brunch Archives - Splash of Sherri

I’m about to turn your breakfast world upside down with my creation of banana bread waffles! You read that right Banana bread WAFFLES! It’s no secret banana bread was the official baked good during Covid-19 and hand up – I’m guilty and have baked dozens. At one point, when my son saw me about to bake yet another banana bread, I think he went pale! After splashing a little water on his face I asked “what am I going to do with all of these bananas?” Of course I freeze a lot for smoothies, but at the rate I have been buying them I still had plenty left over.

Since I already had the ingredients out for the bread, I said okay, how about banana bread waffles? His eyes lit up and this is how a recipe is born! I took my mom’s banana bread recipe (which we love) and tweaked a couple of things. I grabbed my waffle iron to see how they would come out, SUPER YUMMMMMMMY – that’s how! The waffles have everything you love about banana bread; they are naturally sweet from the bananas, soft and cakey like banana bread on the inside, and slightly crispy on the outside like a waffle.

When I served them I turned it into a party and set out a topping bar with sliced bananas (because why not?), fresh blueberries, toasted walnuts, sliced almonds, chocolate chips, strawberries, and maple syrup. Toppings always make everything better, don’t you think? Get creative with yours and set out what you like. You can also add finely chopped walnuts or mini chips right to the batter.

Here’s the best part, now that little by little we are all taking steps to get back to life outside our homes, you can have your banana bread in a fraction of the time. Start to finish breakfast is ready in less than 30 minutes. If you’re still looking for something special to make Dad for breakfast/brunch today this is it! These are perfect anytime you want to make breakfast or brunch a little bit more special. The recipe makes 8 waffles depending on your waffle iron, you can them warm in the oven until ready to eat, and they freeze great, but I don’t think there will be leftovers! What are you waiting for? Start mashing some of those bananas on your counter! As always, Enjoy! And happy Father’s Day!

ingredients
1 ½ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 large ripe bananas (1 cup mashed a little more will be fine)
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ cup Greek yogurt or low-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
chopped walnuts (optional)
mini chocolate chips (optional)

directions
In a large bowl add all the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to blend together and set aside. If you are going to add any of the optional ingredients like the walnuts or chocolate chips, add them to the flour mixture.

In a second bowl add the mashed banana, yogurt, eggs, sugar and butter and mix until well blended. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix just until blended. Do not over mix.

I used a waffle iron with four squares using about a half cup batter in each well and yielded 9 waffles. Follow your waffle iron directions and cook accordingly.

How lucky can a girl get when her husband and son wake up early on Mother’s day to make delicious popovers? Pretty lucky, especially since I love popovers. I wouldn’t say they are my favorite breakfast, but they’re right up there with the best of them. Growing up, my mother would take my sister and I to Neiman Marcus department store for lunch. That’s where I ate my first popover. They were served with softened butter and warm jam, it was such a treat to go there for a ladies lunch and have them. When my sister Rochelle came to visit us in Florida we always went there for lunch, she loved it. For days after my mother would talk about their delicious popovers; they’re so crusty yet soft inside, how do they get that way, they must be difficult to make. Then one day we decided to make them. I was taking home economics in high school and there was a recipe for popovers in the cookbook I had. Imagine, a plain old Betty Crocker cookbook could have such a fantastic recipe. It was only 5 ingredients and we thought how easy is that, let’s try it? Turns out, they were easy and so delicious. They became our special occasion breakfast. For my birthday this past summer, my son’s Jarred and Ethan made them for me on my birthday for breakfast. I’m glad they remembered to make them for me today as well. As my mother always said, everyday is mother’s day so enjoy yours with this special treat!

2 large or extra-large eggs*
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk at room temperature
1 tablespoon butter melted (plus extra to grease the muffin tins)
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Generously butter 6 muffin tins or six 5 ounce custard cups and set aside on a cookie sheet.

In a blender or with a mixer blend the eggs, milk, butter and salt. Blend just until mixed. Add the flour and blend on low just until smooth. Do not over beat.

Fill muffin tins ¾ full or if using custard cups about ½ full and bake for 20 minutes then lower the temperature to 400 degrees and bake about 10 to 15 minutes longer or until a deep golden brown. Keep an eye on them. If they get too brown on top, cover lightly with foil. Immediately remove from cups and serve.

You can serve them with butter or your favorite jam. Another delicious way to enjoy them is by making your own strawberry butter. There are a few recipes out there that add confectioner sugar to the butter and jam mixture. I find that too sweet and make it the way a restaurant in NYC taught me (coincidentally it was my first mother’s day). We went to a restaurant called Coconut Grill on the upper east side of Manhattan. Jarred was only about one month old and we were so tired we couldn’t even remember when we ate last. They put a basket of Irish soda bread on the table with a little cup of strawberry butter. It was the most delicious thing I ever tasted. The waiter was so nice he gave us the recipe.

1/2 pound (1 stick) of unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup strawberry jam (or your favorite jam, berry jams work the best)

With a hand mixer whip the butter until smooth. Add the jam and incorporate just till mixed lightly. It’s okay if the butter has streaks of jam. It couldn’t be any easier then that!

SONY DSC

I took a bunch of photos of my son while mixing the batter but found out I didn’t have a chip in my camera! How ridiculous is that? UGH! So here is the beautiful finished product. Crisp and golden on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. So yummy!

*I always bake with extra-large eggs. Subbing large will work fine too.

Splash of Sherri

Tag: brunch

banana bread waffles

Popovers with Strawberry Butter