I’ve been watching too much TV and having bad dreams. It happens. I’m super susceptible to, like, ALL THE FEELS, so when I see someone’s arm get cut off or someone’s brother’s uncle’s cousin marry their great-niece, it goes immediately into my psyche and gets processed however my subconscious sees fit. (And yes, I am watching Big Love.)
That said, my version of a bad dream isn’t so bad—it usually involves some iteration of my dead mother (ghost? almost dead? healthy? take your pick), and I wake up perplexed and slightly gratified. Gratified because I secretly like having quasi-nightmares about my mother. It’s my visitation rights for the dead.
One of the earliest emotional tools with which my psychospiritual hippie parents equipped me was the ability to “redo” dreams—to reimagine the sequence of events in any disturbing scenario so as to scrub out the demons, erase the awfulness.
And as I grew older, I realized there were many arenas in which a reset button was called for. In relationships, friendly or romantic, entrenched (read: bitchy!) behaviors regularly demand a redo. As do hair cuts, PowerPoint presentations, and monthly budgets (ye who write these win all the awards). And food.
Though some would argue in favor of a juice cleanse or some such in the arena of food resets, I am here to make the case for do-over waffles.
The best reset button to all sorts of unsavoriness is the dare-I-say glorious waffle. These, bursting with berries, grounding with whole grains, light with sour cream and rosewater, and sweet with maple walnuts, are guaranteed to make even your Mondayest of mornings a happy dream.
Of course, if you don’t have a waffle maker, you can easily make this batter into pancakes. The world is your waffle! I mean oyster.
Ingredients
Strawberry Rosewater Waffles
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoon honey
- 3 Tablespoons sour cream + more for garnish
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon ground vanilla bean or vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon rose water
- ½ cup sliced fresh or frozen strawberries
Maple Toasted Walnuts
- ¼ cup walnut pieces
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- pinch sea salt
Pancake Fixings
- maple syrup warmed
- fresh strawberries or other berries
- yogurt sour cream, or whipped cream
- t butter (I didn’ use but it’s always good to have butter around.
Instructions
- Preheat oven (or toaster oveto 400º. On a small baking sheet, distribute walnuts evenly and drizzle with maple syrup. Sprinkle with sea salt, and toss with you hands (doesn’t that feel good?). Bake for 5-7 minutes, until they become fragrant and golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, and sea salt in a large bowl. Crack two eggs in, then add the honey, sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Reserve strawberries.
- Mix thoroughly, incorporating the egg, until all dry ingredients are blended with wet. Do not over mix. Fold in the strawberries at the end.
- Plug in and prepare waffle iron (or frying pan if you’re making pancakes). When the iron is ready, add appropriate amount of batter into it (follow user manuaand cook for 3-5 minutes, again according to your machine.
- For pancakes, using a large frying pan or cast iron skillet on medium high heat, melt a pat of butter just until it sizzles. Use a ¼ cup scoop to add batter to the skillet, leaving at least a few inches between pancakes. Flip when bubbles pop on the wet pancake batter’s surface (the bottom should be beginning to brown), 1-2 minutes. The second side usually needs half the time.
- Keep waffles or pancakes warm in the oven, wrapped in foil. Serve with maple toasted walnuts, liberal amounts of maple syrup, sour cream, and fruit.
