Vintage Eats Recipe:  1951 Cornbread Waffles               

Today is part one of a new series I’m calling ‘When Cooking Hurts.’

Bear with me. It’s not as much of a downer as it may sound.

Usually I talk about how cooking/baking vintage recipes helps me by recalling delicious recipes from my mom, grandmas, aunts, beloved friends, all of whom are no longer with us. I feel closer to them by recreating recipes from cookbooks they would have consulted decades ago.

But in the last few weeks, I’ve encountered a foot injury that was hardy enough to keep me out of the kitchen and indeed off my feet studiously.

The injury was due to landing too hard on my right foot while doing an exercise video. It swelled so much that my doctor recommended X-rays and an MRI. Thankfully, these showed no fractures! I was praying it would just be swelling so I can travel this summer to visit family—surgery may have meant staying off of it for months.

There is still swelling, so I continue to elevate my foot and ice it (my doctor recommended icing for up to a month!). I can now walk, though my foot is wrapped in an ace bandage and I only recently resumed driving.

As you can imagine, this has put a damper on my ability to produce much in the kitchen. Recipes with several ingredients and steps didn’t appeal since I could only comfortably stand on one foot.

That put me on the lookout for super-quick, super-easy recipes that can be made in under 15 minutes and using fewer than 5 ingredients. Believe it or not, I found them!

In fact, this recipe below I made while sitting down.

If you’re hard-pressed to find even 30 minutes to cook a meal, give this recipe a go and stay tuned for additional super-quick and easy recipes I’ll present in the next couple of weeks. You don’t have to suffer an injury to take advantage of these delicious recipes with minimal prep!

Today’s recipe is one I’ve wanted to make for a while:

Cornbread Waffles.

We don’t usually do a big breakfast around our house due to early work schedules, but this is a hearty meal for anytime.

I liked the idea of cornmeal for additional fiber. I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat flour and it blended well for this recipe. I usually go with standard white flour, but this brand was on sale at my grocery so I purchased it.

According to a statement on the flour bag, white whole wheat flour is milled from hard white spring wheat. It yields baked goods that are light in color and mild-flavored.

I have used it 1:1 in substituting it for regular white flour in all kinds of recipes with great results.

In addition, the bag states ‘All of the King Arthur wheat flour is grown and milled in the US.’ Yay! We were farmers for several years, so I support these efforts fully.  

The recipe came from a booklet called “Pillsbury 100 Prize-Winning Recipes (1951).”

Every recipe in that booklet looked so delicious!  But I chose to go with this one as it contains no sugar. Granted, the maple syrup we put on top was sweet. My husband liked putting jelly/jam on his waffles and picking them up to eat like slices of bread. What people choose to put on top of their waffles is up to them, but at least the waffles are sugar-free.

Note: The original recipe included a cup of cooked chicken mixed with a 10-ounce can of cream of chicken soup and heated in the microwave or on the stove before pouring it on top of the waffles. This would truly make the waffles a hearty meal, but we preferred to go without the poultry and soup and had bacon on the side.

This recipe was so simple that I sat in a chair while the waffles cooked in the mini-waffle maker that we own. The appliance was plugged in and hot before I put the first dollop of batter—about 2 tablespoons for this size of maker – inside.

Each waffle required approximately two minutes. This size of waffle maker would not be handy for a crowd, but it is sweet to store this little baby as it takes up barely any room on a shelf. And this brand is a breeze to clean.

The last time I had waffles was last fall at the Das Marit Farmer’s Market in the parking lot of the First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana.

At this outdoor market church volunteers offer big waffles and a great assortment of toppings – jam, syrups, whipping cream, fruit – for a modest sum. There are a few dozen vendors, including Amish, selling produce, baked goods, handmade items, etc. They just opened for the season so I’ll be heading over there soon!

Give this recipe for Cornmeal Waffles a go and let me know what you think. It is economical, tasty and quick to fix. What’s not to like?

**

1951 Cornbread Waffles

¾ cup flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup corn meal

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons margarine, melted

Sift flour, baking powder, salt.

Add corn meal.

Combine egg, milk, margarine.

Add to dry ingredients all at once, beating only until smooth.

Pour batter into preheated waffle iron until steaming ceases and waffle is golden brown.

Yield: 8 mini waffles or 4 regular