A Family

So much about family revolves around food in the culture that I come from, as it does in most cultures I would say. We don’t get together in any context without there being a dish or a special recipe that that gathering specifically calls for, in micro-traditions at the least. There will always be a sweet if we are grabbing coffee; crepes are an occasion onto themselves, something that you would invite someone over for; and when there is time to sit down, if not a full spread, there will always be mezze. Things appear in front of you, each morsel packed with caring, sharing, nurturing, fostering and fortifying. If anything is magical in this world, these relationships are. Save for it getting to be a bit too much, which it easily can, this is the very setting for that intricate weaving of the threads that come together in the fabric of family.

My grandmother has always kept a very large, round tin box full of these beautiful homemade golden waffles. I don’t think anyone but she actually ever saw the bottom of this box, she’s always kept it well stocked. My grandpa used to help her bake them in the waffle maker – the dutiful labourer looking for approval and weary of getting a scolding, which did come once or twice, for letting a round burn slightly. These roles they played, these sweets they made.  

As I watch my husband make these gorgeous waffles for our children now following my grandma’s recipe, I want to do nothing but sit back and wonder at the beautiful magic of it all. It cannot really get any more complicated or any simpler than this.   

Grandma’s Waffles

This recipe makes a lot of waffles! They keep well, so we make this big batch and have them for school snacks and snacks in general for approximately two weeks! (Amazing, if you think about how many sugary snacks with arm-long ingredient lists we don’t buy and avoid eating 🙂

• 1kg / 8 cups flour
• 8 eggs
• 200g / 1 cup sugar
• 300g / 1.5 cups lard*
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 lemon rind, grated

*If you’re put off by the lard, I am sure butter would work just as well. However, responsibly sourced lard from grass-fed, pasture-raised animals is pure goodness!

1. Use a stand up mixer or your hands to combine all the ingredients.

2. Once the dough is homogenous, roll small, walnut-sized balls and bake in a waffle press. *

*We managed to find exactly the same press that my grandma uses on Amazon.

Enjoy!