J&J's Agave Waffles

Dane and I received a lot of gifts for our wedding... and lucky for me, most of them were kitchen-related! And while I was definitely surprised and super-excited to receive my KitchenAid stand mixer from my best friend, Sydney, and her family, one of the gifts I was most excited about was a small compilation of recipes from my grandparents, Jan and Jerry.

Jan and Jerry are food people... the kind of people who can happily spend a whole evening with a variety plate of cheese and crackers, a couple bottles of wine, and a good jazz station on the satellite radio. They're also the kind of food people who aren't afraid to play around with a recipe, so when they actually write down a recipe and stick to it, you know it's good. So you can imagine my excitement when I got a whole binder full of them! And when Jerry adamantly impressed that we must try the Agave waffles, I knew it had to be the first recipe I tried.

And true to J&J form... these were dynamite waffles. It's a pretty basic waffle recipe, true, but simple substitutions like Agave for sugar and melted butter for oil make all the difference. These waffles are sweet, but in a way that's more full-bodied than saccharine. And I really can't describe how important it is to use melted butter... just do it! The difference is incredible, I'm telling you. I'll never use oil in waffles again.

For breakfast-lovers like us, this was the perfect beginning to our J&J journey. Thanks guys!


J&J's Agave Waffles
a Learning Curve original
yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
3 tablespoons Agave syrup
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions
1.Preheat a waffle maker to desired temperature, according to manufacturer's directions.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine the milk, Agave syrup, butter, and eggs in a small bowl or a measuring cup, stirring with a whisk. Pour the milk mixture into the center of the flour mixture, and mix just until moist.
3. Spoon batter onto hot waffle maker, spreading batter to the edges. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until desired doneness. Repeat procedure with remaining batter.
4. To keep warm, place finished waffles on a cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 200F. Serve waffles with toppings of choice.