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Cocoanut Waffles
3 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 2 eggs, beaten 2 cups milk 4 teaspoons melted shortening 1 cup Dromedary Cocoanut Mix and sift dry ingredients; add eggs, milk, shortening and cocoanut, and beat well; cook in a hot, well-greased waffle-iron and serve with sirup or honey.
A straightforward baking-powder waffle batter with a cup of shredded coconut folded through. The only real variables are the coconut itself and the iron.
- Dromedary CocoanutPackaged coconut of this era was generally plain desiccated shredded coconut rather than the moist sweetened flake that dominates supermarket shelves now. Unsweetened shredded coconut is likely the closer match; if you use sweetened flake, cut the sugar and expect a darker, faster-browning waffle.
- ShorteningIn this period that means lard or a hydrogenated vegetable shortening. Melted butter or a neutral oil works in the same quantity; butter will add flavour and a little more browning.
- "Beat well" needs qualifyingBeat the eggs and milk together thoroughly, then stir into the dry ingredients only until the flour disappears. Prolonged beating of the finished batter develops gluten and gives tough, leathery waffles.
- Grease the iron for coconutCoconut sticks and scorches more readily than plain batter. Brush the grids each time, even on a nonstick electric iron, and pull the waffles a shade earlier than you would otherwise.
- Iron heatThe recipe says only that the iron should be hot and well greased, which suits either a stovetop cast-iron iron or an electric one. On an electric iron use a medium-high setting; the coconut colours quickly at the highest heat.
- Batter consistencyThree cups flour to two cups milk gives a fairly thick batter, and the coconut absorbs liquid as it stands. Thin with a few tablespoons of milk if it does not spread when the lid closes.
- YieldAbout eight to ten waffles from a standard round iron, serving four to five. The batter is best used soon after mixing, as the baking powder loses some of its lift on standing.
Dromedary was the grocery brand of the Hills Brothers Company of New York, best known for dates but also a major seller of packaged shredded coconut, and this booklet is a cookbook of the sort associated with a single pantry item. Coconut had only become an everyday American ingredient once late nineteenth-century firms worked out how to shred and dry the meat for shipment in tins and cartons; before that it meant cracking a whole nut and grating it by hand. The recipe reflects that moment: a plain quick-bread batter, unchanged in structure from any waffle recipe of the day, with a cup of the sponsor's product stirred in and syrup or honey standing in for the fruit or preserves an older breakfast table might have offered. The instruction is simply to have the iron hot and well greased.