Sweet Compositions

Currently I have one goal concerning my preparation of food: Get rid of everything that I have in my refrigerator! Yes, I’ll be giving up cooking for a couple of weeks to follow wherever the road takes me. In one week, I have to move out of my current apartment, a week later I’ll be starting my travels along the west coast of the US. I don’t think that I’ll be able to do a lot of cooking during the next couple of weeks for an obvious reason: I don’t have a kitchen!

So right now, I seriously try to use everything that I have accumulated over all these months, though I think it’s hopeless. There’s just so many things that I’ve used once or twice and never since, which I’ll just pass on to my friends, hoping that they’ll make better use of it than I did. For example I discovered an unopened bottle of balsamic vinegar today – definitely not going to open it now. Other things that I used rarely: coconut flakes, almond essence, soy sauce and sesame oil. The last one I actually love, but you simply can’t use it often and in large amounts because it has such a distinct taste. Oh right, I got sesame as well in its common form. I think I used it once for baking bread. Yes, I can be a little bit uneconomic when it comes to food, because my mind sometimes switches into “I really want to make that, I don’t care if I have leftovers”-mode. Not actually that good for a grad student, but somehow I manage to use most of it though often in a rather spontaneous manner, where I think “Oh shit, I have to eat this before it’s not good anymore” and then go out and buy new stuff to go together with the old stuff. It’s an evil circle!

Waffles with Nuts
idea adapted from ABCnews.com

180g flour
40g grounded nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts)
70g sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
400ml of milk or buttermilk

First step: Preheat your waffle iron. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl, which means the flour, grounded nuts, sugar, baking powder and salt. Separate the eggs, put the egg whites aside and add the yolks to the dry mixture.

Second step: Add the (butter-)milk and the vanilla extract and whisk to combine everything smoothly. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. With a large spoon incorporate them slowly into the batter. Just try to stir them in by heaving the batter over the whites and the other way around. Avoid rapid movements, because it will destroy the texture of the egg whites.

Third step: Oil the waffle iron and add the batter to the iron, I usually use about two ladles per waffle, but it depends on the iron and the depth of your spoon. The baking powder will make the waffle rise in all directions, so keep that in mind when adding the batter.

The recipe will make about four waffles. I ate them with maple syrup, which is to my mind one of the best things here in America and I’ll definitely continue this habit of eating maple syrup with waffles or pancakes when I’m back in Europe. Don’t add too much though, that’s not healthy! ;)