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Aretha Frankenstein's Waffles of Insane Greatness

August 11, 2011
108 Reviews

Test Kitchen-Approved

Author Notes:

This recipe (originally from Aretha Frankenstein's restaurant in Chattanooga, TN) is the ideal I-just-woke-up-from-a-waffle-dream waffle, a morning-of alternative to the overnight yeasted kind. The cornstarch in the batter helps tamp down gluten formation, making these waffles silky and moist inside with a crust as thin and crisp as an eggshell.

—Genius Recipes

Serves: 2 to 4
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk (or a combination)
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Butter and pure maple syrup, for serving
In This Recipe

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
  2. Heat a waffle iron. Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles. Serve immediately with butter and pure maple syrup or hold in a 200 degree oven, directly on the rack (don't stack them or they'll get soggy). These also reheat very well in the toaster.

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Waffle|American|Grains|Maple Syrup|Milk/Cream|Breakfast

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Reviews (108) Questions (4)

108 Reviews

D'nea December 31, 2018
I recently tested these out for my new stovetop waffler. I used all buttermilk, but separated the egg white and whipped with a pinch of cream of tartar until soft peaks. I then folded the whites into the batter (that was not quite mixed all the way as to not over mix). It was a lumpy batter, (a good thing!) and I did not let it sit. They were amazing! We ate them two nights in a row!
 
Azreen Z. September 14, 2018
I tried this today. Easy to make and most importantly delicious. My children who usually will only eat waffles slathered with Nutella or honey, devoured these plain. I followed the recipe and checked the comments section for tips before proceeding, I appreciate one commentator who included the measurement in metrics as I am used to using scale.
 
Silkpurs29 January 5, 2018
I’ve been making this recipe for over 7 years. I always make several times the recipe and freeze a bunch.
 
lyncucu January 3, 2018
These waffles are amazing! I was initially concerned with the thin batter, but they came out nice and fluffy. I noticed the serving size and doubled the recipe. There were just enough for our family of six. This is our new go-to waffle recipe!
 
Vicki H. December 3, 2017
Let batter set 30 minutes & it was still thin and they didn’t rise when cooking. What did I do wrong? Tasted good but I’ve never had a flat waffle!?! Can anyone tell me my mistake? The picture 👀 looks delish😘
 
essies December 23, 2017
Hi, I've been making these waffles for several years without any issues. I do weigh the flour and cornstarch to ensure consistent results though. If you have a scale, try using 113g of flour and 34g of cornstarch. I also use 1/4 C of oil instead of the 1/3 C called for in the recipe. Make sure your baking soda and powder are no more than a year old. HTH
 
Lune November 12, 2017
Super easy and delicious! I didn't have any buttermilk or milk so I used almond (unsweetened/no flavor) with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and it worked perfectly. Waffles were fluffy and had a nice thin crust.
 
Eric October 15, 2017
My husband made it today....it came out greasy and flat. I don't know what went wrong.
 
Lele March 4, 2017
Great recipe! I think this will be my Go-To-Waffle recipe for those days when you just want a waffle.
 
Meg L. January 18, 2017
Soooo good!! My only complaint about this recipe is it didn't make very many waffles, only about 3. And we definitely wanted more!
 
Emily January 2, 2017
do these freeze well??
 
SandraM August 29, 2016
I was looking for a simple waffle recipe. Normally waffles are time consuming (folding egg whites to keep them fluffy or yeasted). But this recipe didn't need that. I was intrigued (and doubtful). Tried them yesterday and I was very impressed. The waffles got so fluffy while in the waffle maker and a nice crispy exterior when done. I even made another batch today to put in the freezer, as they toasted up nicely this morning. I will definitely be making these again and again. I used buttermilk, so that might have helped with the fluffiness. Such a lovely lightness to the waffles. So glad I tried this recipe. Thanks!
 
Mindy S. August 17, 2016
Made these this morning. They were very tasty. Sadly, our 1960's GE waffle maker just didn't work well enough to make these waffles as fluffy and crispy as I know they would have been given the proper equipment. I really think this recipe should have been written doubled the amt. to begin with. I had a total of 4 people to feed and didn't double the recipe to start with. Will make again.
 
Smitty J. June 23, 2016
Just made these for my family tonight. They loved them - OMG are they good. Krustees has just been banned from my kitchen. thx
 
Elise F. April 17, 2016
These are my new go to recipe for waffles! I doubled the recipe since I had a pretty hungry crew and I ditched the oil and used butter. I also added vanilla bean paste to the mixture. They flew off the table!
 
Sara W. November 2, 2015
I LOVE this recipe. They take longer to cook than other recipes I've tried recently, but they eventually got a nice deep golden color and crisp exterior. So easy, so delicious. I'm going to play with adding spices, flavorings, and other garnishes next time.
 
Cindy October 23, 2015
I've searched waffle recipes the world over and if you don't beat your egg whites stiff and fold them in, you may as well use pancake batter, yuk! Plus you need as least 3 eggs. These waffles were flat.
 
Larkin Y. October 3, 2015
Worst waffle recipe I've ever used.
 
NakedBeet August 24, 2015
Tried this out tonight after an "overnight recipe" disaster. Used grapeseed oil and light buttermilk. I set my Belgian wafflemaker (deep grooves) to 3.5 and while the first was nice and crispy (I buttered the grill right before) the 2nd waffle got limp right away. I went to setting 4 and definitely got an interior cooked through with a nice crispness that stayed. My yield was only 4 waffles, so will definitely double for next time. Will have to test out how these toast in the morning. The flavor was great and the crisp is nice if you can eat them right away. I also forgot to reduce the salt, so used 3 tsp of sugar and it was perfect.
 
Sophie S. August 1, 2015
this recipe was really good; i like that it's really easy :D i used all buttermilk and sunflower oil. subbed potato starch for cornstarch and it still came out alright, in case anyone was wondering!
 
Annie July 27, 2015
Loved this recipe! It's so easy to make (no whipped egg whites!) and yields light and fluffy waffles. I used white whole wheat flour and the waffles still came out very light with a crisp crust. Recommend using buttermilk rather than regular whole milk - greater flavor!