Easy Buttermilk Waffles with Mixed Berry and Lemon Preserves -- What We Put in Jars

Canning weekend. Mom and Dad drove down from Grinnell Saturday morning, and Mom was out of the car before Dad had it in park, carrying a box of mason jars and a look of purpose that I have seen on her face every August of my life. Marlene Weber in canning mode is a force of nature. She doesn't ask where things are. She finds them. She doesn't wait for instructions. She gives them. Within ten minutes of arriving, she had reorganized my counter space, set up the canning station by the stove, and informed me that my jar lids were the wrong brand and she'd brought better ones.

We started with sweet corn. Green Giant, from the store, because the farm corn is gone and the garden corn won't be ready for two more weeks. Mom didn't comment on the Green Giant. She just opened the cans and started blanching and cutting with the efficiency of a woman who has done this ten thousand times. I worked beside her. Our rhythm came back immediately — she blanches, I cut, she fills, I wipe the rims, she seals. We don't talk during the actual canning. The kitchen is too hot and the work is too precise for conversation. We talk between batches, while we're waiting for the canner to reach pressure.

Forty quarts. Sweet corn and green beans. The green beans were fresh from the farmers' market, at least — long and crisp, the kind that snap when you break them. Jack helped snap beans. He sat at the kitchen table with a bowl between his knees and snapped four pounds of green beans without complaint, without asking to leave, without looking at a screen. He is five years old and he snaps beans like a farm kid. Dad sat next to him and they snapped together, silently, and it was the best thing I've seen in months.

The kitchen was a hundred degrees by noon. The windows were fogged. The stove was running at full tilt with the canner roaring and the steam rising and it was exactly like the farm kitchen except for every single thing that was different, which was everything. But the jars lined up on the counter — forty quarts, labeled and sealed, corn and beans — and they looked right. They looked like August. They looked like Marlene.

Mom said, "Not bad for an electric stove." That is the highest compliment she has ever paid this kitchen. I will take it. I will take it and I will hold it and I will can again next August and the August after that, in whatever kitchen I'm in, because this is what we do. We put food in jars. We carry it forward. We don't stop.

The morning after canning weekend, with forty quarts of corn and beans still cooling on the counter and Mom’s voice still echoing in the kitchen, I wanted a breakfast that felt like it belonged to the same world we’d been living in all weekend — something that honored the jars, that used what we preserve and carry forward. These buttermilk waffles topped with mixed berry and lemon preserves are exactly that: a reason to open something you made, to spread it on something warm, and to sit down at the table the way Jack and Dad sat snapping beans — quiet, unhurried, together.

Easy Buttermilk Waffles with Mixed Berry and Lemon Preserves

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4 (about 8 waffles)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Non-stick cooking spray or additional butter, for the waffle iron
• 1 cup mixed berry preserves (strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Powdered sugar, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the lemon berry preserves. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the mixed berry preserves, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir gently until warmed through and slightly loosened, about 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Preheat the waffle iron. Heat your waffle iron to medium-high according to manufacturer’s instructions. Lightly grease with cooking spray or butter.
3. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
4. Mix wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract until smooth.
5. Combine the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined — do not overmix. A few lumps are fine. Let the batter rest 2 minutes.
6. Cook the waffles. Pour approximately 1/2 cup of batter onto the greased waffle iron (adjust to your iron’s size). Close the lid and cook until the waffle is golden brown and releases easily from the iron, about 4–5 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished waffles warm in a 200°F oven if needed.
7. Serve. Stack waffles on plates, spoon the warm mixed berry and lemon preserves generously over the top, dust with powdered sugar if desired, and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 11g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 78g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 520mg