A few months ago, my husband and I enjoyed a weekend away at one of our favorite places in Sun Valley. It’s mostly my favorite place because of the amazing European bakery that’s right outside my door at all times. Aside from killer bakery items, they have a fabulous cafe, and their breakfasts in particular, are a family favorite. I instagrammed this picture on our last morning there, of my Belgian Waffles with Lingonberry Syrup and Chocolate-Hazelnut Whipped Cream. It was as amazing as it sounds and I promptly went home and made it myself. Only I went for an overnight yeasted waffle {insert drool here}. If you’ve never made yeasted waffles, they’re a little different than the standard type you’re probably used to. The batter, as can be expected from the name, has yeast in it, that works magic in a slow overnight rise. In the morning you pop it into your waffle maker and it creates the most wonderfully textured waffle with intense flavor. These ones are kicked up even one more notch with the addition of brown butter. I love them.
Start with some whole milk, that’s been warmed slightly.
Add in some buttermilk. Yes, mine is super chunk-i-fied. That’s because I made my own so it’s nice and coagulated. If you’re ever without buttermilk, you can easily make your own by squeezing in a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar and then fill up your remaining cup with regular milk. You’ll see it immediately thicken and form some clumps like this. I like to let mine sit for a few minutes before using.
Then sprinkle in a packet of yeast.
And some dry ingredients.
Lastly, whisk in some brown butter. If you’ve never browned butter before, we have a great tutorial with step by step instructions. You can find it here.
As amazingly delicious as brown butter is, you can also use regular melted butter here if you’re in a time pinch.
That mixture comes together super quick, and then it just needs to sit for 8-12 hours. I might suggest if you’re going to let it sit longer than that (12-24 hours) you refrigerate it during this rest time. This is when the yeast works its magic!
In the morning, all you need to do is whisk a couple of eggs and a little baking soda into the batter.
And pop it into a hot waffle iron.
Now, I want you to be warned that these won’t look like normal waffles at first. They don’t puff up the way a normal batter would, and the tops actually sometimes look kind of flat and funny and you think the recipe is a total fail.
But don’t fear! Flip those babies over and look at that golden goodness. They have this amazing texture, which is sort of hard to explain, but it’s almost more chewy than fluffy, and has this awesome flavor of a yeasted bread.
I highly suggest, that even if you don’t make brown butter for the batter, you make some to drizzle on top. Oh my gosh, amazing.
The waffles tear open and are incredibly soft, with the most amazing flavor. Definitely eat one plain, hot out of the waffle iron with real butter on top before you eat it with anything else. And then bust out the anything-else.
I wanted to replicate those amazing waffles at the Konditeroi Bakery, so I made my own Chocolate-Hazelnut Whipped Cream.
Since these are overnight waffles, I wanted to make this cream the night before as well, so it was all ready, which is why I have an extra ingredient in here. I’ve found that just a little bit of instant pudding mix helps stabilize whipped cream so it can sit for longer periods of time without falling. You could use chocolate or vanilla here. Just sift a little in (otherwise you’ll get some lumps) with some whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
And of course we need this:
Place a big scoop of Nutella in a bowl
and add a spoonful of the whipped cream mixture. We’re just lightening the mix at this point,
so go ahead and stir it right in.
Now that it’s lightened, take the rest of the cream, a few big spoonfuls at a time, and very gently fold it together (don’t stir, fold) so you keep all of the air in the cream. When it’s combined, place it in the fridge to chill.
I also wanted a dark berry sauce to mimic the Lingonberry jam at the bakery. My store was out of my favorite Swiss Jam, so I grabbed this Oregon Marion Blackberry from Private Selection, which was awesome.
Warm up the jam and stir until smooth. You can use a little bit of hot water if you need to thin it into a syrup. Drizzle that over butter-slathered waffles and top with the Chocolate Hazelnut Whipped Cream.
Hello gorgeous.
I’m telling you. You will eat this once, and then dream of eating it every morning for the rest of your life.
Whip these up and let me know what you think!
Overnight Yeasted Brown Butter Waffles
Recipe from Bon Apetit
Ingredients
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for serving
2 cups whole milk, warmed
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 oz envelope active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups flour
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
nonstick vegetable oil spray
Condiments for serving, optional: butter, browned butter, pure maple syrup, berry sauce, berry jam, whipped cream, etc.
Instructions
Melt ¾ cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until butter foams, then browns (do not burn), 5–8 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl; let cool. Click Here for our Tutorial on making Brown Butter.
Whisk milk, buttermilk, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in flour and brown butter; cover with plastic wrap and let batter sit at room temperature at least 8 hours and up to 12 hours.
Heat waffle iron until very hot. Whisk eggs and baking soda into batter. Coat waffle iron with nonstick spray and pour batter onto waffle iron, spreading it to cover surface (amount of batter needed will vary according to machine). Cook waffles until golden brown and cooked through.
Serve immediately with maple syrup and more butter, or Our Best Bites’s Chocolate Hazelnut Whipped Cream and Dark Berry Syrup.
Chocolate Hazelnut Whipped Cream
Recipe by Our Best Bites
**Okay, I’m going to be honest here. I’m writing this from memory because I can’t find my notes anywhere! You really can’t go wrong mixing all of these ingredients together, but I’m guessing here. If you try this part, let me know if you think it needs any adjustments!
*Can be prepared the night before and refrigerated
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar free instant pudding mix (chocolate or vanilla)
1/2 cup Nutella
Place Nutella in a mixing bowl. Place cream and vanilla in a separate bowl. Press powdered sugar and pudding mix through a fine mesh strainer and into the cream. Beat until medium peaks form (I beat it on the stiff side). Stir a big spoonful of the whipped cream into the Nutella and stir to combine. Add whipped cream in 3 more additions, gently folding into the Nutella mixture until the two mixtures are completely combined. Chill until use.
Questions & Reviews
I just made these and added a bag of liege sugar and they were divine! Close to waffle luv, but better. We served them with just whipped cream, but they would have been even better with fresh strawberries.
Many years made waffle and I’m still looking for the perfect waffle. I once tried to make waffles with yeast (by us called Belgian waffle) and I have to admit that I’m not thrilled, it’s too much smell of yeast. These look perfect and I really think it out again. I must admit that I have never made with butter milk and brown butter, maybe that’s a winning combination. I will try because my family big fans of waffle.
This was a total fail for me. Maybe the yeast didn’t work right. The batter was completely runny and just spilled right off the waffle iron. Also, strong aftertaste of baking soda.
I made these today and I really liked the waffle recipe. I think the “sour-ness” overpowers any browned butter flavor, so it’s probably not worth the hassle of browning butter. Also, the Nutella whipped cream is quite rich, so you really don’t need this big of a batch. I would probably half it so as not to waste so much Nutella.
I’m so glad I just finally got around to reading this, I might not have paid as much attention before. My husband just bought us a Belgian waffle maker and we tested it out for the first time this morning. I can’t wait to try your recipe and my husband is very excited about the thoughts of Nutella whipped cream! 🙂
Just wanted to follow up and say that I made these for Sunday dinner today, and they were amazing! I put the batter on the counter to rise. I was worried because halfway through rising I realized I forgot to add the salt so I went ahead and mixed it in real quick, but it didn’t seem to matter at all. I doubled the recipe for my family of 7 and we had a lot leftover. We probably could’ve even gotten by with a single recipe. Great recipe!
I was wondering the same thing about fridge vs counter, so I looked up a few other yeasted waffle recipes. Two of them said countertop and one said fridge, so maybe it doesn’t really matter much. 🙂
I’m super excited to try these but I have the same question as another person. Your blog part says to let the batter sit in the fridge over night but the recipe part says to leave the batter at room temperature. Please let us know which one it is supposed to be. Love your stuff.
Sorry! So the original recipe says to let it sit at room temp for 8-12 hours. I usually make mine a little earlier in the day so it’s resting for more like 12-16, so I just pop it in the fridge so it doesn’t have TOO much time to rise. Either one works fine. I’d say if you’re within 8-12 hours, set it on the counter, and more like 12+ try the fridge.
Splendid tutorial! I am going to get me a waffle maker! 😀 The waffle looks so delicious & difficult, but your tutorial makes it so easy.
Oh my, I can’t wait to make these this weekend! I have a large family and I’m wondering if I should double the recipe? How many does this make? I even just bought some lingonberry jam at Ikea! Good timing!
OK, so I made these yesterday and let them sit on the counter all day and made them for dinner last night. They were very sour, which, my kids didn’t mind, but I thought it was too sour. Here’s my question. In the top part it says to put it in the fridge, in the recipe part, it says room temp. Which is correct? Thanks! 🙂
I make a sourdough recipe that is similar to this. If you want to know which makes it more sour, It’s kind of a toss up.
Putting the overnight sponge in the fridge slows down the yeast, but they start making more acetic acid (think vinegar). If it’s on the counter at room temp., the yeast makes more lactic acid instead which is less acidic(sour) than acetic acid, but the reaction is faster because it is warmer. There will be a slight difference in taste, so you might try both and see which you like more.
oops, sorry for the confusion! So the original recipe says to let it sit at room temp for 8-12 hours. I usually make mine a little earlier in the day so it’s resting for more like 12-16, so I just pop it in the fridge so it doesn’t have TOO much time to rise. Either one works fine. I’d say if you’re within 8-12 hours, set it on the counter, and more like 12+ try the fridge.
Hi there- thanks for the recipe! Any chance you could recommend a good liege waffle recipe? I want to learn to make them so bad but don’t know where to start
Thanks
Denise,
I’ve always wanted to make these but they do look very time consuming.
http://liegewaffle.wordpress.com/liege-waffle-recipe-liege-gaufre-recette/
This recipe looks delicious! I know what I’m having for brunch on Saturday 🙂
You’ve totally convinced me – these sound incredible! I’ve been craving waffles this week, so these will be happening soon 🙂
These look so yummy. Do you know if it will work in a regular old waffle iron? Mine makes the thin, square waffles and doesn’t flip over like the belgian waffle makers.
Oops…one more question: In your article you said to pop the batter in the fridge but in the typed recipe it says to cover and sit at room temperature overnight. Which is best?
Can you use the rapid rise yeast for these? Somewhere or other I read that the rapid rise yeast is not good for overnight recipes but wondered what you think?
Oh, man, why didn’t you post these before Father’s Day?! 😉 Oh, well, any weekend is a great time for waffles! (Or weeknight dinner….)
I had heard from the America’s test kitchen to use a little bit of corn starch in the whipping cream. Thanks for the pudding tip, that’s a great idea too! I’m thinking I should whip these up after breakfast sometime…for dinner that night! 🙂
I’ve got to get my butt in gear and try a yeasted waffle sometime soon. Also, the addition of honey in fresh whipped cream will also stabilize it (though I can’t tell you exactly how long) – approximately 1 tsp per cup of cream does the trick, I usually drizzle it in while whipping. = )
Huh, good to know!
OH MY GOODNESS!! Those seriously look like manna from Heaven!! I think I am going to be making them for breakfast on the weekend!!
Please share your Sun Valley favorite bed and breakfast! We are planning a weekend there in August and I would love your recommendations! Not to mention that this looks amazing.
We always stay at The Lodge 🙂
These sound delicious! Have you ever tried freezing the cooked waffles and reheating them in a toaster? I know it works with other recipes, but I wondered about this yeasted one.
Haven’t tried that, we never have leftovers 😉
Sounds amazing! You can get lingonberry jam at Ikea or World Market if you want it to be exactly like your bakery. Lingonberry is one of our favorite jams on any kind of pancake/waffle/crepe/aebleskiver/etc!
Oh Sara, are you kidding me? Yum yum yum. I’m dreaming of this already.
Oh my, YUM! We will definitely be trying these! About how many waffles did you get from one recipe? It would be sad to run out of batter and not have enough for the whole family.
Shoot, I wrote down how many I get, but forgot to include it. When I get back into town, I’ll check!
Oh my, I’ve been having night visions of waffles and nutella for a few weeks now.
Hope my have crispy edges like yours!!!