Club Soda Waffles

Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. I don't know whether it's because I like breakfast foods, or I'm just hungriest in the morning, but I think about breakfast from the moment I wake up. Shoot, sometimes I even think about it before I go to sleep. I'm pretty much always pressed for time in the mornings, so during the week I keep my breakfast foods in the office fridge because the last thing I want is to skip breakfast. On the weekends when I have a bit more time, I like to up my game a bit.

The recipe my mom uses for pancakes and waffles has always been my absolute favorite. When I think of what the perfect pancake or waffle is supposed to taste like, I immediately jump to Sunday mornings growing up when the smell of fresh breakfast would fill the house. She's used this recipe for as long as I can remember, and I believe it came from the Hints from Heloise column that used to run in the paper. The secret ingredient is club soda. Club soda makes for light, fluffy, almost airy pancakes and waffles. I'll post about club soda pancakes sometime in the future, but for now I'll stick to the waffles.

I rarely order waffles because they end up being too hard on the outside or too dry in the middle. That said, with this recipe I'd eat waffles for breakfast every morning (I'm sure my waistline would love that). I just got a Belgian waffle maker, so I used this recipe with that with great results, but I honestly prefer it with a regular waffle maker because they are even lighter. It's hard to get a super light waffle in a Belgian waffle iron regardless of the recipe since they are thicker. I also only was able to get about four waffles out of the batter, whereas with a regular iron I'm sure that number jumps to eight or so. Either way, this recipe is very little effort with fantastic results. It also saves you a few calories since you're subbing out milk...which I think is really all the justification you need to dress the waffles up with whipped cream and fruit, bacon and syrup, butter, etc. Enjoy!

Club Soda Waffles
Recipe from Hints from Heloise

Ingredients
2 cups Bisquick or good quality baking mix
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups club soda

Heat waffle iron. Combine all ingredients together with a spoon, being careful not to overmix. Pour over hot waffle iron immediately, and cook per your individual irons instructions. You need to use the batter right away, as it will go flat if you let it sit too long. You can freeze the waffles if you have more than you need.