Waffle Thursday

Most days of the week we have cold cereal for breakfast. Sometimes we have bagels. There is the odd omelet or pancake breakfast. The most special of breakfasts though, include freshly baked waffles.

On many, many occasions my children would plead for waffles. I felt guilty each time I said, "Not today" and then witnessed their disappointment at having to eat boring old cereal again.

The thing is, I love waffles as much as the next guy, but they are not something I can just jump into at a moment's notice. There are ingredients to measure, equipment to assemble--an appliance to retrieve from the cabinet and plug in for goodness sake. I have to be mentally prepared for such a task at so early an hour.

To ease my poor children's suffering, and to add a little routine to our weeks I suggested that we institute "Waffle Thursday". The deal was that I would bake waffles every Thursday morning, and they would not ask for them ever again. Sweet deal! Since September we've kept the bargain. I half expected the waffle-lust to have fizzled by now, some nine months later, but no. Their zeal is as strong as ever.

Having an excuse to eat chocolate before 9 AM is worth the extra cleanup in my opinion. I sprinkle a few chips onto the waffles just before closing the lid.


If my husband were home, he'd slather them with massive quantities of butter, then load them up with syrup. Since I do not wish to serve my poor, sweet, young children a cardiovascular event on a plate, we slice the waffles into strips with a pizza cutter, then sprinkle on a little powdered sugar.

Cutting them into strips makes it easy to eat them with our fingers--another treat!

Sometimes we have to wait for the waffles. I make them stand in a line. Any "me firsts" go to the back of the line.
Sean looks like he could use a nap.
Happy Waffle Thursday!


Recipe follows
The Dry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar

The Wet:
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Additional Goodness:
about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Spoon the batter onto a hot waffle iron and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Makes 16 waffles.