speckled brown butter waffles with brown butter cream (and the ultimate question)

My son asked me a question that completely caught me off guard the other night. 

I was leaning over to tuck him in and give him a hug when he asked: 

“Mommy, are you happy?”

It had been a rough day for us. Everything seemed to be a fight or a tantrum and we had to learn about respect and listening. Growing pains for the both of us. I know 4 year olds have big feelings and my son in particular loves to be in control - and I swear I try to give him every opportunity to FEEL in control like: 

"Do you want to wear your brown shoes or red shoes today? Do you want bumpy toast or cereal for breakfast? Do you want to go to the tide pools or the playground for our fun activity today?"

I thought all of this in a nanosecond and then scooped him up and squeezed him and said “YES I am happy! I am so happy and lucky to have you and I love you so much. Look we had a little bit of a tough day, but we are brave and strong and learned new things. Are YOU happy?” He laughed and smiled and said “YESSSSS.” Really loud and annoyed and then snuggled his pillow and closed his eyes.

Right before I closed the door he asked, “Mommy, let’s make bumpy toast tomorrow.” 

I said okay happily as I thought back to Christmas time when bumpy toast was born. He’d requested to make it together just out of the blue one morning.

“Some what?” I asked. When he first asked for it. 

He said “bumpy toast” again and I was like whaaaaaat is this kid talking about? 

Seeing my confusion he grabbed my hand and said, “Here, I’ll show you.” 

He lead me to the new waffle maker box still surrounded by wrapping paper crumbles and the images of fresh waffles on the front. “See?” He said, “See right here? That’s bumpy toast.”  

We now forever refer to waffles as bumpy toast. 

I hope you make this bumpy toast. They’re amazing, light, custardy and crunchy. They’re not too sweet, speckled with brown butter and perfect lathered in brown butter cream and a drizzle of maple syrup. They’re only downfall is that they require a little planning ahead as you need to brown butter (twice!) and let the batter “rise” overnight at room temperature. But if you wake up and find yourself needing a waffle, make this batter and have breakfast for dinner instead. They’re so worth the wait. 

Cheers to your new favorite bumpy toast recipe. ;) xo

speckled brown butter waffles with brown butter cream

I know, the title alone probably makes you pause and think, wait, I can eat brown butter twice? You can. You really should. Let me say that this is going to be your new favorite waffle. They’re heaven.  The yeast and rise-time make these babies unbelievably light.  In fact these are so beautifully addicting you could easily eat 3 hot waffles smothered in brown butter cream in a blink.  And dare I say you’d probably still want another one. Maybe that’s the pregnant lady in me talking but, make these, they’re really incredible and they go down easy. Take note that both the waffle recipe and the brown butter cream work best made the night before you want waffles for breakfast.

Bakers note! This recipe takes about 5-7 hours to rise. So it’s not a good “oh shoot let’s have waffles right now for breakfast” recipe. Time is the magic ingredient here. It’s worth it, and the rise time is generous - meaning you can let this batter rise for just over 8 hours at room temperature - and then store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Also! The brown butter cream also requires you to make the brown butter the night before, and let it stand at room temperature or cooler so it solidifies. If you want, and if you’re anything like me, you can make this batter in the morning and have waffles for dinner.

speckled brown butter waffles

• 1 ½ teaspoons / 4g dry active yeast

• ½ cup / 125ml water, slightly warmed

• 1 tablespoons / 14g brown sugar

• 2 ½ cups / 313g all purpose flour ((preferably organic; if not weighing your flour, use the scoop and fluff method, see resources) )

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon / 3g kosher salt

• 2 cups / 500 ml whole milk

• ¾ cup minus one teaspoon / 165g unsalted Kerrygold butter, (melted and browned and cooled )

• 3 eggs ((don’t stress about the size, but I use medium))

• extra melted butter and a pastry brush for your waffle maker

• more pure maple syrup to serve

brown butter cream

• 1 cup / 227g unsalted Kerrygold butter, (browned and completely cooled overnight so it’s solid-ish)

• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

• ½ cup / 120ml cold whipping cream

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt ((or less or more to taste) )

how to brown butter

1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan melt unsalted Kerrygold butter over medium low heat until it starts to brown. This is a little tricky at first, but if you keep the heat medium and don’t let it get too hot, the butter will start to crackle and pop and brown. It takes about 5-10 minutes depending one the the temperature of your butter, your pan and your heat. Swirl the butter around a little bit as it starts to melt. The butter should reach a nice toasty almond color but no darker. Be careful! It can burn sooo easily so don’t walk away from your pan. Babysit and swirl it. When the butter is browned, immediately turn off the heat and scrape the speckles up using a soft spatula and pour into a separate bowl. Set aside to cool. (This can also be done up to one day ahead of time, you’ll just need to re-heat it slightly.)

for the waffles

1. In a small bowl mix the yeast with the warm water and brown sugar. Let it sit. Then in a large bowl (a very large bowl please) whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In another medium sized bowl, beat the egg, milk and cooled browned butter together. Whisk in yeast + water + sugar mixture.

3. In the huge bowl holding the flour + powder + salt, make a little well and slowly whisk in your wet ingredients. Whisk until completely combined.

4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature and rise for 5-8 hours. (This is why this waffle is great to make the night before you want to eat them). You want to make sure your bowl is big enough for the rise time. This is a great waffle batter to make the night before you want to have waffles. See bakers note for more info.

5. Batter should have grown slightly and appear to be bubbly. Mix it together again the morning of your waffle making to ensure it’s all incorporated. Heat your waffle maker, and when hot, brush with melted butter and pour in a little batter. Cook waffles until golden brown. See more tips below.

6. It’s hard to say how many waffles you’ll get out of this recipe, but cook waffles according to your waffle maker’s instructions. We have a belgium waffle maker and these cook up beautifully in that thing and we can easily get 10-12 waffle squares. Take care that a little batter goes a long way! You do not need a belgium waffle maker in order for these to work btw - any waffle maker will do. But really, a little batter goes a long way, trust me.

7. Bakers Tip: Brush your waffle maker with melted butter before cooking each batch of waffles to prevent sticking.

8. More Bakers Tips: I found great success keeping the waffles warm as I cook, by preheating the oven to 200F / 95C and letting them sit on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet. These waffles need to breathe after they’ve been cooked or else they’ll get soggy.

9. Serve with brown butter cream and a drizzle of maple syrup.

10. Also, these are fantastic the day after they’re made. If you have waffles to spare, wrap each cooled waffle individually in plastic wrap and store in an air-tight container in the fridge and then toast them to reheat and serve.

to make the brown butter cream

1. See the instructions above for how to brown butter! Then proceed below.When the butter is browned, immediately turn off the heat and scrape the speckles up using a soft spatula and pour into a separate bowl. Set aside to cool overnight or until it solidifies. You can try to speed up the process by putting it in the fridge too, but I’ve always made mine ahead of time.

2. Whip cooled and solidified brown butter on medium speed in an electric mixer until slightly fluffy. About 2 minutes. Add salt, maple syrup and then slowly add the cream. Cream should be cold, but keep in mind that the mixture may look a little curdled at first. Add the cream VERY slowly as the brown butter whips to help prevent curdling. The goal here is to create a beautiful mix between whipped butter and whipped cream (we’re leaning towards whipped butter though). It takes a few minutes to come together.

3. Scrape down the sides and whip again until the mixture is smooth and doesn’t look curdled at all. Takes just a few more minutes. This stuff is divine spread on top of a warm waffle followed by warm maple syrup. You won’t know what goodness just hit you.

4. This recipe makes way more than you’ll need for one batch of waffles, but it stores beautifully in a sealed container, kept in the fridge for up to a month. Just soften slightly to serve or scoop cold on a hot waffle and watch it melt in.

Resources: 

I used Kerrygold butter. 

If you’re not weighing your flour,scoop the flour out with a spoon and put it into your measuring cup to ensure that your flour isn’t “packed”.

Bakers Tips:

-Remember to brush your waffle maker with melted butter before cooking each batch of waffles to prevent sticking.

-I found great success keeping the waffles warm as I cook, by preheating the oven to 200F / 95C and letting them sit on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet. These waffles need to breathe after they’ve been cooked or else they’ll get soggy.

FAQ: 

Can I let the waffle batter rise in the fridge or does it need to be at room temperature? 

It can totally rise in the fridge but keep in mind it is going to take a little longer. Rise time greatly depends on the seasons and the temperature of your kitchen, so if it’s HOT, it will take less time to rise. If it’s cold, it will take more time to rise. You can let this batter rise, mix it again and then store it in the fridge up to 3 days in an airtight container. Just keep in mind it will continue to rise and bubble up, so try to use it sooner rather than later so it doesn’t explode AND doesn’t ferment too the point of “gross”. (3 days after an overnight room temperature rise is the sweet spot for me!)

This post was sponsored by Kerrygold butter. I LOVE Kerrygold. It is my all time favorite butter - and believe me when I say, you need this butter for this recipe. It makes all the difference, trust me. You can check out the recipe over on their site too over here.