Homemade Waffle Recipe (Banh Kep)

The Food Scavenger under the guiding, mouth-watering auspices of the Waffleizer had caved and purchased a waffle-maker. Did the Food Scavenger predict the next month of inspired waffle-making and waffle-eating? No, no she did not and yet, there it was, an entire month gone to a waffle-bloated belly to arrive at a basic recipe that could be tweaked in ever so many ways. 

It could become a chocolate-chip waffle, a banana waffle, a pandan coconut waffle, a durian coconut waffle, a cacao waffle, and last but not least, remain itself, a plain waffle to be enjoyed with an assortment of toppings.

It was in every way... perfect. 

Basic Waffle Recipe (Banh Kep)

Whisk dry Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 cup sugar (less if planning to eat with syrup - Food Scavenger eats waffles in all their variations plain, so... more sugar in batter for Food Scavenger)

Whisk wet Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/8 cup oil

1 egg yolk

Fluff Incorporated (begin beating after mixing wet and dry ingredients):

1 egg white beaten until stiff peaks are formed

First, plug in waffle-maker.

Then, follow directions above, whisking wet and dry separately.

Form a hollow in the middle of dry. Pour wet into dry. Fold and rotate bowl until wet + dry incorporated into a lightly lumpy, but mostly homogeneous mixture. Set aside for baking powder action (mixture will begin to have bubbles). 

Then, begin to beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. When you lift your whisk, the egg whites will plop back onto the mixture, but retain their shape.

Now, begin to fold in the egg whites into bubbly, waffle mixture. The mixture will lighten and become smooth. Food Scavenger likes to use spatula to slice down middle and then fold, while rotating bowl to incorporate egg whites and smooth mixture.

With that done, pour 2/3 of waffle mixture into waffle maker to make one waffle. For Food Scavenger's waffle maker, 5 minutes for soft waffle, 6 minutes for lightly crispy waffle, and 7 minutes for dark, crispy waffle.

Makes four waffles.

Food Scavenger's Notes on Variation:

The Food Scavenger has used unbleached, all-purpose flour for the most part; the baking powder has been double-acting; the sugar has varied between white granulated or light brown or dark brown or turbinado cane sugar depending on the flavor of the waffle with still good result; the milk generally fat-free; and the oil has been grapeseed.

Pandan or Durian Coconut Waffle (Banh Kep La Dua or Saurieng): Replace milk with coconut milk (Food Scavenger likes Chaokoh). Incorporate 1/2 - 1 tsp pandan (also marketed under the name screwpine) or durian extract into wet ingredients.

Food Scavenger's family put the thumbs down for pandan (in Vietnamese la dua), but thumbs up for durian since the durian extract smells less like actual durian and more like a fragrant sweetness. Pandan i.e. la dua just smelled weird to them in the context of a waffle.

Chocolate Chip Waffle: 1/3 + 1/6 cup waffle mixture + handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Fold, until mixed. Then pour evenly into waffle maker. Makes one waffle.

Banana Waffle: 1/3 + 1/6 waffle mixture + 1/2 to 2/3 banana (depends on size). Dice banana pieces with spatula. Fold until mixed. Then pour evenly into waffle maker. Makes one waffle. 

As can be seen, a plain waffle mixture can become many different types of waffles. Food Scavenger likes to make two banana waffles and two chocolate chip waffles, whenever she makes waffles. When cool, chocolate chip waffle is wonderfully chewy and soft with still melt-y chocolate chips. Yum. Food Scavenger no longer needs chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip waffles are too awesome, quick, and wonderful in comparison to cookie. Also, instead of Reese's pieces, which Food Scavenger finds too sweet, Food Scavenger prefers cacao waffle with crunchy peanut butter spread on top. Mmm...

Cacao Waffle: Add 1/6 c. cacao powder to dry ingredients. (Reese's Pieces style: slather on peanut butter, while cacao waffle still warm. Yogurt style: slather strawberry yogurt onto cacao waffle.)


Update from the Food Scavenger 7/7/2011:

Raisin Bran Waffles: For dry ingredients, replace flour with 2/3 c. whole wheat flour + 1/3 c. bran. Toss in 1/2 to 1 tsp. of cinnamon with dry ingredients. Soak raisins in hot water until they bloom (become soft and squishy). Toss out water. When putting on waffle maker, fold in handful of raisins (or more depending on your preference) with 2/3 c. of waffle mixture. Makes 3 waffles.