Sweetheart Chocolate Waffles

Chocolate.  Waffles.  Oh, yeah!  When I first saw these in the recent “Chocolate Issue” of the Food Network Magazine, I thought how perfect they’d be, made up in my cute little heart waffle iron, for Valentine’s breakfast.  But then, if I waited, none of you would have the recipe in time.  So, I sucked it up and made them this morning.  How I sacrifice for this blog.  😉

No more trouble than any waffle, and not overly chocolatey or overly sweet; I’ll be making more of these!

• 6 TBSP butter, melted
• 2 cups flour
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 TBSP sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate syrup
• toppings of your choice, such as powdered sugar, chocolate syrup, berries, …..!

Melt the butter and set aside to cool a bit.

Whisk the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl or large measuring cup (which I like for the pouring part!), whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla and melted butter together.

Whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture.  The batter will be thick.

Heat a waffle iron, ladle batter in and cook until done.  These waffles smell uh-maze-ing while they cook!  It’s a bit tricky to see if they’re done or not, since they’re already brown, but they do get a little browner. 

Serve up topped however you like.  I loved the way the powdered sugar played against the crispy chocolatey waffles.  Mmmmmm-yummy!

Michael liked them like he likes any waffle–topped with a bit of butter melting in….but this is way prettier, don’t you think?

AND THEN!  I got this idea that the little hearts could be separated, and two of them could be the outside of a cute little ice cream sandwich, with hot fudge and whipped cream. 

Oh but these were yummy–the Sweetheart Sundae!  I toasted the waffles I made this morning in the toaster for perfect crispy warmness.  Yum-yum-yummy!

Have a sweet Valentine’s Day!

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Sunday Waffles (Søndagsvafler)

We’ve had a Waffle Weekend here this weekend!  Mr17 wasn’t here for waffles last weekend, so it was only fair to make the Norwegian Waffles for him to try yesterday.  Then today, I just couldn’t resist trying the other waffle recipe in The Best of Traditional Norwegian Cuisine: Sunday Waffles (Søndagsvafler).  The description at the start of the recipe got me sucked in: 

 “If you want a special treat with Sunday coffee, try these waffles.  Right from the waffle iron, spread with good jam they are <<heavenly>>.”

I decided to get brave and try them the way my mom liked to serve them–with a dollop of sour cream and a strawberry slice. 

Oh yeah.  Totally yummy!  Most likely you have what you need already in your kitchen.  Makes about 20 waffles.

• 3 cups flour
• 4 TBSP sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups milk
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

Mix flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl.

Make a hollow in the dry ingredients and pour in 2/3 of the milk.  Whisk the batter smooth, then pour in the rest of the milk and whisk to combine.  (Note–somehow my phone ate the pictures of the hollow and the smooth batter.  I borrowed a hollow picture from Norwegian Waffles.)

Add egg yolks to the batter with the melted, cooled butter.

Beat egg whites stiff and fold them into the batter.  Your bowl and beaters must be completely free of any oil for the whites to whip up. 

Folding is just very gentle stirring. 

I use a spoonula to lift batter from the bottom over the whites until mostly smooth.

Heat the waffle iron.  Grease the waffle iron with melted butter for the first waffle only.  Ladle in the batter to fill the center–these waffles will rise and fill your waffler.  It may take a waffle or two to figure out just how much batter you need per waffle.  Feel free to eat the ones that aren’t perfect.  🙂

Fry each waffle until golden.

These are best still hot, fresh from the iron, but are also yummy at room temperature.  Place a dollop of sour cream and a strawberry slice on each waffle section, and pour yourself a nice cuppa.

Mom liked to break the hearts apart from each waffle and serve them that way as finger food at her holiday parties.

We decided we really like the texture of these waffles; sort of like a warm, crispy on the outside, yummy cloud.

Michael had his with butter only, Mr17 had his with ligonberry preserves and whipped cream, I had a couple with ligonberry and a couple with sour cream and strawberries–yummy!  What’s your favorite waffle topper?

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Norwegian Waffles (Vafler)

In Norway, waffles are served room temperature, hot or cold as a dessert with coffee, but not for breakfast.  My mom liked to make them in her heart-shaped waffler for her holiday parties, separating the hearts and serving each heart with jam or a strawberry, topped with a bit of sour cream.

I have inherited her heart-shapped waffle iron and the cookbook with the waffle (vafler) recipes, and couldn’t wait to try them out! 

Since I don’t live in Norway, I was all good with making them for breakfast.

And since the whole recipe makes 10-12 waffles, and I was making breakfast for just Michael and I, I made a half batch:

• 2 TBSP butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1-1 1/2 TBSP sugar

Put flour in a mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center and pour in half the milk.  Whisk together until you have a smooth batter; continue adding the rest of the milk a little at a time, until all of the milk is incorporated.

Add egg, heavy cream, salt and sugar.  Whisk until smooth.

Let the batter rest for up to 30 minutes.  Notice the tiny bits of butter that solidified in the cool batter–they will help the waffles lift out of the waffler like magic!

Heat the waffle iron.  Brush melted butter on both the top and bottom plates of the waffler for the first waffle only.  Pour the batter on the iron in small ladle-fulls and cook until golden.

Serve however you like to serve waffles, but for that Scandinavian flair, I recommend a healthy dollop of lingonberry preserves and a wee bit of whipped or sour cream.  OMG. Best. Waffles. Ever.

A couple years ago, I really, REALLY wanted lingonberry preserves at Christmas time.  Alas, not to be found in Western Colorado groceries.  A Google search found some at Amazon–pricey, with shipping that was more than the cost of the jam!  No lingonberries for me.  This least year, IKEA opened a store in Denver–they have a small Scandinavian grocery in their store with (drumroll!) lingonberry preserves for just over $3.00 a jar!  Score!!! I came home with 3 jars! 

Since I was doin’ the Norwegian thang for breakfast, I just had to trot out my favorite Porsgrund Norwegian china coffee mugs.  This pattern is called Farmer’s Rose, based on traditional Scandinavian folk art called rosemaling.  So pretty.  I just love them!

Anyway, Nowegian china or not, lingonberries or not, these are the absolute yummiest waffles I’ve ever had.  Michael LOVED them and ate them as fast as I made them!  He asked to have waffles again the next day–I’ll make a full batch–they were light enough that I was wishing I had more, too!

There’s another waffle recipe in the book called Sunday Waffles (Sondagsvafler) that the book says are “heavenly.”  You know I’ll be giving those a try soon!  ‘Tis a Blessing to Be Norwegian! (A little kitchen charm from Mom’s kitchen)  ❤

Stay tuned for more recipes from The Best of Norwegian Traditional Cuisine….not the lutefisk, though  🙂

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Hello Fellow Foodies!

The name of this blog comes from a common response at my house to the question, “What do you want for dinner tonight?”  Or, “Which wine would you like with dinner?”  It’s usually preceded by, “I don’t know….”   I’ll be sharing recipes, great gadgets and appliances, kitchen stuff I’m currently lusting over, books about cooking (not just cookbooks) and fabulous successes and miserable failures, culinarily speaking.  For example:

This morning, I discovered why there are no recipes for blueberry waffles.  Blueberries were 2 for 1 at the grocery, the fam was hankering for waffles, everyone knows and loves blueberry pancakes…..so why not blueberry waffles? 

Consider the waffle iron.  Hot.  Lots of little crevices.  Consider the blueberry.  Juicy.  Sugary.  When hot meets juicy, it causes a bit of an explosion…well maybe that’s a bit much, but the blueberries do burst.  When hot meets sugary it causes caramelization.  When caramelization meets lots of little crevices……let’s just say it took me half an hour to clean all the over-caramelization out of those little crevices.  Not fun when your appliance is “non-immersible.”  The waffles, once pried from the machine, were pretty tasty.  Not pretty.  Not fun to make. 

My recommendation for blueberry waffles:  use your usual waffle recipe, and serve the blueberries ON TOP.  Maybe with a bit of lemon zest….that might be yummy!