Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce

Since Valentines day is on a weekend this year, I thought a special breakfast was a necessity! I still remember being a kid and having my Mom make us heart shaped toast, pink milk, and stuff like that. We love fancy breakfast days at our house, and Valentines day is the perfect excuse to go a little nuts. This was also the perfect excuse for me to come up with a recipe that I've been imagining in my head for a while now. I've seen and tried some recipes for chocolate waffles and here are my major complaints:

1. Too soft/soggy. So many turn out the texture of a pancake in waffle form. A good waffle should be light and slightly crispy on the outside, and soft and fluffy in the center.

2. Not chocolaty/sweet enough. Most just have enough cocoa powder in them to make them brown but they end up tasting like regular waffles.

3. Too complicated. The good ones are too much work for me! Melting chocolate, whipping egg whites, boo. I wanted a quick and easy recipe that tastes as good as the fancy ones.

So I came up with something I liked. If you're looking for a new Valentines Day tradition, this just might be it. These come off the waffle iron feeling soft, and then magically get perfectly crisp on the plate and stay soft and chocolaty on the inside. I used mini-chocolate chips so they'd disperse better in the batter and you get tiny pockets of fudgy goodness. Plus, it's easy. Mix the wet with the dry. That's it! I'm so happy with how they turned out, these will be a keeper in our house for sure.

I made up an easy berry sauce to go with them because I love the slight tartness of the berries with the sweetness of the waffles. Gotta love chocolate and berries. These would also be out of this world as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and this buttermilk caramel syrup. And this would be over the top with either the berries or the ice cream and caramel. Ooooh, I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.

(uh, ya. and pretend there's some baking soda in this picture. Also, you can use non-fat/lowfat milk.
I just used vit. d for the picture's sake)

Topping:

Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce
click to print text only

2/3 C flour
1/3 C corn starch
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/8 t cinnamon
6 T granulated sugar
1 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/2 C mini chocolate chips

Berry Sauce & Topping
3 C berries*, diced if large
1/4 C raspberry jam (you could use strawberry if you prefer)
2 T hot tap water
optional: powdered sugar to taste

Sweetened whipped cream
cocoa powder for dusting


*You'll need about 3 cups of berries and you can use any combo you like. Since I'd have to sell my first born to pay for fresh raspberries and blackberries right now I decided to use a combo of fresh and frozen. I used 1 C of fresh strawberries and then 2 C of a frozen mix of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries (thawed in the fridge before use). It worked great. If you need to, you can definitely use all frozen as well.


Start by making the berry sauce since it can sit while you make the waffle batter. Combine jam and warm water and whisk until combined. Add in the berries and gently stir until combined. Gently smash with a fork to break up larger berries an leave as chunky as you like.  Depending on the sweetness of the berries, you can add a little powdered sugar if you'd like. I don't add any; I think the jam adds plenty and I prefer it on the tart side to balance the sweetness of the waffles. However my husband likes it sweeter, so go with what you like! You might want to try the sauce on the waffles first and then just sprinkle powdered sugar on top if you'd like it sweeter.

Set berry sauce aside and make waffle batter.

Waffles:
Preheat a waffle iron.

Combine flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Use a whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl whisk together sugar, milk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Whisk for a minute so it gets a little frothy.

Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry a little at a time, whisking to combine. Just stir until they're combined and don't overmix. Stir in the chocolate chips. This is a pretty thin batter, so don't be expecting something that looks like a pancake batter. It's supposed to be thin.

Lightly butter waffle iron. I have one with non-stick finish and I actually don't grease mine at all. You may not need to. Place batter in and cook according to your iron.

A tip:
Instead of pouring batter, use a ladle and spoon it in, making sure to stir the batter each time. Otherwise the chocolate chips won't be distributed.

It's a little harder to tell when chocolate waffles are done because you can't go so much on color. Go by smell and touch and realize that they will crisp up after they come off the iron.



I drizzled mine with melted real butter (because c'mon, what isn't improved with melted butter?!) and then some berries and sauce. Top with sweetened whipped cream and dust with cocoa powder if desired.

I have a standard 8" round waffle iron and I got 4 full waffles (so 16 quarters) from this recipe. So if you're cooking for a crowd, increase accordingly! Sometimes people assume they need a whole plate-sized waffle for every person, but remember these are sweet and filling, so 1 or 2 quarters may be fine for each person. For dessert with ice cream, one quarter should be enough.

Edit: Tried it with the ice cream and buttermilk caramel syrup. Suspicions correct: Mind-numbingly delicious.





Seriously now folks. Click on this picture to enlarge it and look at that center! This is totally an excuse to eat brownies in the morning and call it breakfast.





Need a special drink too? Try it with some Sunrise Punch. Now that's a Valentines breakfast!