Throughout his nearly-30-year tenure as “America’s weatherman,” we’ve invited Al Roker into our homes day after day. Now, the “Today” show host is returning the gesture with his new cookbook, “Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By: Easy, Memory-Making Family Dishes for Every Occasion”, that he co-authored with his daughter, Courtney Roker Laga. In the book, the father-daughter duo shares family-favorite recipes, from easy breakfasts and weeknight dinners to holiday must-haves and “memory-making” desserts.

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With the holiday season approaching, Roker shared his favorite family traditions and memories in the holiday issue of the Allrecipes Magazine, which hits newsstands on Nov. 22. In the issue, Roker told Allrecipes that his most cherished Christmas tradition is breakfast.

Every year on Christmas morning, the Roker family dons matching pajamas, takes a family photo, and enjoys a big breakfast prepared by the weatherman himself.

“Holiday breakfast is the big breakfast. It’s bacon, cinnamon buns, scrambled eggs, chicken apple sausage, and waffles,” he said.

Roker’s recipes for both his Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls and Biscuits and Chicken-Apple Sausage Gravy are featured in his new cookbook, along with a recipe for his waffles, which feature a secret ingredient that’s so brilliant, we can’t believe we didn’t think of it before.

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After years on “Today,” we know Roker is a breakfast guy—though he usually spends his segments discussing ways to make McDonald’s breakfast at home (don’t worry, his cookbook has a recipe for his McRoker egg sandwich, too). However, it turns out that waffles also have a special place in Roker’s heart—and kitchen.

tender and easy buttermilk waffles

“[When I’m not working, breakfast] would be bacon, a could eggs over easy, and pancakes/waffles—but not a Belgian waffle. When I was a kid, there were these [frozen] waffles before Eggo waffles called Downyflake, and they were square. I remember watching a TV show or something and the mother in the show was making waffles by pouring batter into a waffle iron, and it was like this epiphany, like, ‘Wait, they’re not frozen?’ Then, after I graduated from college, and I got a waffle iron, I was like, ‘I’m never going to eat a frozen waffle again,’” he told Allrecipes.

Since swearing off frozen waffles, Roker has perfected his recipe, which is included in the cookbook, entitled “Bacon Waffles”. While his sweet-and-savory waffles have pieces of bacon in them, that’s actually not the secret ingredient.

“Here’s the little trick I do with a waffle. With the batter, I take a couple of scoops of malted milk mix and throw it into the batter with a little vanilla. Bingo,” he said.

You might know malted milk powder as the ingredient that makes a malt shake so thick and delicious. However, adding malted powdered milk to your recipes can provide just as much of a flavor punch.

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“The malted milk powder adds a dash of nutty sweetness,” Roker writes in his cookbook.

If you’re looking to level up your waffles with a rich depth of flavor, we have an easy recipe for malted waffles that follows most of Roker’s method—including the vanilla extract. Or, of course, you find Roker’s recipe in the new cookbook. Give it a go and the waffles might just become part of your holiday traditions, too.