These are a fun twist on breakfast waffles with bacon folded right into the batter. Bacon grease also replaces some of the butter to really double down on the bacon flavour.

The batter is lightly sweetened, but also has a small amount of salt and pepper mixed in. So these waffles are poised to go either sweet or savoury depending on what you top them with. TF and I opted to take the savoury route and topped our waffles with some egg, cheese, and a little bit of leftover tomato sauce from the huevos rancheros. This made for an excellent breakfast!

At least, we thought so. The Kidlet was not so much a fan. She elected to have her waffle plain. And while she at the whole thing and said it was "okay", she opined that the bacon didn't really "work" here and felt that it detracted from the overall waffle experience. Shocking!

Kidlet's wrong opinions aside though, I think these are very nice waffles. The egg and cheese route worked quite well and I think that chutney and sour cream would also be a good combo. Meanwhile, the recipe author suggests pairing them with chili or chowder as a cornbread alternative for the savoury option and, of course, good ol' maple syrup if you fancy the sweet route. Basically, they're a very flexible waffle with lots of great serving options. I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of them.

Cornmeal-Bacon Buttermilk Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 150g cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 2 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp. bacon grease, melted
• 225g (streaky/side) bacon¹, cooked and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and pepper.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda.
4. In a separate bowl (or large measuring cup), beat the eggs with the buttermilk.
5. Whisk in the melted butter and bacon grease.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until almost combined.
7. Add the cooked bacon pieces and finish mixing.
8. Give a final stir with a spatula to ensure batter is fully mixed (a few small lumps are okay).
9. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions. Repeat until all batter has been used.
10. Serve with sweet or savoury toppings of your choice: ketchup, eggs, cheese, salsa... chili... chowder... chutney, sour cream... maple syrup, fresh fruit, whipped cream... or whatever else you think sounds good!

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¹ I picked up some chicken bacon on sale the other day and actually used that for this recipe. It doesn't really release fat as it cooks like streaky bacon does, so if you elect to use a lean bacon (like back bacon or chicken or turkey bacon), then you'll need to get the bacon grease for this recipe from elsewhere. I save the rendered fat/grease whenever I cook up a batch of streaky bacon, so I usually have a jar in the fridge that comes in handy for occasions like this. If you don't have a convenient supply of bacon grease that you can dip into then you can just replace it with lard, tallow, or more butter depending on your preference. It won't have the same bacon-y flavour, but it should still cook up nicely and make tasty waffles. ^Back