Thanks to the magnetic pull of World of Warcraft on my husband, we’ve been overdue to hit the grocery store for several weeks now. We have made a few quick Costco trips for proteins and other necessities like milk and eggs and giant Costco muffins, but it’s not the same as going to the actual grocery store. For instance, I only want to buy one stick of antiperspirant, not six, but in the meantime, the little nub I have left has gotten so small I’m starting to weigh the ups and downs of “borrowing” the use of my husband’s stick. Not sure it would be worthwhile to have man-scented armpits…

Not to get too far off track, our meals have been getting pretty creative around here. Last week we were down to the choice of A.) Eggs and toast, B.) Pasta for the third night in a row, or C.) Me walking to the corner market for milk to make waffles. The correct answer turned out to be C. I came back with milk and sour cream, and the suggestion of option D.) Baked potato soup, which was rebuffed in favor of waffles, but made several nights later to rave reviews. In an effort to impart some vestige of health into a decidedly unbalanced meal, I made pumpkin praline waffles with half white whole wheat flour and a modicum of buckwheat.

The recipe made a bucketload of batter, but fortunately the end-result was tasty. Jeremy came and went as his game allowed, eating three of them; I ate standing up in the kitchen, patiently watching the little light on the waffle iron. We ended up getting 9 full-sized waffles out of a single recipe, so 5 were wrapped up and tossed in the freezer for a rainy day. The only problem I had with the recipe was the extreme stickiness of the batter. Even though our waffle iron is non-stick, I had to spray with with fresh canola oil before every single waffle, and still had problems removing the cooked waffles without mangling them. I think part of the problem was just that the pumpkin made for a very moist, tender finished product that took longer to cook than my usual waffle recipes. If I didn’t wait for several minutes after the light indicated it was done, the outsides of the waffle would stick to the hot iron and the whole thing would split open down the middle where it wasn’t cooked yet. The liberal application of canola oil and patience seemed to do the trick, though, and my waffles were looking pretty good by the time the batter (finally) ran out. Nothing like the Murloc Fin Soup and Crunchy Spider Surprise that Jeremy’s character has been perfecting on WoW, though.

Pumpkin Praline Waffles

1 C unbleached AP flour
1 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 C cooked fresh or canned pumpkin
1/2 C brown sugar, packed
6 T butter, melted
4 large eggs, separated
2 C buttermilk
1/2 C chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder and soda, salt and spices, stirring to mix. Stir in pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and egg yolks. Add buttermilk and mix until thoroughly blended.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the whites into the batter and gently stir in pecans.

Scoop batter into a preheated waffle iron. Bake waffles until golden brown. Serve with butter and warm maple syrup.

Source: King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Update 11/14/07: Since these made so many, we had plenty of frozen waffles ready to reheat during a low-energy moment. Our shiny new DeLonghi toaster got to show off its defrost setting for the first time, and it worked out perfectly!