Cornbread Waffles
Cornbread waffles are exactly what they sound like and better than they sound. The cornmeal crisps the outside into something almost sandy and crunchy, the middle stays tender, and the flavor goes in either direction you want it to. Ladle chili over them for dinner, put a piece of fried chicken on top for a Sunday, or pile them with macerated strawberries and butter for a slow Saturday morning. It all starts with one bag of Pamela's Cornbread & Muffin Mix, so there is no separate waffle recipe to learn and nothing to measure out from scratch. About thirty minutes, start to finish. Deliciously gluten-free, the way Pamela's has done it since 1988.
Can you make waffles with cornbread mix?
Yes, and cornmeal may be better suited to a waffle iron than plain flour is. The coarse grind gives the outside a crisp texture that holds up under chili or syrup instead of going limp. Our Cornbread & Muffin Mix already carries its own leavening and sea salt, and this recipe adds a little more of both. That is on purpose: a waffle iron does in about four minutes what a pan of cornbread takes twenty-five minutes to do, and the batter needs extra lift to get all the way there in that time.
How to get cornbread waffles crisp
- Preheat the iron fully. Medium heat, and give it the full preheat. Batter hitting a lukewarm iron steams instead of searing, and that is the number one cause of a soft waffle.
- Spray right before you pour, not in advance. Oil sprayed onto a hot iron early will smoke and set before the batter arrives, which is also the main reason waffles stick.
- Do not skimp on the fat. For the crispest result, swap the melted butter for 1/3 cup of a neutral oil. You lose a little butter flavor and gain a noticeably crisper edge.
- Never stack them. Stacked waffles steam each other soft in under a minute. Hold them on a wire rack set over a sheet pan in a 200° oven until the whole batch is done.
- Wait for the steam to slow. Most irons vent hard at first and taper off as the waffle sets. When the steam thins and the lid opens without resistance, it is done.
Getting the batter right
The batter should pour thickly but steadily off a spoon. Cornbread batter runs heavier than pancake batter and that is correct here, but if yours mounds up instead of pouring, add milk one tablespoon at a time until it moves. Do not thin it past the point where it spreads on its own in the iron, or you will lose the definition in the edges. Letting the batter sit 5 minutes before the first waffle gives the cornmeal a chance to hydrate and makes for a less gritty crumb.
