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I’ve got one word for brunch:  WAFFLES.

I hadn’t thrown a brunch in a few years, yet I pick Christmas Day to brush up on brunch-hosting skills. With a small group of good friends coming over, I am not worried that I have to impress. But still, I want the holiday meal to be plentiful, festive and yummy. Who wants people to remember Christmas 2011 as the day of the crappy brunch?

A Krups waffle iron sits way in the back of the lower kitchen cupboard looking a little sad from neglect. But the Belgian waffle maker cleans up nicely.

When making waffles, always go Belgian; their waffles have the deep recesses that hold more butter and syrup than the wimpy dimpled ones. There’s good reason Belgians are known for their waffles.

I find a waffle recipe on allrecipes.com. I change it up enough to make it my own. Double the sugar and double the vanilla is the consensus in the comments, so I go with that. A few commentators suggested doubling the cinnamon as well. Since the original recipe did not call for cinnamon, I decide to add a dash to the batter. Next time I’ll go heavier with the cinnamon.

Make the batter the night before. Day of, set up a waffle station with walnuts, sliced banana, strawberries, chocolate chips–whatever variations suit you. Make the waffles to order–fresh from the waffle iron is the best. My waffle iron makes four at a time, so I start with a batch or two of plain batter waffles, since plain is in highest demand.

Don’t be surprised at the popularity of plain; 29% of the population prefer vanilla ice cream. The second most popular flavor, chocolate, is favored by only 8.9%. Another statistic supporting bland:  46% of the population favor a generic Republican in the upcoming presidential election.

But once the hungriest are fed, sprinkle walnuts or chocolate chips in the next batch. Success is guaranteed.