Meet my husband’s Father’s Day breakfast. Crisp, light belgian waffles topped with sweet bananas sauteed in butter, sugar and rum garnished with toasted pecans. And bacon of course, always with bacon. Sound good? You don’t need to go to New Orleans to get this. It is surprisingly easy to make at home.
BELGIAN WAFFLES WITH BANANAS FOSTER
Makes 8-10 Waffles
WAFFLES
Adapted from the Waring Pro Manual recipe
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
- 1/3 cup sugar, divided
- 3 cups sifted flour (that’s measure after sifting)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs, separated plus one egg white
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
BANANAS FOSTER
Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 3 bananas, sliced in half lengthwise
- 1/3 cup rum, divided
GARNISH
- 1 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
MAKING THE WAFFLES
Heat the water to lukewarm (105-110 degrees F). Dissolve the yeast in the water with 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture is foamy.
Add the rest of the sugar, one whole egg, the yolks, the milk, melted (and cooled) butter, oil and vanilla to the yeast mixture. Stir until smooth.
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir to blend. Add the liquid mixture and beat until smooth.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter. Let the batter stand for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Preheat your belgian waffle maker to preferred heat. I like 4 1/4 on my Warring Pro Belgian Waffle Maker. Add the batter and cook. Again, on my machine, that is just short of one cup of batter. This recipe makes 8-10 waffles.
I like my waffles crisp, so I’ve picked up another little trick. Right after they come out of the waffle iron, toss them in the air for about 30 seconds or just put them on a rack. This allows some of the steam to disperse before you put the waffle on the plate. If you are making a bunch to serve all at once, store the baked waffles on a rack in a warm oven (like 150-175 degrees F) until ready to serve.
MAKING BANANAS FOSTER
Melt butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over low heat. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until sugar dissolves. Bring sauce to simmer.
Add bananas and cook for 1 minute on each side, carefully spooning sauce over the bananas as they are cooking.
Remove bananas from pan to a serving dish. Bring sauce to a simmer and carefully add the rum. If the sauce is very hot, the alcohol may flame on its own. If not, using stick flame, carefully ignite and continue cooking until flame dies out, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.
If sauce is thin, cook for 1 to 2 minutes until it is syrupy in consistency.
Serve over the crisp waffles and top that with toasted pecans. No butter required.
