Delicious “Air Fry Eggo Waffles” at Picnic

My colleague from Sri Lanka, Advik, frequently complimented my air fryer advice when I was both around and not. Eventually, my boss caught on and questioned me about my culinary skills during our next coffee break. He was convinced that I either had prior experience as an assistant chef at a local diner or had mastered the culinary arts before moving to the US. When I revealed to him that I had never prepared a meal back in my homeland before arriving in the USA, and that my entire cooking knowledge was limited to boiling eggs and occasionally brewing coffee, he was taken aback. I also explained that upon my arrival in the US, I was fortunate enough to immediately start working at this company, sparing me the challenge of finding odd jobs as many from my country do when starting anew here. My manager, puzzled by this revelation, eventually disregarded Advik’s high praises as mere overstatements.

Plan of Picnic at Shoreline Lake

Once we were vaccinated and the restrictions of COVID-19 were a little relaxed, my colleagues decided to arrange a picnic to celebrate the newly found liberty.   Duties were distributed and I was made part of the group who was assigned to bring eatables. Now, this time my colleagues were mixed. I knew most Americans do not like food loaded with chilies, garlic, and other condiments often used in eastern recipes.  I decided to cook waffles for breakfast so that everyone could eat my items.    I visited the local mall and found many brands like Trader Joe’s, Kodiak, Vans, and Kellogg’s selling waffles.  I bought 3 packs of Egos Waffles of Kellogg containing 10 waffles each.  As there were 12 people who were proceeding to the picnic so 20 cooked waffles were enough, but I decided to cook a little more.  Having arranged the waffles now I opened the recipe book of NuWave to find out the exact recipe.

Cooking of Eggo Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 frozen waffles (for one person)
• Spray butter (It keeps the waffles moist as frozen waffles can dry out; – optional item)
• Maple syrup (optional)
• Air fryer parchment liner (prevent food from sticking to the bottom of the basket – optional item)

Procedure

• No Preheating is necessary for cooking waffles.
• Place the waffles in the air fryer basket. Make sure you do not stack them on top of each other. 5-6 can be placed in my  5 quart basket easily.
• Cook them at 350 degrees F for 3 minutes. Flip the waffles over and cook another 2-3 minutes. For thicker waffles, you might need to add an extra minute of cook time.
• Remove them from the basket and the waffles are ready to serve.
• Add additional butter and syrup, fruit, or jelly/jam if desired.

Tips

• No pre-heating of the air fryer is required.
• Spraying of butter on waffles is recommended.
• While placing waffles inside the basket, do not place them on each other.
• Flipping of waffles is essential after 3-4 minutes.
• Some of the favorite toppings are:
  • Maple Syrup
  • Whipped Cream
  • Fresh Fruit
  • Granola
  • Lemon Curd
  • Peanut Butter & Jelly

Reheating of Waffles

I was eager to serve my waffles to my colleagues in the best form and little research answered my query about reheating the cooked waffles.  It was a simple procedure of placing waffles in the pan basket and reheat them for 1-2 minutes.   I was relaxed as one of the colleagues promised to bring his portable camping power supply that could give electric supply to my air fryer for sufficient time.

Picnic Day

On picnic day, I got up at the crack of dawn and after freshening up, cooked sufficient waffles for my friends and colleagues. Having done that I took bath, changed, and moved my air fryer and baskets in my car.  I was the first one to reach but within minutes I was joined by a couple of other colleagues.  I was mesmerized by the simple beauty of the place.  Lots of greenery surrounding blue water lake having boats as well as ducks and geese with mild weather and refreshing air.  I saw a bistro as well, but we had our own supplies.   We moved a little further and made our camp.   One of our colleagues shared his location with to rest of the friends for guidance purposes.   I quickly created my setup and started waiting for the majority to join.    After half an hour, the figure rose to 8 people, and I decided to begin my operation of reheating and topping my waffles.   It took me about 15 minutes to reheat all 30 waffles and I used hazelnut spread, yogurt and berries, nut butter, and chopped fruit pieces as the topping.  Once everyone came, we started taking our breakfast.  Here I felt a lot of pride once everyone praised my waffles.  A local colleague took two waffles and placed peanut butter, chicken strips and a fried egg to make it a makeshift sandwich.   Once he took the first bite, he nodded while looking at me to appreciate the taste of waffles.  After having a cup of coffee each we walked on the trail along the shoreline where we cracked jokes while enjoying the natural and raw beauty of this part of the world.

For lunch, we used the services of the local bistro and it proved to be an exceptionally good decision.  We ate under the umbrella with so many people and families around us and delicious food and very courteous staff made our time memorable.  After lunch, a colleague unloaded his kayak and started rowing it after getting the usual clearance from the boathouse.  Before that, I saw kayaks in movies only and I showed great interest in that.   Since he had a tandem kayak, so he asked me to join him.  But I knew, I did not have a life jacket so I told him that I would have loved to do that, but I do not have a life jacket.  He pointed towards the boathouse and told me to go there and get one on rent.   I was unsure but to my surprise, I easily got the life jacket on rent for a mere $3.  I came back, put on the jacket, and got into the kayak. As a novice kayaker, I awkwardly sat into the kayak and tried my best to become comfortable by moving my torso and legs back and forth.   My colleague launched the kayak into the water and wow, it was a pure pleasure.  He moved blades with a lot of precision and ease.  After taking a couple of rounds, we stopped and came to shore. I thanked him for the superb experience of kayaking, but he smiled back and said with all the gratitude and sincerity in his voice, “Fact is, that we have to thank you for the superb waffles we had in the morning”.

Conclusion

Cooking with my Air fryer not only made my life easy but created my repute as an expert cook among my colleagues.  Next was the story of r superb and tasty waffles at the picnic which echoed in the office, and it raised my status from expert to a celebrity.  My manager, now convinced about my skill spoke to me with a smiley face and asked me to meet him during the next coffee break as he has a very practical and profitable proposal or advice for me.