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Waffle Variations
Banana Waffles-Add 1 1/2 cups chopped bananas. Blueberry Waffles-Add 1 cup blueberries. Chocolate Waffles-Add 2 squares melted chocolate, and 1/4 cup sugar. Peanut Butter Waffles-Add 1/3 cup peanut butter with the sugar and shortening. Rice Waffles-Add 2/3 cup cold cooked rice and 1/4 cup milk. Hominy Waffles-Add 1 1/2 cups cooked hominy and 1/4 cup milk. Date Waffles-Add 1 cup chopped and stoned dates and 1/4 cup milk. Cornflake Waffles-Add 1 1/2 cups cornflakes.
These are additions to a master waffle batter rather than standalone recipes, so quantities assume a batter built on roughly 2 cups flour and 2 eggs — enough for six to eight waffles in a standard iron.
- Two squares of chocolateBaking chocolate was commonly sold in 1-ounce squares, so this most likely means about 2 ounces, melted and cooled slightly before it goes into the batter. If the chocolate is unsweetened, the extra 1/4 cup sugar would offset its bitterness; the recipe itself does not say which kind is meant.
- Hominy, not gritsCooked hominy here means whole hulled corn kernels, drained and cooled — canned hominy works directly. Cooked grits will also fold in, but they thicken the batter far more, so add the milk gradually and judge by consistency.
- Why some variations add milkThe 1/4 cup extra milk in the rice, hominy and date versions appears to compensate for solids that absorb liquid or sit heavily in the batter. Without it the batter is likely to be stiffer and harder to spread across the iron.
- Cornflakes go in lastFold them in immediately before baking, with as few strokes as possible. Left to sit in the batter they soften and the textural point of the variation is lost.
- Sugar and fruit stickThe chocolate, date and banana versions carry enough sugar to weld themselves to the plates. Grease a non-electric iron more heavily than usual, and let the waffle set fully before attempting to lift the lid.
- BlueberriesFresh or fully thawed and drained berries are best; frozen berries added straight from the bag chill the batter and leave the interior underbaked. Tossing them in a spoonful of the dry flour keeps them from sinking.
- Peanut butterCreaming it with the sugar and shortening, as directed, helps keep it from streaking. Natural peanut butter separates and is looser than a stabilised commercial one, so stir it well and expect a slightly softer batter.
- Iron temperatureThe recipe gives no setting or timing. The chocolate version browns invisibly, so judge it by steam and by feel rather than by colour.
Waffle irons moved from the hearth to the electric outlet in American kitchens through the 1920s and 1930s, and cookbooks of the period often took exactly this form: a single master batter followed by a column of one-line variations. The additions here suggest a pantry in which leftover cooked rice and hominy were pressed into breakfast service, cornflakes were treated as an ingredient rather than only a cereal, and peanut butter was a well-established commercial staple worth trying in everything.