Lemon waffles with blueberry compote: America’s Best Breakfasts

I have been feeling a little uninspired to post lately and thats why the less frequent posts. Hopefully I will get out of the rut soon, because I do have a few posts lined up with new recipes.

Given today is a Sunday and given that we were out till late last night, I woke up way too early. Since I could not get back to sleep I thought I would blog about these lemon waffles with blueberry compote that from the Best American Breakfasts cookbook that we ate last Sunday.

I love breakfast. Now that we are in Dallas, every weekend you can find us hitting some new spot for brunch. I hardly try dinner or lunch items anymore because if there is brunch on the menu then thats what I am having. I will not be exaggerating if I say that I can have breakfast food for all of my meals. So I was pretty excited to get this book.

I liked America’s Best Breakfasts. Not because of the recipes (I have only tried two), but because of the variety of recipes this book offers all revolving my favorite meal of the day- breakfast. This might not be a must-have cookbook but if you are looking for inspiration to up your breakfast game, I would recommend this book.

While you will find american classics like chicken and waffles, pancakes, biscuits, you also have breakfast recipes from other countries- shakshuka, croque monsieur, and something that I will be trying soon- malawach- a yemenite fried bread similar to an Indian parantha. Then there is the kimchi pancake which has definitely caught my attention. Some recipes are basic and probably if you have a tried and tested recipe you would want to stick to it but if you are looking for a new spin to your family favorites, this book has a lot of ideas- case in point Cannoli French Toast- yes, please! You can also find recipes for sauces and dressings that could make your way to lunch/dinner- the chilli yogurt recipe given alongside Breakfast Pang (a Cambodian Banh Mi according to the authors), sounds like something I would like using in my meal preps.

Most of the recipes do require multiple elements (this is restaurant food we are talking about and let’s get real restaurant food means different elements on a plate); which means a little pre prep is required. Understandably so, most recipes are not workday breakfast ideas. The cook’s note alongside certain recipes does offer substitutions for quicker meals, or make and freeze/keep options. The summer granola from Sofra, Cambridge, Massachusetts is one such recipe.

The restaurants and dishes listed are based on the authors’ own favorite places, and recommendations from chef friends and local insiders, as a result this cookbook also serves as a good guide to places you can visit if you are in the area in case breakfast/brunch is on your mind.

This recipe that I am sharing today is courtesy Lucky’s Cafe, Cleveland Ohio, a recommendation that Chef Michael Symon made to the authors Lee Brian ad Adeena Sussman.

V is not a waffle person. He is actually not a sweet breakfast person. (He is not a food person but we will save that conversation for another day- while my day revolves around food, his clearly doesn’t). Since he isn’t into waffles, I had held off buying a waffle iron for the longest time. After eating way too many chicken and waffles, I finally convinced V that we should get one and I will make more savory waffles (with a few sweet ones thrown now and then) so that he too can enjoy.

These waffles have plenty of flavor, even without the lemon curd and blueberry compote on the side. Having said that I will still serve them with both because thats what makes these so great. Drizzled with butter, lemon curd and served with blueberry compote and some honeyed whipped cream, this is breakfast for the kings right here.

I did make a few changes to the recipe. I halved the recipe, used 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda instead of 2 tsp. baking powder and also added less sugar than called for. I also upped the buttermilk amount because felt it was less.  I do like my other lemon curd recipe more (the one I posted with crepes)-since that has butter but liked the convenience of this recipe and that I do not have to be on the stove top cooking the curd.

The lemon curd and blueberry compote recipe makes a lot. I used leftovers for tarts and for some lemon curd filled macarons.

I also tried the southwestern skillet recipe in the cookbook and that was a big hit with both V and me. I will take pictures the next time I make it so that I can share the recipe with you guys.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. I was not compensated in any way for giving a positive review. The opinions contained herein are my own.