Elote-Style Cornbread Waffles

In case I haven't mentioned how much I love my church, Highrock, recently, here's another reason:  we recently had a fundraiser for the Tokyo Life Church called Highrocktoberfest.  How awesome is that?  In addition to a competition for the best home brew, there was also a chance to win a prize for the best cornbread.  At first I thought about making a sweet cornbread with honey butter, but then I came up with the idea to make cornbread waffles topped with the seasoned mayonnaise and crumbled cheese that usually goes on elote (Mexican grilled corn)!

I used the crunchy cornbread waffle recipe from King Arthur Flour and made the same mayo I had used before for elote, except I added a squirt of sriracha this time to add a bit more color and flavor.  I couldn't find any cotija cheese so I just substituted with feta.  I'm happy to say I won the cornbread competition with this recipe!

Elote-Style Cornbread Waffles (adapted from King Arthur Flour)
makes about 10 waffles

For the waffles:
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

For the toppings:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Paprika
Sriracha (optional)
1 cup crumbled cotija or feta cheese

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter or oil. In a separate bowl, blend together the dry ingredients, then quickly and gently combine the wet and dry ingredients. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes, to allow the cornmeal to soften.

In the meantime, mix the mayo, minced garlic, and lime juice together.  Add cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika, and sriracha (if using) to taste. 

Drop the batter by 1/3-cupfuls onto a hot waffle iron and bake until the waffle iron stops steaming.  Top with the spicy mayonnaise and crumbled cheese.  Sprinkle on more cayenne pepper and/or chile powder as desired, and serve with lime wedges.

The waffles are best fresh out of the waffle iron because they start to get soft once they get to room temperature.  You can always reheat them in the oven to get them to crisp up again.  Since I was making these for a lot of people, I ended up cutting each waffle into eighths and serving them nacho-style.  If you have the corn-shaped pans for making cornbread sticks, I think it would be really cute to dress those up elote-style as well!

Next:  Nigel Slater's Chocolate Beet Cake
Previously:  Jeni's Salty Vanilla Frozen Custard
Two Years Ago:  Cranberry Royale Sorbet