Spicy Pumpkin and Bacon Waffles

Combine all dry ingredients and blend well.

Mix together pumpkin, buttermilk, milk, egg yolks and cream cheese. Mix well and set aside.

Pour warm melted butter into the pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Stir in the cooked, diced bacon and set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine. The batter will be thick, but do not over-mix. Gently fold in the egg whites until combined well.

Pour 1/2 cup of batter into a preheated waffle iron and cook until you don’t see any steam rising from the iron. Store the finished waffles on a wire rack in a warm oven so they won’t get soggy while you finish cooking all the batter. Serve with honey butter and your favorite syrup. Or, like Sarabeth’s, my favorite place to eat breakfast in NYC, a dollop of sour cream, honey and a sprinkling of raisins and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Note: I like to cook these on a little lower temperature for on my waffle iron for a longer amount of time so they maintain a good pumpkin color, but you can cook them a little faster on a higher temperature and they do just fine.