Wholemeal Waffles

How’s your June going? We’re happy to report that the store is OPEN.  The health and safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority. We’re limiting the number of customers inside the store at once and making sure that all employees and customers wear masks. We also have contactless checkout! We’re getting used to this new normal and working hard to make sure that all of our employees and customers stay safe and healthy. Thank you to all of our staff and customers for your ongoing support. It’s such a tough time for small businesses everywhere and we consider ourselves extremely lucky to have such loyal customers and employees. 

On a personal level, it makes me extremely sad to think about all of the businesses and restaurants that are struggling right now or have closed and may not reopen due to this pandemic. My father recently sent me an email outlining the difficulties and perils of running a small business, having read numerous articles on the subject in the last few months. I know for a fact that it is not easy. Running your own small business is a labor of love, but as I have witnessed, it is also rewarding in many intangible ways. We run into people all the time who have been to Paddy’s and have a story to tell.  So many people who met my mother-in-law have very specific memories of her from times they shopped in the store and I love how that helps to keeps her memory alive.  

 As someone who has always worked for companies or the government, there are so many things I take for granted, my 401(k), health insurance, predictable income.  This pandemic has also made me realize that while I enjoy the security that a corporate job offers, I don’t want to live in a world where amazon.com is the only place to shop, one where there are no local, one-of-a-kind, neighborhood restaurants. I don’t want to live in a world where we no longer have those places and experiences in common with others in our community. I don’t think anyone else does either. So I’m hopeful that one of the lasting changes that comes out of this pandemic is that we all appreciate and support local small businesses more. I know that I can do my part to spend more locally and I’m endeavoring to do that as things begin to open up here in Chicago.

Yikes! Not sure how I went from “Yay! The stores are open!” to the future of the American community, but I’m pretty sure I’d rather talk about waffles.  My kids would eat a hot, homemade breakfast every day if we weren’t always rushing out the door. So as you might imagine, we have been making waffles much more often ever since we started sheltering in place in March. I’ve made waffles with yeast, rice flour, various different mixes and mix-ins, and lately, these amazing waffles adapted from a recipe from Deb Perlman that was published in Bon Appetit. 

The original recipe calls for whole wheat flour and instant oats, Irish ingredients that I’ve got in spades. I substitute the whole wheat flour in the recipe for an equal amount of the Odlums coarse wholemeal flour that I’m obsessed with.  For the liquid, Deb uses plain yogurt, melted butter and an egg.  I’ve mixed that up a bit and usually use melted coconut oil, egg and either tofu or cottage cheese. I know, I know. Cottage cheese in waffles or pancakes is one thing but tofu? I got this idea from somewhere on the internet many years ago and I promise you, tofu waffles are SO good. They are also super nutritious and my kids have never noticed there is a whole bunch of tofu in there. #winning. I add a little bit of sugar and some warm spices because we are all fans of fruit, butter and syrup on waffles. The sugar and spices can be omitted if you want to make a savory version, which would be great, IMO, with eggs, bacon, cheese and hot sauce. 

Dry ingredients.

Add a little milk if the batter is too thick to spread, but not too much, it should end up being the consistency of cooked oatmeal (see below).

Don’t worry if your batter is lumpy and thick and hard to spread on the waffle iron. That’s how it should be!

This is how I weigh down my waffle maker.

Crispy tops.

Thanks to my brother-in-law John I am still on an Odlums kick. I actually had no idea that Oldums wholemeal flour came in “Coarse” and “Super Coarse” but I’m now the proud owner of a bag of super coarse, which I am super excited to try in this recipe.  I’m pretty sure I am going to love it even more than the regular coarse stuff. 

 One word of warning so that you don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t undercook these. The first time I made them, the flavor was good but they were not crispy at all and kind of floppy, nothing like what I was expecting from my Odlums flour which usually adds a ton of texture and sturdiness.  After that, I made sure to weigh down the lid of my waffle maker and cook them for a long time. Problem solved. These should be really crunchy on the outside.  In fact, when made with cottage cheese, they come out with caramelized tops from the areas where little bits of cottage cheese come into contact with the waffle grid.  

Wholemeal Waffles

Ingredients

1 cup Odlums coarse wholemeal flour

½ cup quick cooking oats

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

¼  tsp baking soda

¼  tsp pumpkin pie spice or mix of warm spices (e.g. ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice etc.)

2 tbs sugar

1 cup cottage cheese, plain yogurt or soft tofu

1 large egg

2-3 tbs melted butter or melted coconut oil

Milk as necessary to loosen up the batter

Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine thoroughly.

2. Add melted butter or oil to dry ingredients and mix until evenly incorporated.

3. Make an indent in the middle of the dry ingredients, add egg, tofu, yogurt, or cottage cheese and stir. 

4. If using yogurt, you may or may not need to add milk. If using cottage cheese or tofu, some milk will probably be needed to loosen up the batter. 

5. In any event, the batter should be THICK, about the consistency of oatmeal.

6. It’s not easy to spread it into the waffle maker because it should be sticky and thick so just do your best, it will be fine! 

7. I usually put a heavy ovenproof pot on top of my waffle maker to ensure maximum crisp.

Pumpkin Bread with Odlums Coarse Wholemeal Flour

Checkout the terrain. It’s coarse, it’s wholemeal and it’s delicious.

Ever since March, I’ve noticed an uptick in the presence of brown bread recipes on the internet.  From Saint Patricks Day straight into a quarantine, which resulted in a shortage in both flour and yeast, brown bread has gotten a lot of coverage on the web as an alternative to breads made with all purpose or white bread flour and yeast. I’m loving it because Irish brown bread is SO good and it's finally getting some of the recognition that it deserves! As you may know, I am a huge fan of Odlums Coarse Wholemeal Flour, the stuff that gives brown bread it's indescribable texture and sets it apart from all other breads.  Famous for brown bread, Odlums can be used successfully in so many recipes.  I substitute it one for one in yeasted bread recipes calling for whole wheat flour, and I’ve used it in tart dough, Rachel Allen’s brown scones, waffles, the list goes on. This week I discovered yet another use for this versatile flour - Pumpkin Bread. 

I found some Pumpkin Bread in the freezer the other day. A whole loaf! Despite having a google doc that contains an inventory of the contents of my freezer, I still find surprises in there. Some unrecognizable, some, like this pumpkin bread, happily identifiable.  

A couple of days ago the kids all descended upon me in hot pursuit of breakfast just as I was wrapping up an important project for work.  I felt like a superhero as I popped the pumpkin bread into the microwave to defrost, fed them each a fat slice, and got right back to what I was doing. They too were amazed. Not by my super-powers, but by the sweet glory of pumpkin bread. I’m pretty sure that loaf was from a store-bought mix but it was still pretty good (and I was definitely grateful for its appearance). Now, 80-something days into quarantine, I don’t have pumpkin bread mix in my cupboard, so when Isla requested more pumpkin bread, I had to make one from scratch. 

It never occurred to me to take a photo of it before eating some. #priorities

Feeling sort of guilty for allowing them to eat an entire loaf of pumpkin bread from a mix, likely with an unholy amount of sugar and bleached white flour involved, I decided to try to make one that was a bit more healthy. I’m so lucky to have a good source for Odlums coarse wholemeal flour, yes, the incredible, uniquely textured flour that gives brown bread its je ne sais quoi. I just found out that it’s GREAT for pumpkin bread too. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m so proud of this recipe. I absolutely just threw it together on a wing and a prayer, but somehow it really worked and I would make it again without changing a thing. Thanks to the coarse texture of the flour and the pumpkin, the bread came out both crunchy and moist without the use of much oil, and not too much sugar either, well, if you don’t count the chocolate chips. 

While I was trying to add a little fiber and some vegetables to my kids’ diets, all they wanted was cake. So I put in lots of chocolate chips and knew that I struck the right cord, at least as far as they are concerned, when my two-year old started singing “Happy Birthday” after her first bite. Who cares if they think it’s cake when it’s really pretty good for them? I like the chocolate chips too. Sorry not sorry. 

See? CAKE!

So try this out on your own kiddos, big and small, the Odlums really makes it special so please use it if you can get some. If you are in the Chicago area, Paddy’s is doing curbside sales and they have some! 

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

2 cups Odlums coarse wholemeal flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or mix of warm spices (e.g. ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice etc.)

1 15-oz can pumpkin or butternut squash puree

4 egg yolks (leftover from the frosting on Eve’s birthday cake - you can use 2 whole eggs)

⅓ cup vegetable oil

⅓ cup sugar

⅔ cup brown sugar (I used the equivalent in Truvia for baking, a Stevia product, less sugar!)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ - 1 cup chocolate chips (optional - dried fruit and/or nuts would also be good)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.  

2. Spray an 8’ X 8’ cake pan with cooking spray or grease lightly with oil or butter. 

3. Stir flour, salt, spices, baking soda and baking powder together in a small bowl.

4. In a larger bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, oil and sugars together until smooth.

5. Using a silicone spatula, carefully fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until there are no dry streaks of flour remaining.

6. Fold in chocolate chips or other mix-ins if using.

7. Spoon batter into prepared cake pan and smooth top.

8. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean.

Eve's Fourth Birthday

 It’s hard not to feel crushed by the state of the nation right now. I thought the news cycle would have to make room for something besides the Coronavirus eventually, but I didn’t expect it to be anything like this.  It feels heavy. For those of us that are parents, we have been asked to figure out how to homeschool our kids. Now they have pressing inquiries about race. And death. How do we protect them, inform them and help them through a period of time that is so scary for us? Tough stuff.  But, at the end of the day, this is what it means to be a parent. You are a teacher, and you are required to teach the lesson at hand, whatever that may be. 

 Like the parents around me, I have been forced to rise to the occasion. But today, I’m taking a break from teaching tough lessons and enjoying the simple pleasure of Eve’s 4th birthday. Let me tell you, I have never been so excited for a kid's birthday in my life.  Except, of course, for  each of my children’s “0” birthdays, when I was pregnant and simultaneously super excited to meet each of them and also to evict them from my body.  Today is our first quarantine kid’s birthday and it’s been so nice to have it to look forward to.  Eve’s birthday is already my favorite because she’s the only one of my children who was not born in the winter. I hate trying to figure out where to have winter birthday parties, worrying that after all of the planning and excitement leading up, snow will prevent people from coming. I love that a June birthday can (not right now, but usually) be celebrated at the park with friends, pizza and cake, which is just as fun, but not nearly as much work (or money) as most winter alternatives. 

Normally, planning a kid’s party along with all of the other stuff we have going on is sort of exhausting but right now, a birthday is a pleasant diversion from everything on the news, the endless cycle of work, homeschool, cook, clean, work and never being sure what day it is. Not having to plan the logistics of a party is a gift to me, and I deserve it. After all, I carried these babies, pushed them out into this world, stayed up all night with them (and still do sometimes) and have loved them to the max ever since they were each just a little ball of cells.  

We aren’t having an elaborate celebration this week but it feels like a birthday should. We’re celebrating four years of Eve, the funny, sweet happy baby who, unlike her siblings that all think they’re teenagers, remains a baby at heart. Who said to me just yesterday, “When I get as big as you, I’m going to drive the car like you, be a mom like you, and I’m going to sleep in your bed with you!” Haha. 

This little girl has brought me endless hours of joy, millions of hugs and kisses and all the smiles in the world over the last four years. She wants to be an ear doctor when she grows up because whenever she goes to the pediatrician with an ear infection, the doctor makes her feel better. She also wants to be a policeman but not a policeman because she is not going to be a man. So, she wants to be a policeman-woman. I’m sure she can be anything she wants to be. I’m looking forward to all of it. 

She wanted an Elsa cake, of course. We actually have an Elsa doll, but she gave herself an unfortunate quarantine haircut and was a bit too tall for this dress anyway. So we used our tried and true legless dollar store “cake doll”. She has truly taken one for the team and we love her dearly. I wanted this cake to taste amazing so I turned to King Arthur Flour for both the cake and the frosting.  The kids all love chocolate, especially Eve so I knew the cake had to be chocolate. I used this recipe for the cake and this recipe for the frosting. 

 The frosting is Italian buttercream. I favor it over American buttercream made with butter and powdered sugar because it pipes like a dream without being too sweet like American buttercream.  Italian buttercream is made with beaten egg whites that are cooked through by pouring a very hot sugar syrup into the beaten whites and allowing the mixture to partially cool before adding in cubes of butter. The cooked egg whites provide the frosting with its stability as opposed to the large quantities of powdered sugar that give American buttercream its structure. This end result is a frosting that is smooth and rich without being cloyingly sweet. It takes a little more time to make this type of frosting but it’s totally worth it. If you want to try it, check out this step-by-step tutorial which is super helpful.  Below are a few photos of the cake in process. Is it immature of me to find doll-cake-in-process photos funny? They never cease to crack me up.

“I can’t see! This is so tight! Why do I do this to myself?” I think we’ve all felt this way trying to squeeze into that special occasion dress at one time or another.

No piping my cake filling in neat little rows! I just slather it on there and press down a little. It all works out in the end.

Give it a quick crumb coat so that Elsa doesn’t end up with chocolate crumbs all over her dress.

When she gets too hot, and the frosting starts to soften up, just put her (and the piping bag) back in the fridge to firm up.

Ta-da! Yes, I let Eve help me apply the frosting and the snowflakes. She insisted. I think she did a great job. She was not very happy that Elsa’s dress was not completely blue. But I just couldn’t handle the thought of eating a blue cake! I guess the birthday girl does not always get her way around here.

 We are eating this cake later tonight but having already sampled its component parts, I know it’s going to be good!