Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles

My recent Sunday Morning Oatmeal post really gave me the gusto I needed to make a Big Girl breakfast this past weekend. As delicious as the oatmeal is, here's a REAL weekend breakfast for you.

Buttermilk Waffle recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking:

2 cups all-purpose flour

Sift the flour together with:

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tsp salt

In a separate bowl:

2 eggs- beat together with a fork

Then add:

1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons melted butter

Combine the liquid and the dry ingredients and mix until just Incorporated- will be slightly lumpy, don't over mix. In the meantime, I preheated the waffle iron and got some blueberries out of the freezer- I used about one cup total. Whenever blueberries are on sale, I buy a bunch and freeze them. Freezing them yourself (don't do it while they are wet from washing) doesn't give you that freezer-crystally texture like the ones you buy already frozen for some reason. I much prefer to do it myself.

I sprayed the waffle iron with non-stick spray between each one and then measured approximately 1/3 cup of batter onto the iron. I gave it a second or two to ooze and spread out before sprinkling a handful of berries evenly over the top. I've found that mixing the berries directly into the bowl with the batter results in a clump of squished berries at the very middle of the cooked waffle. They don't' get a chance to spread out before you crush them with the iron.

Meanwhile I made a blueberry syrup with some fresh blueberries pushing their prime in the fridge. My mother-in-law Claudia always makes a blueberry syrup with blueberry waffles and I love it.

Fresh Blueberry Syrup:

1 heaping cup fresh blueberries

pinch of lemon zest (zest of about half the lemon)

juice of 1/2 a lemon 3 tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup maple syrup

3 or 4 tablespoons of water

Combine the ingredients into a saucepan and boil over med heat until the berries burst and the syrup begins to thicken slightly. (maybe 10 minutes total) I then set it aside to cool some while I finished cooking the waffles. I like to keep the serving plates and the cooked waffles warm in the oven while I finish the batch- I think this recipe made 5 waffles total.

Half way through the waffle griddling I thought to toss some pecan pieces into the batter. We taste tested both the plain blueberry and the blueberry pecan and the pecan were absolutely better in my opinion. I won't forget them next time. We served the waffles with a little bit of butter and the warm blueberry syrup. John is partial to his Log Cabin maple syrup so he added a little bit more of that over the top as well.

And a little Accidental Syrup....