This is seriously my favorite fall breakfast dish ever.  Ever.  I found the recipe in the Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbook which I had downloaded on a whim onto my Kindle – it’s a pretty awesome little cookbook.  This recipe combines all the things I love about fall flavors with all the things I love about waffles – they are delicious and light and crispy on the outside, and have a lovely sweet-spicy flavor perfect for a cool autumn morning.  It also makes enough waffles for a small army; this recipe easily fed 6 adults at a recent brunch, and we still had 3 belgian-sized waffles leftover for later.  I have one of those rotating waffle-bakers popular in college cafeterias the world over, and it’s seriously one of my favorite appliances in the kitchen.  I made this once with pumpkin puree that I made myself, and the second time I used puree from a can – both times they were perfect.  I did make a few teeny modifications – I typically don’t keep ground cloves in my pantry as they just really don’t get enough play in my cooking, and additionally I was out of ground ginger.  So, those were just eliminated entirely.  And that’s about it for modifications - the second time, I did realize that I was out of milk as I was nearing completion for the recipe – so I swapped out the milk for water and the waffles still tasted perfect.

I also made my own syrup for these delicious pumpkin waffles.  This recipe, also from the Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbook is fantastic.  I was a little bit intimidated by making my own syrup, truth be told.  Turns out, it’s actually pretty easy – take something sweet and delicious, add some sugar, and reduce.  And poof – you have made your own syrup.  The apple cider on top of the pumpkin waffles is the perfect finish for these already delicious waffles.  I’m sure they would also be delicious with maple syrup too…but give the whole package a try – it really is quite easy, and you will not be disappointed.

Pumpkin Waffles – from Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbook

• 2 and 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 cups milk (or water, if you happen to be out of milk as I was)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 stick of butter, (1/4 cup) melted

Conbine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and spices in a large bowl.  Set aside.  Combine egg yolks, milk and pumpkin in a second large bowl.   Stir in wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Stir in melted butter.  Beat egg whites using an electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Fold egg whites into the batter until well combined.  Bake using a preheated waffle baker.  Serve warm with apple cider syrup.

Apple Cider Syrup - from Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbook

• 3/4 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Simmer over medium heat until reduced and liquid appears thick and bubbly.  Let cool slightly before serving on top of waffles.

Tags: Apple, Brunch, Cider, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Fest 2011, Syrup, Waffles

This entry was posted on Monday, October 24th, 2011 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Breakfast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.