Saturday, October 11, 2008

Breakfast: Pumpkin Waffles and Buttermilk Syrup

Nothing is better than a good friend. Well, I should rewrite that-- "Nothing is better than a good friend who fixes you good food." A few weeks ago, an especially dear friend of mine fixed an amazing breakfast. We were celebrating our most beloved day of the year--The First Day of School. So, we gathered around her table and feasted on pumpkin waffles and buttermilk syrup. While the pumpkin waffles are lovely and seasonal, this syrup will knock your socks off. D's parents visited last week and I fixed the waffles and noted syrup. When nobody was looking, I grabbed the nearest waffle scrap and dunked it in the syrup. As I ate the dunked scrap, a bit of syrup fell onto the counter. After looking around the corner to make sure nobody was coming into the kitchen, I wiped the drop up with my finger and licked it clean. Maybe I should have written "Nothing is better than a good friend who fixes you good food...food that is so good you lick it off of the counter."

Pumpkin Waffles with Buttermilk Syrup

2 cups flour
2 T. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. coriander
1/4 t. salt
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. pumpkin
3/4 c. butter
1 T. vanilla

Mix the above ingredients together. Beat 4 egg whites until stiff and fold in to the batter. Cook in waffle iron.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cup butter
1 cups buttermilk
2 cups sugar
1 t. baking soda
4 T. Karo syrup
2 t. vanilla

Cook in a large pot (it bubbles up!) Keep stirring for 7-10 minutes at boiling temperature. Now, make sure you boil it long enough. The first time I made this, I didn't boil it long enough and it was too runny.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Dessert: Mexican Chocolate Cake

Long ago (I really mean a few posts back, but because I am an infrequent blogger, it was long ago) I promised I'd post my favorite Mexican chocolate cake recipe. Here it is. I love this stuff. Mexican chocolate should only be reserved for cool people. Try this and you'll see what I mean: make the cake and don't tell anyone you added cinnamon (and a dash of chile in my case). See who notices. If someone asks you what spices were added, you can immediately admit them to your Cool Club.