Cinnamon Waffles: Food for Angels

Angel that just tripped

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup white flour

1 cup spelt flour

½ tsp soda

2 tsp baking power

Pinch of salt (so the cinnamon can remember its early days at sea)

1.5 sticks butter (no kidding, don’t skimp, you’ll die early but happy)

3 eggs

1 splash of vanilla

Enough cinnamon for the scent to summon angels

Melt butter in microwave in a large bowl. Stir in the rest of the ingredients with a large wooden spoon, because large wooden spoons are the most satisfying for stirring.  Cook batter in a Belgian waffle iron. (I inherited my mother’s, and it squeaks at me when the waffles are ready, a very friendly feature; the conscientious waffle iron never lets us burn our waffles. I sometimes wonder how it knows.)

Serve with

1) Butter and maple syrup

2) Greek yogurt with honey stirred in, drizzled with preserves (raspberry, apricot, or, if angels are coming for breakfast, it might be worth it to order cloudberry preserves from a Swedish specialty store, as a particular treat)

3) Whipped cream and fresh berries

4) Best option: all of the above in a deluge of waffles.

  Music to cook by: Hallelujah Chorus,  as sung by a bunch of angels hanging out in  Quinhagak, Alaska.

 














There are forests in this world where cinnamon grows, the inner bark of the cinnamomum trees. As much as I love the sweet secrets of our North American Pine, Cedar and Fir forests, the joy of closing my eyes and pressing my nose into the rough sun-warmed bark of a Ponderosa pine, or walking down a creek bed in California lined with Bay Laurel and redwood and drinking in the perfect still air, still I dream of someday taking a quiet walk down a path in a cinnamon forest. I've never met a cinnamomum tree, but I've seen pictures. The leaves are light and bright green, leaf veins in the straight clean lines, older than ancient, Evergreen.  Moses used cinnamon in holy oils, Proverbs has us place some in a lover’s bed (apparently God used to be a bit of a romantic before Saint Augustine got ahold of him).  Rumor has it that it came from the edge of the world, but then cimmamomum spread it sweet roots in Sri Lanka, where it made itself a home. From there it traveled on through the world, down rivers, on camel back under the wild night skies of Northern Africa, across seas, to the ancient markets of Rome, where it was sold and traded down though time finding its way into our own hands, now a whiff of fragrant history that can be bought at the corner store. 

Nonchalant Angels

Angels enjoy cinnamon, and if they are suffering from ennui, it will cheer them. But if you invite them over, don’t let them cook, as they are a bit clumsy and wing feathers in the maple syrup can be a problem. 

Angel Access Route