This is my Great Geandma’s very basic but super rich waffle recipe. Similar ones are imprinted on old cast iron waffle irons that can be found on ebay, and the beauty is: those recipes work great, ESPECIALLY in cast iron. I’ve baked great grandma’s waffles many times in many different irons, and while the result was always a bit different depending on the iron’s shape, they never failed.

The waffle’s texture depends on the used iron. They end up cake-like, slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside in a belgian iron like I used here. In cast-iron, they bake up a bit airier and crispier.

Since my last cast iron adventure ended up with a huge mess in my grill, I baked these in the kitchen. I need to find and re-purpose and old, rimmed cookie sheet for the grill first, to catch spills.

• 250g soft butter (room temp)
• 150-250g sugar (the more sugar, the crispier the waffles)
• 5 large eggs (room temp)
• 500g flour of your choice
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 500g milk (room temp)
• pinch of salt
• splash of rum

It’s important that the butter is soft and all the fridge ingredients have the same temperature as the butter. You can achieve it by placing everything on the counter an hour before you start making the batter.

If the ingredients don’t have the same temperature, the dough ends up gritty instead of smooth and properly emulgated. This means that the waffles will start sweating fat like crazy during the bake and you’ll have quite a mess on your hands.

Other than that, you can play with the recipe to change things up a bit:

• add cinnamon, aniseed or vanilla
• use half buttermilk and half water for the liquid
• add cocoa
• hide chocolate chips or blueberries in the batter
• …

I added a bit of cocoa and arabian coffee spice to half the batter.

Whip butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy and foamy, then add everything else, alternating the dry and the liquids. You’ll end up with a thick but smooth batter.

And then, bake waffles. Either according to your electrical waffle maker’s instructions, or in a cast iron like I described last week.

The waffles are so rich, I prefer them just with a dusting of powdered sugar. But feel free to add ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and fresh fruit or whatever else you like as a topping.