Banana Walnut Buttermilk Waffles

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 5 tablespoons dry buttermilk (Saco brand is easily found in the Deep South)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 banana, mashed with a fork
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

• 3/4 cup walnut pieces, divided into fou portions

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat your waffle iron.

2. 2

   Measure all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to blend well.

3. 3

   In a large liquid measuring cup, measure the water up to the 1 2/3 cup mark, then pour the vegetable oil the rest of the way to the 2 cup mark. Add your eggs and blend well. Add the vanilla extract and mashed banana and stir again.

4. 4

   Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir just enough to blend. Don't over-stir.

5. 5

   Brush your waffle iron plates with a little cooking oil. Pour a cup of batter onto the iron, quickly sprinkling a quarter cup of the chopped walnuts over the batter before closing the lid.

6. 6

   I'm using my mother's 40 year old Sears waffle iron, which makes a 9.5 inch square waffle. I set the temperature to just a bit darker than medium and set a timer to count down two minutes just as I'm pouring the batter on the iron. A cup of batter on my iron yields an 8-inch round, four-way-split waffle. That's just a guideline if you have a large waffle iron; so many shapes and sizes are available and the perfect waffle on your waffle iron will require some tinkering with amounts, settings and timing.