Waffles with Vanilla Custard

As a young bride I searched the Mennonite Treasury Cookbook for any recipes that would impress my husband and his large extended family. I did not realize at that time how special this particular meal would become to our kids and now even our grandkids. It begins with a hot, light and fluffy Belgian waffle, gets smothered with a runny, warm vanilla sauce and drizzled with raspberry syrup. I have long felt at ease about the vanilla sauce (as opposed to the usual syrup) because it is not very sweet and is made with milk and eggs. Good for growing kids and keeping up the calcium! I like to think that some Mennonite family brought the original recipe (which I've altered to make it less fattening) from Holland or Belgium to Russia and to North America, where it has become quite Canadian/American. Since I end up tripling this recipe for our family now and we want to eat together, I place the baked waffles in the oven ( 175F) right on the rack, to keep warm and crispy until they are all done.

WAFFLES (makes about 4 - 5 round waffles)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg and
2 egg whites - save yolks for sauce
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
6 Tbsp oil

Preheat waffle iron. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add buttermilk, oil and eggs; mix until smooth (with hand held mixer). Spread onto hot waffle iron. (leave room around edge for batter to spread) You may want to spray or wipe the Teflon with an oily paper towel, just before cooking the first waffle. It should be fine then until the next time you use it.

VANILLA SAUCE

2 cups milk, divided
2 (rounded) Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. vanilla powder or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

In a small pot, heat 1 cup milk until it begins to boil. (med heat) While you are doing this:
mix dry ingredients, add just a little of the 2nd cup of milk, blend the egg yolks in well, and then the rest of the milk. Just before the milk in the pot begins to boil up, stir in the sauce and stir with whisk until the sauce begins to cook and thicken. Done!


RASPBERRY SAUCE

I buy half a flat of raspberries when they’re in season, put them in a blender and measure them out. For each cup of berries I mix in 1 cup of sugar. Stir that for about 5 minutes and let it sit for a few hours. Pour into small jars and freeze. Thaw just before serving. Keeps a week or two refrigerated. Cut up strawberries mixed with a little sugar are also a great topping.