Growing up, I remember that if my mom was really upset about anything, she would begin a white tornado through our house. Her therapy was cleaning and it was a quick way to know if something was wrong because she would clean the house from top to bottom. My therapy when I am upset? Cooking! I start a cooking frenzy and work all my issues out with a mixing bowl and a spoon. Hey, at least it isn’t shopping, right?
Right now I am riding the wave and stocking the freezer for the winter and getting some food ready for my mom for when she comes home from the hospital. I have also been testing some new recipes to add to our Aldi Queen blog, which I have been struggling with keeping up on. A girl only has so many recipes and so I am needing to try some new ones in our house.
Last night I tried a recipe out for
Spiced Pumpkin Waffles and they were perfection! The spices are perfect in these and there is just a hint of pumpkin in them, which makes it a great choice for people who don’t like pumpkin (crazy people, I should say!) I followed the directions exactly except I added 1/4 cup white sugar to the batter, in addition to the brown sugar that is listed, because they weren’t sweet enough for my taste. If you are watching your sugar intake, then you can prepare these as is. I made a double batch of these and froze half of them for later. I thought they turned out beautifully, but make sure to spray the heck out of your waffle maker or butter it really well or they will stick. I added 2/3 cup batter to my Belgian waffle maker and cooked each waffle for four minutes.
I had to try this recipe though for a Honey Butter to go on top because it just sounded like heaven. Honestly, this just set the waffles over the top and made them taste even better than I could begin to describe. This butter reminded me of the butter at Texas Roadhouse or Logan’s Steak House, that they serve with those cinnamon rolls. I used margarine so it was a little softer than the butter when I mixed it so I popped it in the freezer while I made the waffles. When the waffles were ready, this came together beautifully.
If you aren’t up for making the cinnamon butter, my other “kitchen trick” is to heat store-bought maple syrup (I like the lite version from Aldi) for one minute in the microwave and add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and one teaspoon vanilla in it. It would make a great substitute for the butter.
But if you have time- make these recipes! Heaven, I tell you!