Happy Winterval Epiphany, just so you know I did end up making Xmas waffles! I just realized these are very Fury waffles, though the recipe for the orangencreme comes from Manic Attacker and fellow glutton Tamikaze and, to be honest, I was just planning to eat the orangencreme out of the bowl while watching Voyager. But then I found a jar of mandarin oranges, and also I had some streusel left over from the apple bread pudding recipe that just got bumped to next week. It looks complicated, but it just came together out of things that I happened to have on hand. It would be easy enough if you made the streusel and the orangencreme a day ahead, I also have a three bowl system for making the waffles to navigate this egg separation business that I typically don't approve of.
By the way, I make bacon in the oven: line a baking sheet with foil, lay out the strips on the foil, put the sheet in the oven and turn to 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. So that's the bacon totally out of the way, and the only thing is not to forget it's in the oven.
For the streusel
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional
1/4 cup butter, softened
Mix together the streusel ingredients into coarse crumbs. Refrigerate until needed.
Before you start your actual waffles, toast however much streusel you want on a piece of aluminium foil in a toaster oven on, say, medium dark, and set it aside for later.
For the orangencreme
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 cup whipping cream
Stir the orange juice, sugar, and vanilla into the sour cream until smooth. Whip the cream and fold into the sour cream mixture. Refrigerate until needed.
For the waffles
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
Heat your waffle iron.
Combine flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a medium bowl for ten or so seconds in the microwave and add the buttermilk. Separate the egg whites into another medium bowl and beat the egg yolks into the butter and buttermilk. Lightly stir the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Beat the egg whites—I use my Cuisinart Smart Stick with the whisk attachment—until they hold a peak, then gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Drop about a cup of batter on the center of your waffle iron and smooth into whatever shape you want, I don't care about making perfectly square waffles and usually do a circle. Close the iron and bake until done.
To serve, separate the waffles and layer them with scoops of orangencreme and mandarin oranges and top with streusel.
