There is nothing like seeing the smile on your child’s face.  Always popular for breakfast in our home, on the weekends when we’re not so rushed, are waffles and pancakes.  What makes them even better is when they are decorated with fruit sauces, whipped cream, chocolate chips, and *Nutella.  To top it off, something that makes them happy every time, is adding a smiley face.

Last weekend I received a request for waffles AND pancakes, topped with a Nutella Happy Face.  To make this creation I used my Fluffy Whole Wheat Waffle recipe (it can also be used to make pancakes.)  Then decorated them with designs made with Nutella.  (As you can see, you don’t have to be a great artist to make them happy.)

Here is my recipe which is designed to produce pancakes and waffles that are very light and fluffy.  I hope you and your family enjoy them as much as we do.

Fluffy Whole Wheat Happy Face Waffles

Ingredients
1 c Flour, Whole wheat
1 c Flour, All purpose
2 t Baking powder
½ t Baking soda
1 t Salt, Kosher
3 T Sugar

3 Eggs, separated
1 c Buttermilk

6 T Butter, unsalted, melted
½ to 1 c Buttermilk

Nutella

Instructions
Mix together dry ingredients. Combine egg yolks and 1 cup buttermilk.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients. Stir just to combine.

Add melted butter (allow to come to room temperature first) and ½ cup buttermilk (up to 1 cup as necessary to get the batter to the proper consistency).

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold gently into batter.

Scoop batter onto greased waffle iron and cook until it stops steaming and the waffles are golden brown.

Draw Happy Face on Waffles using Nutella.

* Just in case you are not familiar with it, Nutella is a versatile sweet spread made from hazelnuts and cocoa.