These hearty whole grain waffles have a secret ingredient – pureed sweet corn! Top them with blueberry-bourbon sauce for a delicious way to start (or end) your day.
When I was a kid, corn was my absolute favorite vegetable. Served with butter and salt, I’m pretty sure I would have been happy eating it every single night (maybe with a break once in a while for lima beans… yeah, I was the weirdo that didn’t hate lima beans.) These days though, corn has sort of fallen to the wayside. We occasionally grab a few ears to throw on the grill in the summer, but it doesn’t make a regular appearance in our kitchen.
That’s about to change.
Kitchen PLAY and Sunshine Sweet Corn asked me to “put a little sweet in my step” by creating a recipe featuring sweet corn. It took a lot of brainstorming to come up some ideas, but once I did they didn’t stop coming: sweet corn cakes topped with shrimp, millet with pickled corn and scallions, savory pancakes with corn and cheddar cheese…
(Keep reading to find out how you can help me come up with more ideas, and win a $50 gift card!)
While those all sounded delicious (and will probably all make an appearance in my kitchen soon!) I was really stuck on the idea of using the corn in a sweet recipe. I tossed the idea of corn pancakes with blueberry sauce out to Shawn, and he immediately answered with a resounding yes. In fact, he asked me if I would make them the very next day! (He also asked if I could add bourbon to the sauce, so that stroke of brilliance as all him.)
Neither of us could get over how delicious these waffles were! The corn adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the waffles – there’s no added sugar in the batter – and charring it a little gives them a slightly smokey flavor. The waffles also have an amazing texture, thanks to whole wheat flour, corn grits, and steel cut oats. They’re crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy inside, with little nuggets of crunchy oats scattered throughout.
Sweet Corn Waffles with Blueberry-Bourbon Syrup
Ingredients
For the Waffles:
- 2 ears Sunshine Sweet Corn husks removed
- ½ cup reduced fat milk
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 cup Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup corn grits
- ¼ cup steel cut oats
For the Sauce
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon bourbon
Instructions
- Place a heavy, dry pan over high heat. Add the corn and cook until blackened, but not burned – 2-3 minutes per side. Let cool, then use a sharp knife to cut the kernels off the cob.
- Add the milk and corn kernels to a blender. Cover and blend on high for 30 seconds, or until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and melted butter.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt; stir well to break up any clumps. Mix in the grits and oats. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix to form a thick batter.
- Heat your waffle iron on the highest setting. When the iron is hot, spoon 1/2 cup of batter onto the middle. Close and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions. Carefully transfer the waffle to a cooling rack and repeat the process with the remaining batter.
- While the waffles cook, prepare the sauce. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the blueberries, maple syrup, and bourbon. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, or until the blueberries soften and begin to collapse and the sauce begins to thicken.
Disclosure: I was paid to create this recipe for Sunshine Sweet Corn and Kitchen PLAY.
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Enter to Win!
I started a Pinterest board dedicated to delicious corn recipes, and I’d love for you to help me fill it up. If pinning with me doesn’t seem fun enough as it is (and I really do hope that sounds fun – I’m obsessed with Pinterest!), Sunshine Sweet Corn will sweeten the deal with a $50 gift card given to one random pinner.
Want in? Leave me a comment on this post and I’ll add you to the board (you’ll have to have a Pinterest account to participate.)
Follow HealthyDelish’s board Sweet Corn on Pinterest.
Sweepstakes Rules:
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Open to US residents age 18 and older.
This sweepstakes is sponsored by Sunshine Sweet Corn in partnership with Kitchen PLAY. One prize of a $50 Visa gift card will be awarded randomly to one eligible entrant. To be eligible to win, reader must request to be added to the Sweet Corn Pinterest group board maintained by Healthy. Delicious., via the comments on this post. Once added to the group board, he/she must then add at least one pin featuring sweet corn to the group board during the sweepstakes period. (Pinning from the Florida Sweet Corn Pinterest board (https://www.pinterest.com/freshsweetcorn/) is allowed.)
This promotion begins at 9:00 AM ET on April 10, 2014 and ends at 11:59 PM ET on April 17, 2014. Winner will be selected randomly on April 18, 2014 from all eligible entries and notified by email. Winner must provide shipping address within 48 hours of notification, at which time a new winner will be chosen randomly from all remaining eligible entries. Odds of winning depend on final number of eligible entries. Total value of prize is $50; no cash will be awarded in exchange for the prize.
We live on an acreage so have plenty of corn to try different things and this sounds really good!
this sounds so amazing!
You had me at blueberry bourbon! And corn?! Love, love.
You are speaking my language! The flavors inthis are incredible!
This just blew my mind! I can’t wait for the sweet corn to show up at my farmer’s market!