Friday Favorite – Birthday Traditions

For this week’s Friday Favorite I thought I’d share a  Wilkes’ Family birthday tradition -and it does involve a recipe too!

As you know, my baby turned fifteen  last Sunday. 

I thought as my children got older that some of our family birthday traditions would begin to seem too silly -that they would think they were ”too old”,  but I was wrong. 

Our birthday person’s day begins with the whole family standing outside of their bedroom singing Happy Birthday.  We stand outside the room because the doorway has been covered in crepe paper.  After being awakened by our melodious strains the birthday person gets to jump through their doorway, tearing down the crepe paper.

They then return to their bed and they are served their favorite breakfast on a tray.  Tessa chose Overnight Waffles with strawberries, whip cream and Cinnamon Syrup.  She also wanted Sugared Bacon.

We didn’t get a picture of Tessa in bed this year but here’s one from several years ago.,..

This was during her “cherry phase” – note the cherry pajamas and the cherry hat hanging on the bed.

Years ago family friend, Merill Watts, shared his Overnight Waffle recipe with us and it has truly been a family favorite ever since.  It is the ONLY waffle recipe we make and probably ever will make. 

The only trick with it is you have to remember to make it the night before (thus the name Overnight Waffles).  It has yeast it in and it raises overnight.  This is actually a benefit as it makes prep work in the morning so much easier.  All you have to do is add in some eggs and baking soda in the morning and you are ready to go!

Overnight waffles are best cooked in a Belgian waffle maker – it is deeper than a regular one.

We love them covered in fresh berries, whip cream and homemade cinnamon syrup but they are great just with plain old maple syrup too!!

I promise, you are going to love these!!

1/2 cup warm water

1 package dry yeast

2 cups milk, warmed

 1/2 cup butter (1 cube), melted

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. granulated sugar

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/4 tsp. baking soda

Use a big mixing bowl (the batter will rise to double its original volume.)  Put the water in the mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast.  Let stand to dissolve for 5 minutes.  Warm the milk on the stove (I just add in the butter so it is melting as the milk warms)  Be careful not to let the milk boil or get too hot.  You don’t want it to kill the yeast when you add it into the yeast mixture. 

Add the milk, butter, salt, sugar and flour to the yeast mixture and stir until smooth and blended (can use a hand beater to get rid of the lumps if needed, I usually don’t need to.)  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.  Just before cooking the waffles, beat in the eggs, add the baking soda, and stir until well mixed.  The batter will be very thin.  Pour about 1/2 to 3/4 cup batter into a very hot waffle iron.  Bake the waffles until they are golden and crisp.  This batter will keep well for several days in the refrigerator.  Depending on the size of your waffle iron this makes about 6-8 waffles.

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Tagged as: breakfast, Family, Overnight Waffles, Traditions, Waffles