The only thing better than making waffles on the weekend is making waffles with your nieces on the weekend.

Whenever my nieces from Rhode Island come to visit us in San Diego we do everything we can to show them a good time — day trips to San Diego Zoo and Lego Land Park, dips in the pool (many, many dips), shopping, movies, and more. But the best part of the trip for me is always breakfast time at home. Like me, they wake up early, and we cozy up in the quiet of the morning while everyone else is asleep and chat about anything and everything from movies and fashion to family and music. With their puffy eyes, boufy hair, and still-sleepy raspy voices, they warm my heart like nothing else can.

Then when everyone else wakes up, we make breakfast. And on the weekend, it’s something special like homemade waffles. Waffle making is pure kid fun — there are eggs to crack, batter to whisk, and steam to watch escape from the hot iron. Then there’s the eating of the waffles with lots and lots of maple syrup.

Waffles, weekends, and family. It doesn’t get much sweeter.

Today is the second day of our 12 Days of Pork Giveaway on PKS.com, and our next featured item is a waffle maker!

From December 13th to the 24th, we will highlight a new item here on PKS.com that we’re giving away as part of a grand pork holiday gift pack. (One winner will be selected at the end of our sweepstakes to win the ENTIRE collection of all 12 prizes!)

There are two ways to enter:

1. Pin the image highlighted in this post on Pinterest.

2. Retweet the #12DaysofPork tweet from @allaboutpork on Twitter to enter to win the entire gift pack.

This means you have two chances to enter per post (if you pin AND retweet).We’ll publish a new post each day, giving you a new chance to earn two more entries. You do NOT have to enter each day – it just increases your number of entries if you do.

See full legal rules here.

Yesterday we featured a bacon press; today it’s a waffle maker. What item will we unveil next?

Check back tomorrow for the third 12 Days of Pork Holiday item, and thanks for playing!

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles from Joy the Baker

Makes 8 waffles

For the bacon:

10 slices of bacon

1/4 cup brown sugar

For the waffles:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cups canola or grapeseed oil

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and line with foil. Arrange bacon in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with brown sugar.  Place in the upper third of the oven and bake until sugar is caramelized and bacon is brown and crispy, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Immediately remove bacon slices using a pair of tongs. Place them on a cutting board (not paper towels, they’ll stick!) to cool before chopping. Once cool, chop the bacon into bite size bits and set aside.

2. Set up your waffle iron on a level, clean surface and turn on to preheat.

3. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar. Whisk to blend. In a  medium bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold. Once almost fully incorporated, add the bacon bites. Stir. Try not to over mix the batter or the waffles will become tough. It’s OK if a few lumps remain in the batter. Cook according to your waffle machine instructions. Serve with maple syrup.

waffles + family = happiness

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