Waffle Party! Yeast-Raised Waffles

We recently had the best waffles we've ever eaten and it was at none other than a waffle party.  

And the waffle party was none other than in New York City.  Eating doesn't get much better than this.  This was at my cousin's apartment in New York City located in the Upper West Side. 

I've mentioned her before when her apartment (or called a co-op in New York) was featured in the New York Times in 2012 here.  

Thirteen years later, I'm finally getting to see her place and she really rolled out the red carpet for us. 

Bruce and I were visiting New York on our way to Washington D.C. to see Nick who was there for work.  And we loved every minute of being in New York.  I also have a nephew who lives there and we met up with him, as well.  Both of my relatives who live there are the most wonderful, fun people and our take-away after visiting New York is that the people there are extremely outgoing, fun-loving with very interesting lives.   There is no hesitation in striking up a conversation with a stranger.  And the stranger will most likely be very inquisitive and interested in who you are, too.  We discovered that while eating in diners for most our meals.  We were really" into" diners.

We loved the food and the friendly people who eat there, as well as the servers.   Diners are everywhere in New York City and they will usually serve breakfast all day with other "home cooked" offerings like Hungarian Goulash.

We loved the diners but every meal we had, diner or not, was such good quality like in the cafeteria at MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, where Bruce had a simple grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup that was spectacular.

Or lunch at Chelsea Market where I ordered breakfast again (because I LOVE breakfast all day) in the form of Shakshuka - amazing! 

Or the big bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup at 10:00 p.m. after our Broadway show in another diner near Times Square

along with another Egg Cream that I got hooked on while in New York. 

                 
You don't have to eat at an expensive, fancy, upscale restaurant in New York to get good food, let me tell you.  We stayed in Midtown while we were there and took the subway everywhere which are nearly identical to the trains in Japan (only English, yay!!) so it was very easy for us.  We went to two Broadway shows; The Lion King

and a new show called Maybe Happy Ending with Darren Criss from the TV series Glee that I really liked when it was on about ten years ago.  We both loved each show, the ultimate date night in New York City.

It was cold while we were there, in the 20's, and even snowed one night which made it even more magical; time to dip into another diner for a steamy hot cup of cocoa.

We were dressed for cold weather so it was fun for us.  We toured Radio City Music Hall that has the largest stage in New York City and even met a Rockette;

we went up to the top of the Empire State Building;

experienced Times Square, of course; 

MoMA and Rockefellow Center; 

toured the 9/11 Memorial; walked the Highline

and experienced Lavain Cookies, the 6 oz. cookie that has become a New York institution. 

There is sooooooo much to do in New York.  We loved playing tourists since it was our first time together in the City That Never Sleeps and we could have done a lot more.  But we will be back again, for sure. 

Back to the Waffle Party. 

After visiting my cousin, I told her that I wanted to host my own waffle party when I got home.  I finally did when Bruce's sister came to visit from Chicago with her son and his 7-year old daughter for five days.  Now, we had fun playing tourist in Seattle. 

I made the waffles on the second morning and guess what?  They all LOVED my waffle party and said the waffles were the best waffles they've ever tasted!  We were not surprised, of course, since we said the same thing in New York.  We don't have the fancy waffle iron that my cousin has who was so generous to even let Bruce help her make the waffles.  Her waffle party was a full blown experience in every way. 

I did, however, pick up and apply one little tip from her.  Along with serving your waffles with whipped cream, strawberries, bananas, walnuts, pecans, and the very best quality butter you can find

you must also get the very best syrup you can find and I did.  My cousin had Crown Royal bourbon barrel aged syrup that was amazing.  There was no alcohol in it since it is only aged in the barrel but you do get a little whiff of that bourbon flavor. 

I was impressed, to say the least.  So, when I got home, I went shopping and I found my own little gem of a syrup at our local grocery store.  It is also a barrel aged syrup from a local distillery called Woodenville Whiskey Distillery and Bruce even did work with them when they were under construction  and knows the owner so I had to get that one and it was a HIT!  

Having a quality syrup makes a big difference when serving waffles even if the recipe is the best one you'll ever have; take my word for it.  Our guests were blown away.  So, if you want to serve a very impressive breakfast, brunch, or waffle party, use this recipe and get a barrel aged syrup, have all the fixings on the side and you'll be guaranteed a success.  Even if you are not in New York City with a beautiful Upper West Side apartment that was featured in the New York Times, you guests will still be impressed.  It will be a waffle party they will never forget. 

Make the batter a day ahead so it can sit overnight for the yeast to ferment.  I left my batter overnight two nights before we had waffles for breakfast and the batter was still fine so sitting longer is acceptable. 

Makes 20 waffles

1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast

2 cups milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for serving

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. sugar

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/4 tsp. baking soda

maple syrup, for serving

1.  Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water; set aside until foamy, 8-10 minutes.

2.  Add milk, butter, salt, sugar, flour, and eggs; whisk until combined.  

3.  Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.  

4.  Heat a nonstick waffle iron.  Whisk baking soda into batter. 

5.  Pour 1/4 cup batter onto iron; let set for 30 seconds. Lower lid; cook until golden and crisp, 4-5 minutes.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Serve with butter and maple syrup (barrel aged is best...) with any fixings on the side, as desired.