Gingerbread Waffles

Jeff the Chef

This recipe for Belgian-style, gingerbread waffles will convince that big city corporate antagonist to leave their highfalutin life behind and live happily ever after with you on your family-run Christmas tree farm.

Gingerbread Waffles
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Gingerbread Waffles

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: Breakfast
Makes

20

small waffles

Mix the dry, mix the wet, combine and get cooking.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups AP flour

  • 1 Tbs (packed) brown sugar

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 2 tsp ginger

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp cardamom

  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

  • Pinch of cloves

  • 4 Tbs butter, melted

  • 3 cups buttermilk

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 Tbs molasses

  • Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

  • Maple syrup, for serving

Directions

  • Measure the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices into a large mixing bowl. Use a whisk to break up the sugar, and then give the mixture 50 strokes. Set aside.
  • Preheat the waffle maker to setting 4 (of 7).
  • Stir the butter into the buttermilk. Whisk the eggs and molasses into the buttermilk mixture, then whisk the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients, just until blended.
  • Use a level 1/4-cup of batter per waffle. As each batch of waffles finishes, allow them to cool on a wire rack. Just before serving, return waffles to hot iron for 15 seconds. (Dust with powdered sugar.) Serve with maple syrup. Reheat leftover waffles in a toaster.

Notes

  • Of course you can make these with a standard waffle iron! You’ll produce a greater yield of thinner waffles. You’ll need to adjust the amount of batter per waffle.
"Gingerbread Waffles," from Make It Like a Man!

Social Learning

The level 1/4-cup of batter isn’t enough to fill the compartments of my Belgian-style waffle maker. I like how underfilling creates a gingerbread waffle that looks sort of like a snowflake. Increase to 1/2-cup to make full-sized, square waffles.

Maple syrup goes with these waffles suprisingly well. I suspect that espresso syrup would work well, too. I recently told you that maple syrup did not go well with baked gingerbread oatmeal, but it does go with these gingerbread waffles. I can’t explain it.

The Backstory

To come up with this recipe, I did a gingerbread waffle survey: Gemma’s Bigger, Bolder Baking; King Arthur, Martha, Rachel Ray, Simply Recipes, and Smitten Kitchen. Of these recipes, a few use buttermilk; a few use a combination of sour cream and regular milk. One outlier – Rachel Ray – uses pumpkin puree and milk. Most use brown sugar. One outlier – King Arthur – doesn’t use any sugar at all. As surprising at that sounds, I know from experience that sugar dulls the flavor of the gingerbread spices. And remember, molasses is sweet. Plus, you’ll probably be drizzling something sweet over these waffles, so do they have to be all that sweet on their own? Moreover, all of the recipes use more sugar than my standard waffle recipe does. I decided to use my standard as the standard, and reduce it.

Every single one of the recipes I surveyed uses molasses and ginger. I don’t care much for molasses – although I do think it makes sense in gingerbread. So I decided to identify the recipes that use the least amount, and use less than that. However, sometimes I substitute sorgum for molasses. I found that in doing that, I could increase the amount by 50%. When it comes to other spices, here they are in order or most to least popular: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom. I like a spice-packed gingerbread and chose to use generous amounts of all of them.

I usually separate eggs for waffles, so that I can whip the whites before adding them to the batter. It makes for a lighter, airier waffle. In this case, however, I think more density matches the depth of the flavor profile. However, they’re beautiful with whipped whites; do what suits you.

"Gingerbread Waffles," from Make It Like a Man!
Gingerbread Waffles

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man!, unless otherwise indicated. Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References: see “the backstory.” Make It Like a Man! has been ranked by Feedspot as #14 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs!

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44 thoughts on “Gingerbread Waffles”

    • Thank you, Josette. There are actually a lot of gingerbread waffles out there, but I think this one is unique among them.

      Reply

  5. For convenience, how about mixing up a double recipe of just the dry ingredients (total of 4 cups). Store this mixture in the refrigerator.
    Then when you want to make waffles, you measure out 1 cup of dry mixture and mix that with half of the wet ingredients – 2 T butter, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 1 egg and 1 T molasses.

    Would that work?

    Reply

  7. I love waffles. I’m making these for breakfast on New Year’s. Thank you so much for the recipe. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

    Reply

  8. Jeff these had me at just being ginger flavoured. All those beautiful warming spices and in a waffle, wow. Note to self, buy a waffle maker. The last time I ate waffles was in Annapolis, when in the U.S. for a wedding. Fabulous backstory too. Thanks for the inspiration.
    Pauline McNee recently posted…Italian Chicken and Sausage Tray Bake

    Reply

    • I love to make waffles from time to time. However, I’m under the impression that any waffle batter would work as a pancake.

      Reply

  10. This sounds like it could be the new plot Hallmark is seeking for its movies… all based on your fantastic waffle recipe. Mark might actually like these so I hope to make them for our anniversary on New Year’s day. I will report back.

    Reply

          • Oh, wow — these were fantastic! We loved every bite! Using our standard waffle maker, the recipe made 9 four-square waffles. We each pigged out on two and we are saving the rest for the toaster. Thanks again for an amazing recipe. 5 stars, for anyone who asks! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

          • Thank you so much!!! Be careful with the toaster, because nothing seems to happen, and then all of a sudden they go from “perfect” to “burnt.” You have to keep an eye on them until you get the timing just right.

  11. I love the jaggy edges too and what a great comparison you made to snow flakes. Gingerbread is a favourite around here too so these would have been fabulous on Christmas morning for breakfast. I will bookmark them for next year.
    We wish you and yours a fabulous holiday season and a healthy and happy new year.
    Éva Taylor recently posted…Shrimp Gyoza

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  12. Waffles scream lazy weekends for me. Love all of the spices here, and love that your checked out so many other recipes first — would be fun to do a taste test with all of them. Though, sounds like yours would win. 🙂 Happy New Year, Jeff! ~Valentina
    Valentina recently posted…Halloumi Fries with Greek Yogurt Dip

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  14. These Gingerbread Waffles are genius Jeff! Your photos are absolutely stunning. That is such a wise observation about sugar dulling the gingerbread spices. I need to make these ASAP! 😋
    Shannon recently posted…Easy Pan-Fried Tofu

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  17. How delightful Jeff the ginger and spices and a cheery festive slant to these waffles which are definitely on the must cook list, thank you,

    Reply

  18. We have family Christmas breakfast with my in-laws in January every year. We always have blueberry waffles, but I think we may end up adding in these gingerbread waffles because they look sooo warm and inviting.
    Wishing you a happy new year!
    Theresa recently posted…Roasted Winter Vegetables

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