Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles

So the new waffle recipe that I tried this morning was a complete success!  Nothing makes me happier than when I try a new recipe and it is so so delicious.  I loved everything about these waffles, especially the delicate, but prominent, lemony flavor.  I have always been skeptical of recipes that make you beat the egg whites separately before folding them in to the rest of the batter, because I never feel like I can tell the difference.  But with these, it was very apparent that I whipped those egg whites until they were dreamy because of the light and fluffy texture that they caused my waffles to take on.  There were many recipes that said to make a blueberry syrup for these babies, but as we did not have any blueberries this morning we decided to go for our tried and true maple syrup.  (I always end up liking maple syrup the best anyways so I wasn't too disappointed.)

So here it is, one of my new favorite recipes.  (Matt asked if I even liked them better than bacon waffles, and I had to consider for a minute.  That's how good they are.)


Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles
Adadpted from Back to the Cutting Board

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. sugar
Zest from one lemon (about 1 tbsp.)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
1 cup low-fat buttermilk (if you don’t have any on hand, use 1 T. lemon juice and pour milk in to equal 1c.)
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I didn’t have any so I used non-fat sour cream which is a good substitute)
4 tbsp. butter, melted (I used 2 T. butter and 2 T. applesauce, which is slightly healthier and the texture was still amazing.)
2 large eggs, separated
Pinch of cream of tartar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. In a large bowl add sugar and lemon zest and mix together with your fingers until almost like a paste, about a minute.
3. Stir in both flours, baking soda, salt, and poppyseeds.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, yogurt, melted butter and egg yolks. Set aside.
5. In a third bowl or electric mixer, whip egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks.
6. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon a few times.
7. Add lemon juice and mix until the ingredients are almost incorporated.
8. Gently fold in egg whites.

9. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Spoon in 1/3 cup (or 1/2 cup for Belgian waffles) of batter. Bake until crisp and golden. Serve with warm syrup.