Cornmeal Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup

Brown Sugar Kitchen

I love waffles, but don't make them very often, and I'd never tried them with corn meal. This recipe uses it for about 1/3 of the quantity of flour, and I liked the inclusion of it. My batter turned out a little thin, and I think the waffles might have turned out better if it was a bit thicker; next time I would probably try that out.

Also...I definitely over reduced the syrup. It took about three hours to get it down to (almost) the right amount, and to be completely honest I could not watch it that whole time. So, next time I would definitely watch it more closely, pull it earlier and probably check the temperature instead of the volume. (I did a little checking on the internet and it looks like about 219°F is what you're looking for there.)

You do have to have a waffle iron of some sort to make waffles, but you can get a decent one relatively inexpensively. Honestly, my cheap little Dash version that makes English muffin sized waffles might be my current favorite, even over the new one I bought when I decided to make this recipe. And while you're limited in the number you can make at one time, they somehow seem easier than pancakes.

I found the full recipe here: https://www.latimes.com/recipe/brown-sugar-kitchens-cornmeal-waffles-apple-cider-syrup

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking books with
[00:07]: Heather today it's Saturday night but we
[00:10]: are preparing for our Sunday morning
[00:12]: breakfast we're going to be making
[00:14]: cornmeal waffles with apple cider syrup
[00:17]: from Tanya Holland's Brown Sugar Kitchen
[00:19]: cookbook she's got a new cookbook coming
[00:22]: out I can't wait to see it uh but I
[00:25]: haven't looked at it yet I don't I don't
[00:27]: know if it's out yet but it's out very
[00:28]: very soon
[00:29]: as of filming time
[00:33]: um but this is something that needs to
[00:34]: sit at least four hours in the
[00:37]: refrigerator so you don't really want to
[00:38]: whip it up uh in the morning
[00:42]: if you want to let it sit in the
[00:43]: refrigerator first
[00:45]: um it can sit for four hours or up to
[00:47]: overnight so we're gonna make it for
[00:49]: tomorrow
[00:50]: the first thing we need to do need to do
[00:52]: though for this recipe is to start the
[00:55]: apple cider syrup
[00:57]: so
[00:58]: to do that we have a pot here and a
[01:03]: bunch of apple cider this is just plain
[01:05]: apple cider no flavorings or anything
[01:10]: fresh cider
[01:12]: not hard cider
[01:15]: very tasty we're going to add to this
[01:20]: um
[01:21]: a lot of butter so there's going to be
[01:24]: butter in this syrup it's going to be a
[01:25]: buttery syrup
[01:34]: we're going to add
[01:35]: quite a bit of brown sugar that I've
[01:39]: already measured
[01:41]: we're gonna put
[01:42]: some cinnamon sticks in here and they're
[01:44]: going to help Infuse this with the
[01:46]: cinnamon flavor
[01:48]: and we've got a little bit of apple
[01:49]: cider vinegar
[01:51]: not a whole lot I'm going to be very
[01:53]: careful measuring this
[01:55]: over the pot that I don't get too much
[01:57]: in here
[02:02]: there we go
[02:03]: that one shouldn't make it you know
[02:05]: super Tangy or anything but it might
[02:07]: give it a little bit of an undertone
[02:09]: there we'll see we'll see how it turns
[02:11]: out
[02:12]: now I'm not going to show you this part
[02:14]: because it's going to take at least 45
[02:16]: minutes so what we're going to do I'm
[02:18]: going to put this on this stove
[02:20]: um bring it to a boil I'm probably going
[02:22]: to turn up sort of medium high to bring
[02:24]: it to a boil uh
[02:26]: reduce it to a simmer and then we're
[02:28]: going to simmer it for about 45 minutes
[02:30]: but what we're looking for is for all of
[02:32]: this to reduce to about a cup and a half
[02:36]: so I will probably keep this out and
[02:39]: then just um
[02:41]: measure it if I think it's there
[02:44]: that'll be more than half of the
[02:47]: original liquid reduced by more than
[02:49]: half so
[02:51]: yeah this is gonna take a while
[02:54]: so I'm gonna get this going
[02:57]: so now that our sauce our syrup is
[02:59]: started it's not boiling yet I'm gonna
[03:02]: have to keep an eye on it uh we can go
[03:04]: ahead and start making the waffle batter
[03:07]: and these are yeasted waffles so I have
[03:10]: some warm water this is not super hot
[03:13]: it's about 90 maybe a little bit above
[03:15]: degrees
[03:16]: should be fine we're adding the yeast to
[03:20]: the water
[03:21]: we're going to stir that up
[03:26]: and we're going to let this sit until
[03:28]: it's foamy she says about 10 minutes
[03:32]: I'm gonna
[03:33]: give it a nice stir
[03:37]: hopefully
[03:39]: that'll work she says to use
[03:42]: um active dry yeast honestly I don't
[03:45]: know what ours is labeled but it's what
[03:47]: we use for everything but
[03:49]: a very large amount of it keep it in the
[03:50]: freezer and use it for everything and it
[03:52]: all it works pretty well
[03:54]: so there we go we're going to set this
[03:56]: aside
[03:57]: for about 10 minutes
[03:59]: keep an eye out okay
[04:03]: and now we're gonna start putting
[04:05]: together the batter I'm going to combine
[04:09]: the
[04:11]: dry ingredients first so I can use the
[04:13]: same whisk done that before so
[04:16]: um we've got cornmeal
[04:19]: flour okay so I've got my flour already
[04:21]: pre-measured in here I'm going to add my
[04:23]: cornmeal so this is about a two to one
[04:26]: ratio here of flour to cornmeal
[04:30]: um
[04:31]: and then we're going to add uh we have
[04:35]: some kosher salt and some granulated
[04:37]: sugar and that is it and I'm going to
[04:41]: instead of sifting it like she says I'm
[04:42]: gonna whisk it because that's what I
[04:43]: like to do because I don't like to sit
[05:02]: all right
[05:03]: there we go nicely mixed move this over
[05:07]: here get rid of some of these bowls that
[05:10]: I don't need anymore
[05:13]: and now I'm going to combine the wet
[05:16]: ingredients so we're going to start with
[05:18]: um
[05:19]: eggs so I'm going to crack my eggs into
[05:22]: the bowl
[05:34]: [Music]
[05:38]: that's my hands I'm going to whisk the
[05:40]: eggs a little bit before I add the milk
[05:42]: just because I think that works better
[05:47]: foreign
[05:53]: whole milk
[05:56]: quite a lot of whole milk luckily I had
[05:59]: it this time so I didn't have to
[06:03]: sort of combine half and half and two
[06:05]: percent to come up with something that's
[06:06]: about cool
[06:08]: that's what I've happened to be recently
[06:10]: I'm just going to whisk this up together
[06:18]: so now we're just going to finish
[06:19]: waiting for our yeast
[06:24]: to sort of get bubbly
[06:27]: probably another
[06:29]: seven minutes or so still
[06:32]: so I'm gonna clean up while we wait for
[06:35]: that and then we'll be almost done
[06:37]: okay so my yeast is a little bubbly it's
[06:41]: fine
[06:42]: um
[06:45]: sure it's good so we're gonna add our
[06:47]: yeast and water to the wet mixture so
[06:51]: our eggs and our milk
[06:54]: [Music]
[06:56]: there we go
[06:58]: I'm going to give this a little whisk
[07:01]: get it mixed up well
[07:03]: and now we're going to
[07:05]: add this
[07:07]: to the flour mixture this is whisk in
[07:11]: I'm just going to put I'm gonna put the
[07:13]: wet into the drying so the dry into wet
[07:15]: I don't know it does it's not I don't
[07:18]: think it matters
[07:22]: unlike pancakes we're going to whisk
[07:25]: this pretty well until it's smooth
[07:28]: wants to be thoroughly combined
[07:32]: foreign
[07:40]: last thing we need to add to this today
[07:43]: there is going to be one ingredient that
[07:46]: we add tomorrow
[07:48]: um
[07:49]: we need to whisk in some melted butter
[07:51]: now
[07:52]: um
[07:53]: my microwave happens to be broken at the
[07:55]: moment so I had to melt this on the
[07:57]: stove so I'm a little annoyed at that
[07:59]: but
[07:60]: however it happened we have melted
[08:01]: butter I'm going to sort of
[08:04]: whisk as I stir this in
[08:08]: says until just combined but I just
[08:10]: don't want it's not super hot but I
[08:11]: don't want it to kind of curdle eggs or
[08:13]: anything
[08:26]: here we go
[08:28]: give it a little bit more of a stir here
[08:35]: all right
[08:36]: and now I need to cover this with
[08:39]: plastic wrap I might transfer it into
[08:41]: the smaller Bowl
[08:42]: come to think of it just because it will
[08:45]: be easier to cover and easier to find
[08:47]: room in my refrigerator so I'm going to
[08:49]: put it in this bowl I'm going to cover
[08:51]: it with plastic wrap and then I'm going
[08:53]: to put it in the refrigerator until
[08:54]: we're ready to make waffles in the
[08:56]: morning now I will show you what my
[08:60]: syrup looks like when it's all done I
[09:02]: think I still have like 40
[09:04]: 40-ish minutes on that it just came to a
[09:06]: boil and reduced it to a simmer
[09:09]: so I'm going to check on that and at 45
[09:11]: minutes and I'll tell you how long mine
[09:13]: took when it's actually reduced enough
[09:15]: so
[09:17]: I'll show you that and then we'll see
[09:19]: you in the morning to bake up some
[09:21]: waffles
[09:22]: we've gotten busy but I've checked on
[09:24]: this every so often and it's now been
[09:26]: about three hours and this is what it
[09:30]: looks like while it's cooking so I'm
[09:32]: gonna measure it
[09:34]: and
[09:35]: um we'll see if I've over reduced it
[09:39]: okay you see
[09:43]: I still got bubbles on the top but I
[09:45]: think we're close to about two cups not
[09:48]: a cup and a half
[09:49]: but I'm going to call it here and I'm
[09:52]: gonna put it in the refrigerator and
[09:53]: we'll have it
[09:54]: tomorrow morning and if I need to reduce
[09:57]: it still at that point I can because
[09:59]: we'll want to re-warm it
[10:02]: um I haven't yet I've kept the uh
[10:06]: cinnamon sticks but in the morning I'll
[10:08]: take those out
[10:10]: of fuse for now
[10:12]: but you want to remove those before you
[10:14]: serve them obviously
[10:17]: so we'll see you in the morning now
[10:18]: Sunday morning have my Apple
[10:22]: syrup apple cider syrup that's it
[10:24]: warming on the stove I may have over
[10:27]: reduced it because it's it was very very
[10:31]: thick this morning much thicker than
[10:33]: maple syrup is when it's been
[10:34]: refrigerated so
[10:36]: I may need to uh
[10:41]: thin it out with some water we'll see
[10:45]: um I'm heating it up right now and then
[10:47]: I can take the cinnamon sticks out of it
[10:49]: because I didn't do that last night and
[10:51]: I really should have because they're
[10:52]: totally embedded in it anyway so I'll be
[10:54]: looking at that over there occasionally
[10:57]: I also have some sausage that we're
[10:59]: gonna
[11:00]: serve with our pancakes cooking pancakes
[11:03]: waffles we're making waffles
[11:06]: there's one more thing we need to add to
[11:07]: our waffle batter uh luckily it did not
[11:10]: overflow my bowl with the yeasty
[11:13]: goodness last night but we do need to
[11:15]: add something to it we're going to add a
[11:18]: little bit of baking soda so this has
[11:20]: both yeast and other leavening agents in
[11:24]: it so that's interesting but we just put
[11:27]: it in there
[11:29]: and we're gonna just Stir It Up we do
[11:31]: not need to whisk it at this point so
[11:33]: we're just gonna stir this in
[11:42]: I do want to make sure I get it all oh
[11:44]: all throughout it it's very liquid
[11:51]: most most uh waffle batters that I've
[11:54]: seen end up a little bit thicker than
[11:56]: this but
[11:57]: we followed the instructions so I'm sure
[11:60]: it'll be fine it's almost like a pancake
[12:01]: batter though
[12:03]: anyway
[12:04]: I have a brand new waffle iron I do have
[12:07]: a mini one
[12:09]: and I have one that's pretty old that I
[12:12]: think we got for our wedding 20 years
[12:13]: ago so I went and bought a brand new
[12:16]: waffle iron
[12:18]: um
[12:19]: this is not a Belgian one it's a classic
[12:21]: waffle iron but I think you could
[12:23]: probably cook this in whatever you have
[12:25]: um so mine came with instructions and
[12:29]: most of them when the green light comes
[12:31]: on it's preheated and you put the waffle
[12:34]: batter in mine said half a cup so that's
[12:38]: what I'm going to be using at least to
[12:40]: start out with and also said to start
[12:42]: mine has um Browning levels on it so I'm
[12:44]: going to start with three so you put the
[12:46]: batter in you close it out the green
[12:49]: light goes off probably a red light
[12:51]: comes on and then when the green light
[12:53]: comes back on it's ready it should be
[12:56]: fully baked she says about three minutes
[12:59]: whatever we're just gonna go by the
[13:01]: Light
[13:02]: um
[13:04]: so we're going for a golden brown medium
[13:07]: sort of
[13:09]: color
[13:10]: um
[13:12]: and I oh I also have my oven preheated
[13:15]: mine has a warm and hold but she says I
[13:17]: think 250 ish with a baking sheet with a
[13:22]: rack because that's where we're going to
[13:23]: put these when they're done to hold
[13:25]: until we're ready she says this makes
[13:27]: eight to ten we'll see what it makes in
[13:29]: my Waffle iron but for most of them I
[13:33]: mean it's a non-stick waffle iron but
[13:35]: she says to grease to oil the the
[13:41]: plates and mine also I think it says to
[13:44]: oil plate so I've got some neutral
[13:46]: vegetable oil here and a silicone brush
[13:49]: that I'm just going to
[13:54]: brush a little bit of oil on both sides
[14:02]: and
[14:05]: we've got there I've got a little bowl
[14:08]: to put my
[14:10]: measuring cup which will be really messy
[14:13]: when we're done
[14:14]: all right
[14:16]: it says to put it in the middle
[14:21]: evenly
[14:25]: close it up
[14:30]: red light came on green light went off
[14:33]: and now we're just gonna wait until the
[14:35]: green light comes on oh we are
[14:37]: overflowing that's cool great I hate
[14:40]: that made it so I think I need less than
[14:43]: a half cup of batter
[14:45]: all right green light came on that was
[14:48]: very quick
[14:50]: and there we have our first Waffle
[14:54]: doesn't look perfect I think
[14:56]: perfect waffle in this we would want the
[14:58]: batter to be a little bit thicker
[15:01]: but there's not much I can do about that
[15:02]: now I don't want to add
[15:04]: it so
[15:05]: I got these little silicone
[15:08]: covered tongs I also might want to cook
[15:12]: this a little bit longer next time so
[15:13]: I'm going to keep this one as it is
[15:16]: and
[15:18]: keep cooking we'll see if I get to a
[15:21]: perfect one ever but they do look a lot
[15:24]: like hers except
[15:26]: maybe a little bit thinner I think she
[15:28]: might have used a Belgian
[15:30]: [Music]
[15:37]: on this episode of cooking the books
[15:39]: with Heather you watched me make
[15:40]: cornmeal waffles with apple cider syrup
[15:44]: from Tanya Holland's Brown Sugar Kitchen
[15:46]: cookbook
[15:47]: um so I thought this was a relatively
[15:50]: easy
[15:51]: waffle batter to make it was it came
[15:55]: together really quickly you did have to
[15:57]: mix you used several bowls mix some
[15:59]: things separately and but it's not too
[16:02]: bad that was fine
[16:04]: um it's nice to be able to go ahead and
[16:05]: mix that up
[16:07]: in the evening before you want to eat it
[16:09]: and it can sit in the refrigerator I
[16:11]: know there are other recipes for that
[16:13]: and I'd like to try some other ones too
[16:14]: I've been trying to try some I've been
[16:16]: wanting to try some yeasted waffle
[16:18]: recipes
[16:20]: um so
[16:22]: maybe we'll see some more of those in
[16:24]: the future
[16:25]: um so the waffles were pretty easy and
[16:26]: they were delicious
[16:28]: um the cornmeal I think
[16:31]: provided just a little different flavor
[16:33]: than the usual waffles but it was really
[16:35]: good we ate the little scraps that kind
[16:37]: of cooked on the edges as they were
[16:40]: cooking and that was good
[16:41]: um just by themselves
[16:43]: they're not super sweet in and of
[16:45]: themselves but the apple cider syrup is
[16:48]: really sweet I really think I over
[16:51]: reduced mine even though
[16:54]: it was never the cup and a half that she
[16:57]: says it's supposed to reduce to I think
[16:59]: it was still closer to two cups a little
[17:01]: bit over a cup and a half when I was
[17:04]: done uh I should have kept an eye on it
[17:07]: near the end a little bit
[17:08]: better but it took us like three hours
[17:12]: at a simmer to get it anywhere near done
[17:15]: so
[17:16]: instead of the 45 minutes that I was
[17:18]: expecting so life happened
[17:20]: and I couldn't watch it every second for
[17:23]: the last you know half hour or so
[17:26]: um and it it kind of candied so when I
[17:29]: took it out of the refrigerator it was
[17:30]: super super thick had to warm it up just
[17:34]: to get it all out of the measuring cup
[17:37]: that I stored it in in the refrigerator
[17:39]: so that was that was a thing
[17:43]: um almost like candy honestly and it was
[17:46]: I did end up adding a little bit of
[17:48]: water to try to thin it out some
[17:50]: probably should have added a little bit
[17:52]: more I can play with that next time
[17:54]: because we have a lot left over
[17:57]: um
[17:58]: in fact we had a lot of batter and a lot
[17:60]: of syrup left over
[18:01]: um so I can play with that next time see
[18:03]: if that's you know
[18:05]: feasible to
[18:07]: make it more of a syrup and less of a
[18:10]: candy but it did get really sticky on
[18:13]: the plate very quickly the way that I
[18:15]: did it so
[18:17]: if I were to make that syrup again and I
[18:19]: thought it was delicious I don't think
[18:20]: my kids enjoyed it but they don't
[18:21]: usually eat syrup on their waffles
[18:23]: anyway
[18:24]: or pancakes or anything chocolates here
[18:27]: it may be but not maple syrup
[18:30]: um so but if I made it again I would be
[18:33]: very careful and I might even
[18:37]: I think it would be much easier to cook
[18:40]: this to a temperature so I would
[18:42]: probably check the internet for like
[18:44]: what temperature is a good syrup
[18:46]: temperature because
[18:48]: um
[18:49]: when you cook sugar cook sugary things
[18:51]: if it gets to a certain temperature it's
[18:55]: sort of a certain thickness right and so
[18:57]: you that's how you make candy and fudge
[18:59]: and all of that so I want to bring it
[19:01]: down from the candy texture we had uh to
[19:05]: a more syrupy texture but
[19:09]: other than taking a lot longer for the
[19:12]: syrup
[19:13]: uh which would be awful if you tried to
[19:15]: do that the morning of
[19:17]: um I'm glad I made it last night because
[19:19]: otherwise we would still be waiting to
[19:22]: have breakfast it was a really easy
[19:24]: recipe we really enjoyed it I would
[19:27]: certainly make the waffles again not
[19:28]: sure about the syrup I would try it
[19:31]: if my kids liked it but if not I'd just
[19:34]: eat it with plain apple or plain maple
[19:37]: syrup so
[19:38]: it'd be great with fruit
[19:40]: there's just a great breakfast waffle
[19:43]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[19:45]: please give me a thumbs up hit the
[19:46]: Subscribe button and come back and watch
[19:48]: me make something else next week
[19:50]: [Music]