Saturday 20 June 2009

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!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great job! Love the sound of choc chip waffles :) LOL at your reaction to whether you might be interested in a waffle maker :P

Stephcookie said...

Yum I've been craving waffles, I have this awesome waffle recipe but never get to do it because I don't have an iron. $100 bucks is a great price! I love the sales at Myer, got a tea set and matching coffee mugs for next to nothing.

panda said...

nqn - i've been keeping my eyes and ears out for a deep groove waffle maker and was glad to finally find one. anyway, there's a few other recipes that came with the machine which i will no doubt be trying

steph - see if you can still find it at myer. i actually couldn't find it at mac centre so j had to get it in the city. and yes, the sales have been great. i recently also bought an elephant tea set at freedom which was quite cute!

Joanna said...

yuuummmmmmm :) makes me want to go buy one!

did you get my email abt the masterchef theme? :D

Trisha said...

How I'd love to have my own waffle maker as well! Mmmm choc chip waffles with more chocolate syrup and cream and fresh strawberries! Haha there's no stopping me now....

panda said...

jo - hehe...definitely go buy one! and yep, got your email but i probably will try something different - i've already made these choc chip waffles twice :P

trish - i'd been trawling across the internet looking for a good waffle maker so i'm quite glad i found this one. you've reminded me about the cream and strawberries! got to have that with my waffles next time :P

Betty @ The Hungry Girl said...

Yum! I love waffles & ice cream :) lol. Who needs max brennar or lindt cafe?!

panda said...

betty - haha...i do have to give credit to lindt and max brenner though; they were probably one of the first places to serve up a decent waffle!