffles

We've been having a lot of regular waffles so I thought I'd try something different. Jonathan said they seemed fall-ish and Mary Rose said they smelled like Christmas. This recipe makes a large batch, but it can easily be halved if you need a smaller amount.

Gingerbread Waffles

4 cups whole wheat flour - I use King Arthur white whole wheat

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 stick butter, very soft or melted

6 eggs

1 cup molasses

2 cups milk

Stir dry ingredients together. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake on waffle iron, half cup of batter at a time. These cooked faster than my regular waffles and I found I needed to turn the setting down on my waffle iron (down to about 2, whereas I bake my regular waffles at 3.5 on my Chef's Choice five hearts iron). They were also a bit more delicate than regular waffles. We didn't think they needed any maple syrup; the butter lovers simply buttered them and I had mine with powdered sugar. Like most spicy things, they tasted even better when completely cooled and embellished with a right dollop of whipped cream like so- 

After all, a picture is worth a thousand words (or waffles).

Monkey Bread

I keep hearing about this stuff called Monkey Bread and I finally decided to try making some. I used the buttery rolls recipe from the Cheat Sheet, increasing the yeast to three teaspoons. I mixed the dough up in my bread machine set to quick dough. Then I used my metal dough scraper to quickly hack the dough up into about forty pieces. My trusty assistant then dipped each piece in melted butter and rolled it in cinnamon sugar, and then finally tossing it into a greased tube pan. We used about 1/4 cup of butter and 1 cup of cinnamon sugar. After letting the dough rise until it nearly filled the pan we baked it for about 25 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. We turned the bread out onto a plate and called for the monkeys to come. And then it was all gone (well almost - we saved a hunk for Dad). We will surely be making this again.