This week a stork delivered to our home a beautiful little bundle of joy, Whip It Up!, our bff Bill's new design-heavy club kid of a cook book. It's thick and cute and filled with bright pages of approachable food inspired most likely by his 2008 era Live Journal and upbringing in Southern California. We love Billy, we love Whip It Up!, and we love waffles. And we love vanilla strawberry sauce. We love it a lot.

The waffles are actually super easy to make and you'll be asking yourself why you ever used boring shake-and-pour instant waffle mixes in the first place, but then one day in the future you'll wake up hungover as shit and your kids will be like, "Dad, why does other dad look so rough, we're hungry," and then you'll probably reach for the easy shake-and-pour waffle mix, but today is not that day and also we don't have kids and Fox doesn't eat waffles, so this entire paragraph is irrelevant.

Other things we're really wanting to try from Whip It Up! include, besides everything, Eggs In Srirachatory, Bourbon Gingersnap Sundaes, Carne Asada Tacos, and his Nutella Brownie Tart. If these things sound good to you and you want to add a cute new cookbook to your collection, go ahead and get the book here! Besos, babes.

All recipes are from Billy's new cook book, Whip It Up!

Ricotta Waffles

Serves 4

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c corn starch
3 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1 c ricotta
1 c water
2 large eggs
2 t pure vanilla extract

Turn on your waffle iron and preheat your oven to it's lowest setting (ours got down to 180 degrees), to have a place to store the waffles and keep the finished waffles warm.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Combine the ricotta, water, and butter in a medium mixing bowl.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla and add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture.
Carefully mix it all together until just combined, being sure not to over-do it.
Cook according to the manufacturer's instructions on your waffle iron and transfer to the baking sheet in the warm oven. Billy says don't stack the waffles before serving unless you want a hot soggy mess so we didn't do that and you probs shouldn't do that.
Serve with butter and bacon and love and Vanilla Strawberry Sauce, which you can find a recipe for below.

Vanilla Strawberry Sauce

Makes 1 Cup

1 lb frozen strawberries, thawed
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c water
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped
Pinch of salt
Optional (mandatory): 2 teaspoons orange liqueur

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan (including the vanilla pods and seeds) and bring to a simmer, smashing the berries down a bit with a wooden spoon.
Simmer for 15 minutes until thick and syrupy.
Remove the vanilla pod and run the sauce through a blender for about 30 seconds, until smooth.
Alternatively, for a syrupy sauce, skip the blender and instead just run the sauce through a fine mesh strainer.
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Whip It Up: Ricotta Waffles with Vanilla Strawberry Sauce