A co-worker of mine recently revealed a family recipe for waffles.

The recipe involved beer, doesn’t require 24 hours preparation time, and makes delicious waffles.

I don’t want to put her family recipe online.

I’m also a tinkerer. In my opinion, a recipe is the jumping-off point for innovation.

Here’s what I came up with:

Mango-Banana Brown-Ale Waffles
Half a bottle of Brooklyn Brown – you can likely substitute a good stout and it should work just fine. What you do with the other half of the bottle is up to you. 😉

2 cups double zero flour (I got it at a shop that specializes in Italian goods)

1/4 cup rice flour

1/4 cup goat yogurt (you can substitute regular greek style yogurt)

1/2 cup whole milk

1/4 cup of sugar

two pinches of sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 mango, peeled and diced into half-inch cubes

1 ripe banana, diced into half inch cubes

Turn on your waffle iron and have a high-heat oil handy to wipe or spray over the hot surfaces. I prefer peanut oil, but avocado or canola oil will work fine.

Combine your dry ingredients with a whisk.

Add your milk and yogurt until a thick lumpy batter happens

Pour in half of the bottle of beer. You may need more to get to waffle batter consistency. Note that it has bubbles in the batter. That should make for nice, light waffles. The sugar in the recipe will ensure that the outside of the waffles turn a delectable golden brown and are slightly crisp.  Fold in your fruit carefully, but don’t overmix or you’ll toughen your waffles.  The batter will definitely be lumpy.

Pour enough batter into your iron to allow it to form a good waffle, but not so much that it overflows. This differs from iron to iron, so if you’ve made waffles before with it, I’m pretty sure you know how much to put in. Mine takes a quarter cup per waffle section, with maybe a couple teaspoons more if the batter doesn’t flow around right.

Cook the waffle until golden brown and you no longer see moisture coming out of the edge.

Put the waffles on a plate and put them in the oven until you have enough of them made to serve.

With mine, I put some Canadian Bacon in the microwave long enough to melt a quarter slice of  aged cheddar, sliced up some fresh fruit, pulled a couple scoops of salted caramel ice cream from the freezer, and poured maple syrup over both the sweet and savory sides of the plating.

WARNING:  Lots of carbs and sugar and cheese and protein is a delightful brunch, but it will make you sleepy, so make sure you have plans for the afternoon that will keep you moving, or you will fall into a food coma.

That’s pretty much guaranteed with these things.

Dig in.