Bacon Black Pepper Waffles

Date Completed: 1/30/2021

Time for breakfast! This waffle recipe comes from the Joy the Baker Cookbook by Joy Wilson. More specifically it comes from her breakfast chapter: pancakes, pancakes, pancakes: and other lesser breakfast items. I’m sorry, Joy, but these “lesser” waffles called my name louder than any of the pancakes.

I first discovered Joy in my high school days through her Joy the Baker blog. I loved her recipes and writing style so much that when this cookbook came out, I actually went to the St. Louis stop of her book tour. Seventeen-year-old Paula was utterly star-struck to meet her! Check out the advice she gave me:

I had forgotten about this but love it!

We could call these “Rainy Saturday” bacon waffles. Why? Only because we made them on a rainy Saturday morning and they set the stage for a really great day despite the sky full of clouds!

Here’s a fact about me: I really struggle cooking bacon. I just lack that instinct to know when the bacon is done and usually end up pulling it out too early. I’ve learned that if that happens, you can just put the bacon back onto the pan and stick it right back in the oven. Repeat until the bacon actually comes out crisp!

While the bacon cooked, we started measuring the dry ingredients for the waffle batter. Garrett handled the flour while I took the leaveners and seasonings. I had to laugh when he paused after filling the measuring cup and commented: “I was going to use my finger to level this off but I assume you’ll want me to use a knife.” He’s the best co-chef (and he goes with all my kitchen quirks)!

Once we had the bacon out of the oven, Garrett switched to chopping it. I whipped up the wet ingredients and incorporated them with the dry. Then I set up for a creative “action shot” of the bacon going into the batter.

Look at that bacon go! Also shout out to “creative mode” on my camera for the neat symmetry of the second photo.

While preheating my waffle iron, I couldn’t help but appreciate this project for the huge side-benefit of getting to use a wide range of my kitchen equipment. This waffle maker had been boxed up for years, and I loved having a reason to break it out!

Due to my long waffle-making hiatus, I had some doubt that the iron would actually tell me when they were ready. I peeked at the first round of waffles early to make sure they weren’t burning, but then started trusting the waffle time for the second round and beyond.

Taste Report:

Tip: eat waffles first. Take pictures second. Learn from my mistakes.

But also totally worth getting out my step stool for the overhead angle.

Once I finally dug into these waffles… oh my goodness - yum! For someone who eats the same breakfast every weekday for weeks on end, these “Rainy Saturday” waffles were an indulgent treat!

Because of the bacon, these are more filling than your average waffle. You can really taste the black pepper and that smoky bacon in every bite. They also had a great hint of vanilla that complemented the other flavors perfectly.

Add some butter + maple syrup and you are set.

Mess Report:

Yeah, this made the kitchen a mess. Greasy bacon-baking sheets, multiple batter bowls, the waffle iron, and so on. Don’t ever make these on a weekday.

Here’s the good news, though. You can freeze the extra waffles! Then you get to keep eating them with exactly zero mess on all those other mornings.

You can call the leftovers “Any Morning” bacon waffles and that’s exactly what I intend to do!