This past week, there have been a lot of articles going around talking about the newest rage in food. Where last year it was a cronut, a croissant donut hybrid, this year it’s the wonut. A wonut is a waffle and donut hybrid. When you think about it, and see pictures of it, you start to wonder why you’re only hearing about it now. I’ll be honest, I thought the cronut phase was dumb (though I never tried one and maybe my mind would change if I had one) but when I heard about the wonut, I wanted one (like, my mouth salivated all day long looking at the same press pictures pulled from a Twitter feed). Maybe it is because it comes from Chicago and I have a special place in my heart for all things Chicago. Or maybe it’s because my inner fat kid is trying to get out. Either way, I needed one.

I scoured the internet for a wonut recipe and I couldn’t find one. I could only find the same limited information about Waffles Cafe describing how they make their wonut, but no wonut recipe. Waffles describes the batter as a thicker form of their famous waffle batter. Then it’s made into a waffle, the waffle is fried, and then the wonut is covered in donut toppings. The result is crispy like a waffle on the outside and soft like a donut on the inside. I decided if I needed to try a wonut, I’d need to make my own wonut recipe.  What I came up with is the essential ingredients and proportions from both waffles and donuts:

Danny’s Wonut Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs
• 1.5 cups Milk
• 0.5 cups Butter, melted
• ½ cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 tablespoons Vodka (optional)
• 3 cups Flour
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Procedure:

Whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and vodka and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly join the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing until some lumps remain. Let stand while waffle iron heats up.

You can opt to leave the vodka out of the recipe if you want, but it helps while frying. As the vodka heats in the oil, it evaporates and forces its way out of the waffle and prevents the oil from seeping in. The vodka creates a less greasy donut.

In waffle iron, pour enough batter to fill out iron (for two squares in my iron, it took about 3/4 C of the batter). Cook waffle but keep it on the lighter side, it will crisp up and darken during frying. Remove from iron and cut apart waffle squares. Drain the waffles on some paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Finish cooking the batter into waffles.

In a pot, heat two inches of oil for frying. I prefer using a small pot, large enough to fit only one waffle square at a time, to help save on oil. When the oil is hot, place waffle in the oil for one minute on each side. Remove and place on paper towel to drain oil. Dip in a glaze and sprinkle with your favorite toppings (sprinkles, nuts, coconut, etc.).

[yumprint-recipe id=’5′]If you’re in the need for a glaze, the following basic glazes are a good place to start:

[yumprint-recipe id=’6′][yumprint-recipe id=’7′]You know, my wonut recipe turned out quite well for a first try. It is nice and fluffy, yet crispy. It’s enough like a waffle, yet sweet like a donut. If you’re feeling a bit of a sweet treat, I highly recommend trying out my wonut recipe, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Plus, my recipe is simple enough that you should have all the ingredients you need without having to run to the store.