Cook it Fresh

Homemade waffle on the left, waffle from a mix on the right

Waffle made from a mix on top, homemade waffle on the bottom

I have only recently acquired a waffle iron that I enjoy using. My previous waffle iron produced flat, floppy waffles that did not look or taste very appealing. But my new waffle iron (recommended in Cook’s Illustrated), consistently turns out crispy, tender, delicious waffles and has made me into a waffle addict! Waffles are probably one of my favorite breakfast foods, but with two small kids underfoot, it can be difficult to whip up a waffle breakfast. I wondered if using a waffle mix would speed up the process and still produce good quality waffles. After doing some research, I decided to try out Kodiak Cakes Frontier Flapjack and Waffle mix and compare it to my current favorite homemade waffle recipe. My favorite waffle recipe is not my own creation but comes from a wonderful site called food52.com, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already. Beautiful photography, mouth-watering recipes and fascinating articles. They add 1/4 cup cornstarch to their waffle batter and at first I was skeptical about whether this addition was necessary. However, after tasting the finished waffles, I am hooked. They are the perfect mix of crispy and tender and have wonderful flavor.

Kodiak Cakes flapjack and waffle mix

Batter made from a mix on the left, homemade batter on the right

For the Kodiak Cakes Mix, I followed the package directions to mix 1 cup of mix with 1 cup water. This took about 2 minutes and ended up making 4 Belgian waffles. The package suggested that this amount of mix would make 8 waffles, but my waffle maker is fairly large, so I wasn’t expecting to get that many. The homemade waffles took about 5 minutes to mix up and then the batter is supposed to sit for 30 minutes before cooking. A combination of impatience and clamoring children led me to speed things up a bit so that I only let the batter sit for about 15 minutes. The waffles still tasted wonderful so I’m not sure how much resting time is really necessary.

Waffles are really very cheap to make, no matter which method you use. The waffles from a mix were slightly cheaper, coming in around 15 cents a waffle, while the homemade waffles were about 20 cents a waffle; not a huge difference.

As for the flavor, although the Kodiak mix tasted better than other’s I have tried, the homemade waffles still won hands down. They stayed crispy much longer and, even when they lost their initial crispy exterior, they were still much more tender than the waffles made from a mix. The waffles from a mix had pretty good flavor and were very crispy right off the iron, but they quickly deflated and turned limp.

Bottom Line:  Homemade waffles are worth the little extra time and cost. They are crispier, tastier and stay delicious longer than those made from a mix.