Mashed Potato Waffles

After 2 years without a waffle iron, I got a new one for Christmas.  I love making waffles (and my son loves eating them), so I was happy to get a new waffle iron.  I came across this recipe a few weeks ago when I was looking for another recipe in a potato cookbook I've had for about 10 years.  I made mashed potatoes for dinner the other night and saved a few for these waffles.  It's going to be hard not to do this with leftover mashed potatoes every time I have them now.  These waffles were so good!  They had the right balance of flour and mashed potatoes and the batter was really easy to work with. The buttermilk made the waffles nice and fluffy.  Since the waffles were savory, I didn't want maple syrup on them.  Potato pancakes in restaurants are usually served with applesauce and sour cream. I wasn't in a sour cream mood this morning, and applesauce sounded a little plain, so I used apple butter on half of the waffle (just butter on the other half).  The apple butter went really well with the waffle...but they were good with just butter, too!

Mashed Potato Waffles

from Beyond Burlap

yield: just over 4 cups of batter (in my waffle maker, that's 4 waffles)

1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed)

1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 eggs, lightly beaten

8 slices bacon, crisp-fried, crumbled

3 green onions, finely chopped

1) Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and mix well.

2) Blend the oil into the potatoes in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk gradually. Add the eggs, beating until fairly smooth.  I used a stick blender for everything in this step.

3) Stir the bacon and green onions into the flour mixture. Add the potato mixture and mix well.

4) Lightly oil a preheated waffle iron. Pour in enough batter for 1 batch. Spread with a spatula (don't skip this step) and close waffle iron. 

5) Cook until the waffle iron opens easily and the waffles are crisp, which was about 4 minutes in my waffle iron. 

6) Top with butter, apple sauce, sour cream, or apple butter.