Butter and Rest: the One You Have Been Waiting For

This is the last Sabbath breakfast post of October, so I suppose we have eased into autumn slowly enough… time for a pumpkin recipe.

Back in the day, we used to summon my Glamorous (and highly quotable) Friend from her far-off land to some and spend a Saturday doing all things harvest related with us. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but over time she became our life photographer: engagement and wedding photos, births, life-altering diagnosis… She is a talented photographer and she captured the best and the worst days of our life. That first Harvest Day came about because we were grappling with our new life as special needs parents and were in dire need of something to celebrate. She came to bear witness to Quail the First finding her first pumpkin… the one we were told could be her last.

But God delights in the unexpected, life conquering death, and He gave us years of pumpkin gathering. We are still gathering pumpkins with her, and the others, and while life has changed and gotten busier and we no longer have that dear friend able to come every fall, the memories are etched in my mind and the foods we would make are etched in my favorite recipe book. What I am pitching you today (other websites “post recipes”. Only UnPublish(Able) presents food as an exercise in apologetics, as a doctrine that merits a solid defense. Engage with the argument — and lose graciously by making my recipe) has all the glory of comforting flavor, the self-righteousness of what the foodies like to call “eating in season”, and simplicity (for those of you who go in for that kind of thing). Without further ado:

Author’s Pumpkin Waffles (because what is the fun of giving recipes if I don’t occasionally name one after myself?)

1 cup flour

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt (I actually never buy normal salt, I always use kosher salt, which is chunkier, so I just do a solid pinch of salt and the world appears to keep on turning)

1 egg

1 1/4 cup milk

2/3 pumpkin (how you acquire this pumpkin is your own business. Canned is dandy. So are pie pumpkins roasted and scooped out)

1 Tbsp-ish melted butter (the original recipe says 4 1/2 tsp. Who on earth measures butter in teaspoons??)

optional, but advised: 1/3 cup chopped pecans (toast them nuts. You won’t be sorry)

Maple Cranberry Butter (aka the reason we make these waffles. Someday, we may live in a world where you can eat cranberry butter by the spoonful without shame. Until then, may the waffle be your spoon and be blessed)

Combine a glug of maple syrup and a manly handful of fresh cranberries in a small saucepan and heat them on medium/high until the berries pop happily. Then take off the heat and stir in a stick of butter until it melts into a beautiful pink, then let it solidify, be it on the counter or in the fridge.

Dry ingredients, meet wet ingredients and nuts… stir, but don’t overstir. These are waffles, not bread.

And then… well, this is a little anticlimactic, but…

Cook the waffles.

These are awesome with bacon on the side, or wrapped inside of a warm waffle spread heavily with cranberry butter, like what tacos dream about becoming when they fall asleep at night. This Sunday is Reformation Sunday. Martin Luther would have dug these waffles. Shouldn’t you?