Apple Cinnamon Waffles

Today my husband was helping out at the farm of my in-laws, harvesting grass and turning the grass into round bales. It was a long and hard workday, so I surprised him with warm, fresh waffles when he came home. Not normal waffles, but waffles with a twist ... Apple Cinnamon Waffles....and they were delicious! Especially when eaten lukewarm, that's when you really taste the apple and cinnamon.

Apple Cinnamon Waffles
(makes about 12)

Ingredients:
25 gr of fresh yeast (you could probably use 1 sachet of dried yeast instead)
4 dl milk, cold
4,5 dl of all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
1 apple, grated
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1,5 dl of melted butter

1.) Dissolve the fresh yeast in the cold milk.
2.) Mix the flour, salt, sugar, apple and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3.) Add half of the milk/yeast solution, and stir well.
4.) Add the rest of the milk/yeast solution together with the melted butter, and stir well.
5.) Set aside and leave to rise for a couple of hours at room temperature.
6.) Bake waffles in a waffle iron.
7.) Serve lukewarm, with your favourite topping.

Enjoy!

Kefir Waffles

Earlier this week my husband told me that he would eat "surmelk" (soured milk) with "kavring" (light, round, rather crumbly, twice-baked crispbread) when he was growing up. I couldn't really imagine what it would taste like, so the next time I was at the supermarket to get a whole weeks worth of groceries, I decided to get both ingredients so I could try this combination myself.

Kavring was easy to find, but I got confused in the dairy aisle because there are sold two different types of soured milk at the supermarkets here in Norway - "kefir" and "kulturmelk" (buttermilk). I decided therefore to bring a liter of each.

Back home again, it turned out that "kulturmelk" was the right type of soured milk. My husband prepared a bowl for me and I tasted it - although I have to admit I was very sceptical to begin with .... Well, guess what? It turns out that I actually grew up eating something very similar - but instead of using either kefir or buttermilk, we used yoghurt and added a couple of tablespoons of red berry syrup ("Roosvicee Original") to the yoghurt and crispbread. Memories came straight back to me!

Not a week goes by without waffles being eaten in our home, just like in many other Norwegian homes. Where Belgian waffles are rectangular, thick and crispy, Norwegian waffles are soft, thin and made in a heart shaped waffle iron. Normally I make the waffle batter with fresh milk, but with one liter of kefir left over I had to find a recipe for waffles using soured milk.

Kefir Waffles
(makes about 18)

4 eggs
6 tbsp sugar
1 ltr kefir
6 dl / 360 gr all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamum
150 gr butter, melted

1.) Beat eggs and sugar until light and airy.

2.) Add the kefir and mix lightly.

3.) Mix the flour, baking powder and ground cardamum together, and add to the kefir mixture.

4.) Melt the butter and let it cool down a bit before adding it to the batter.

5.) Let the batter set for a while (preferably a day) before cooking in a waffle maker.

6.) After cooking in the waffle maker, let the waffles cool down (just a bit) on a rack. This will make sure that the waffles do not get soggy (which they will if you stack them on top of each other on a plate).

We serve the waffles with different types of yummy toppings: a couple of slices of Norwegian brown cheese, a spread of jam and sour cream, a spread of chocolate paste, a spread of speculoos (speculoos cookies turned into a spread) etc.

Enjoy!