Cheesy Waffles

Oh yes! While helping my Mum clear out her attic long before we moved, I came across an old Nordic Ware stove top waffle iron. Not sure of where it came from, she was going to send it to the charity shop, but I claimed it for my own and it got added to our boxes ready for our house move. I finally got around to unpacking it at the weekend and couldn’t wait to try it out! James isn’t one for sweet breakfasts, so we tried a cheesy waffle mix (adapted from here) and served them with crispy bacon (and maple syrup for me). The waffles are so light and fluffy, and I was really impressed with the bit of kit too, especially given that it’s older than I am!

Ingredients:

260g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

Salt and pepper to season

2 eggs

480ml whole milk

110g unsalted butter, melted

150g mature cheddar, grated

If you’re not serving the waffles as you make them, pre-heat your oven to 120c and place a clean baking tray on the middle shelf – as you make your waffles, you can put them in the oven to keep them warm while you make the rest.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and put to one side. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the milk, and then continue whisking while pouring in the melted butter. Add the cheese and give one last mix.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and fold the mix together until just combined.

Heat your waffle iron in line with the manufacturer’s guide, greasing if necessary. You will need to refer to the guide to see how much batter should be used at a time, and for more specific cooking instructions but here’s a rough guide:
Once your iron is up to temperature, pour approx. 300ml of the batter into the centre of your waffle iron and close the lid. Cook for 30-45 seconds on one side before flipping the iron over and cooking on the other side for a further 2-3 minutes until it stops steaming and it starts turning brown.

Turn the cooked waffle out onto your baking tray in the oven and repeat the process with the remaining batter – I made 4 and a half large, four-square waffles from this batter.

Pile with your favourite toppings and dig in!

You can make these a day ahead and just re-heat them in the oven, or you can freeze any that you don’t eat straight away – they’ll keep for a month and can be reheated from frozen.