Pumpkin Brown Butter Waffles

I’m in love with Fall in a big, bad way. This weekend the boy and I had a full-out Fall weekend, and I went a bit nuts with the baked goods. I should explain that when I say “full-out Fall weekend,” I really mean that I went to “Deer Camp.” Yes, the magical season of deer hunting is upon us, and the boy is walking around with the same gleeful, giddy smile that I carry all holiday season…so it’s like I get it. You know, sort of.

Across 70-acres of southern Wisconsin lies the elusive Deer Camp. I’ve actually mentioned this place before, but that was during the summer when it was but a pretty, lush, creek-lined property. Sure, it’s still beautiful, but here’s the gist of Deer Camp: It’s a house on a hill that’s barely visible from the road because of the tall trees that cover nearly every inch of the land. In several of these trees are strategically-placed tree stands. Where there aren’t any trees, there are food plots to keep the deer happy. Fat and happy.

To me, Deer Camp is just an excuse to hibernate, bake, and drink wine while gazing outside at the pretty Fall trees…and that is just precisely what I did. To start my Fall weekend/Deer Camp experience off the right way, I made the best Fall breakfast a girl (or boy) could ask for: brown butter pumpkin waffles.

Whole Wheat Brown Butter Pumpkin Waffles

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
Makes 12 waffles.

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk (shake well)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 egg whites

Plug in your waffle iron, and preheat the oven to 250 degrees to keep the first few waffle batches warm while the rest are cooking.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly, until you start to see the first specks of brown at the bottom. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk for 15 seconds or so. Allow the butter to cool while you get the other ingredients ready.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the two whole eggs using a whisk. Do NOT add the hot brown butter to the eggs. You will end up with scrambled brown butter eggs. This may or may not have happened to me this weekend. Trial and error, people…trial and error.

Anyway, in case your butter is not entirely cool, add the pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla to the butter, and then add that mixture to the bowl with the beaten eggs. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, whisking until just combined.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they’re fluffy and form soft peaks. Use a spatula to gently fold the whites into the batter. Do not overmix; A fluffy batter leads to fluffy waffles.

Coat the waffle iron with non-stick spray, and let those babies cook until golden brown. There may have been some spillage in the first round of waffle baking…

…but I got the hang of it eventually.

Holy Fall-spiced heaven. These waffles are the perfect mixture of fluffy insides and crispy outsides and pumpkin EVERYWHERE.

Top these waffles with real maple syrup, or not-so-real maple syrup (whichever you prefer). Sprinkle on some powdered sugar, or some brown sugar, and if you’re feeling really crazy, whipped cream wouldn’t be a terrible idea…

Why yes, that is a bear lamp in the background. I’m glad you noticed.

One of the best parts of this breakfast? The house smelled perfectly pumpkin-y the entire day. Well, until I started my next baking adventure, which happened that afternoon when the boy headed up to one of the many tree stands. We’ll get to that later though, because for now it’s pumpkin waffle time, and I’m never one to steal pumpkin’s thunder.