choc chip belgian waffles

Last week, J ever so casually mentioned that he saw a Belgian Waffle maker at Myer and thought I might be interested. Was I interested? You needed to have been around to listen to all the words that came out of my mouth. (Why hadn't you told me earlier? When were you going to tell me? Did the the belgian waffler maker have deep grooves? Could you turn it? Does it make thick waffles?) I think J was glad that he took a photo of it on his phone and could whip it out before I asked any more questions.

So first thing Monday, J headed into Myer and grabbed one of the two Belgian waffle makers that were left - it came with a 10% discount, making it $100 and I am absolutely loving it! I made a batch on the Tuesday that J brought it over and on Saturday, it made a trip over to A's place to feel 11.  It's so easy to use and makes waffles that are ever so tasty!

Here's what I'm talking about.

I asked J to help me out with whipping the egg whites. I asked him to get it to firm peaks and he shows me this - he reckons they look like boobies! Argh...

I decided to make the choc chip waffles that were in the recipe booklet that came with the machine. The batter was made with ingredients most bakers would have at home - self raising flour, eggs, vanilla extract, caster sugar, milk, butter, cocoa and choc chips. 

Total cooking time for one batch of 4 waffles is about 4-4.5 minutes. Basically, pour the batter in, flip it over so both sides are coated with batter, leave on one side for 2 minutes (the machine is programmed so that after 2 minutes, the green light flashes on), flip back over to the other side and cook for another 2-2.5 minutes. There are settings on the machine for a softer or a crisper waffle which gives you a lot more control than most other waffle makers. It took me a couple of tries to work out why the waffles were sticking to the top panel but I found that if you've cooked it enough, the waffles should fall back down quite easily. So if it's sticking to the top, just let it cook for a bit more!

The finished product!

The ones I made on Saturday actually look a bit better as I managed to get a hold of dark chocolate chips. The ones above had chocolate M&Ms in the them which was the only cooking chocolate I had at home and as soon as I mixed them into the batter, the colour of the M&Ms started running. So if you're making waffles, I don't recommend using Chocolate M&Ms.

Anyway, on Saturday, we had the waffles with icecream (just from the tub) and chocolate sauce (again from the recipe book that comes with the machine). Max Brenner and Lindt Cafe be warned, I can cook up a decent waffle at home too! From what I can gather, the choc chip waffles were a hit and it even got three of the boys to get into the kitchen and clean up. That sure did put a smile to my face!