Whether it is an good obsession or not, I love the fact that I have learnt a lot from my waffles making and love to share all that I have learnt. I know... Unlike my previous white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies post, there is a lot of blah blah blah here and hope that you don't mind :)
In summary, I have found several key ingredients and steps that can make waffles really crispy and they are:
One: Fat like butter and oil
Fat makes real crispy waffles! Without fat, the waffles are like hmmm... At here, I have tried using no fat yogurt with no additional fat to make very fat reduced waffles. They are good enough to eat BUT ONLY when they are consumed immediately. Cooling the waffles and even slightly will shrink them dramatically and even keeping them in a warm oven won't save them!
Two: Sour cream (with 35% fat)
As mentioned at here, I would say that sour cream is my best discovery to make the most fabulicious waffles!
Three: Regular coconut milk (not fat reduced)
At here, the pandan waffles that I have made with coconut milk are like the waffles made with sour cream. Both are structurally stable and can stay crispy for up to an hour at room temperature!
Four: Cake flour
I wonder if you can notice the subtle difference but I do. As mentioned at here, I can taste that the use of cake flour can make the waffles lighter and softer.
Five: Baking soda
It is essential to use baking soda if the waffle recipes contain sour cream or buttermilk or any acidic fermentation byproducts like this yeast-raised waffle recipe as this alkaline chemical compound will react with the acidic batter to yield fluffier and even crisper waffles.
Six: Beating egg white to stiff peaks
Based on here, here, here, here, here and also my here, many of waffles lovers including me agree that the stiff-whipped egg whites makes good fluffy waffles but depending on the recipes, some good waffles like here, here and here that I have tried and tested don't require this troublesome step at all!
Seven: Shortening
As seen at here, I can't deny that the addition of a tiny amount of shortening (like one tablespoon in 5 waffles) can make a lot of difference in the crispness of the waffles! Having said that, this addition is entirely up to you!
Eight: Keeping the waffles in a moderate oven if they are not consumed immediately
Just in case if you have under-cooked your waffles, this is the best way to save your waffles!!! ... and doing this can help the waffles to maintain their crispness if they are not going to be consumed immediately!
So what's next???
Would you believe? ... without the use of sour cream, coconut milk, cake flour, shortening, a lot of butter or oil and stiff-whipped egg whites, I have managed to make another batch of good crispy waffles! And this might be due to the addition of cocoa powder, chocolate or buttermilk? Do you think that cocoa, chocolate or buttermilk will be my ninth, tenth or eleventh key waffles ingredients???
Easy, Not-so-fatty and yet so Crispy Chocolate Buttermilk Waffles
Knowing that this chocolate waffle recipe is really easy and good, I'm going to make these waffles for ‘Bake it Yours’ challenge. #BakeitYours
For July 2016 and ‘Bake it Yours’ challenge, Nestlé Australia has send me a chocolate baking kit with the complete range of new and improved Nestlé Bakers' Choice products #NestleBakersChoice as shown in this video.
To be continued with more of my chocolate creations...
‘Bake it Yours’ challenge? If Nestlé Australia like my chocolate creations, I will be given a chocolate hamper worth AUD$100 for my readers and followers to win. Hence, I hope that you can support me and like my chocolate creations at my Facebook @bakeforhappykids and my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids within July 2016 and I hope that YOU can win the chocolate hamper from Nestlé!
So here we go... This is how I cook these easy chocolate waffles.
First, I gathered the wet ingredients.
Usually, I would use my preferred Valrhona Dutch processed cocoa powder but this time, I'm using Nestlé!
Why? ... because Nestlé cocoa powder is Dutch processed too!!! Yay!!!
Before its new look, it was not Dutch processed and now it is!!!
Just mixing with a hand whisk...
It's an easy recipe with no beating of egg whites required.
Last, whisk in chocolate chips or callets.
I'm sorry Nestlé! For this addition, I still prefer to use Callebaut dark chocolate 70% cocoa callets because your chocolate chips are made with 45% cocoa and we prefer our chocolate food to be seriously intense in chocolate flavours with a hint of bittersweet aftertaste.
Please don't get me wrong... Although I have used other chocolate products to make our chocolate waffles, I have to clarify that I do use Nestlé dark and milk chocolate products that contain less than 70% cocoa. For examples...
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Chocolate Cake Pops at here and I'm using dark chocolate melt to coat the cake pops.
Milky Brownies and Double Chocolate Cookies at here and here using milk chocolate chips and melts because I was baking these for children and they might not like bittersweet taste of 70% cocoa chocolate
Very Moist and Chocolaty Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting at here because this recipe suggests not to use chocolate that exceed 61% cocoa to make the frosting.
Hence, if you like your chocolate waffles to be creamy with a balanced amount of chocolaty taste, you can use any dark or milk chocolate chips with lesser cocoa content and the choice is totally up to you.
New and Improved Nestlé dark chocolate products
Before, I remember that they contain less than 45% cocoa but now these Nestlé dark chocolate products have bumped up their chocolaty taste!
Now back to my waffle making...
Allow batter to rest for 5 minutes.
Before cooking, grease the waffle iron with vegetable oil spray.
Here I have used Alfa One rice bran oil spray.
Make sure the waffles are thoroughly cooked!
The partially cooked waffles won't be as crispy as the thoroughly cooked ones.
These waffles are extremely delicious with drizzles of Ben and Jerry's hot fudge sauce
Surprise surprise!
I always thought that I would need at least 10g of added oil or butter to make each decently crispy waffle and wasn't expecting these not-so-fatty chocolate waffles tastes so wickedly delicious! Not-so-fatty? Each of these waffles is made with about 5g of added butter, 3g of sugar (which is quite minimal), 2% fat buttermilk and 8g of chocolate with 70% cocoa (with about 40% fat). Comparing to some other chocolate waffles recipes (especially this highly reviewed one that I have seen at Food.com), you have to agree that this is definitely the skinnier chocolate waffles!
Are cocoa powder, chocolate and buttermilk my ninth, tenth or eleventh key waffles ingredients? I would say yes at this moment!Now I shall stop my blah blah blah and enjoy these lovely waffles.
Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from the fantastic Alton Brown's recipe at Food Network
A (dry ingredients):
150g (1 cup) all-purpose flour30g (2 1/2 tbsp) caster sugar
30g (3 tbsp) cocoa powder, preferably Dutch processed
2/3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
2/3 tsp salt
B (wet ingredients):
50g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 eggs, roughly beaten (70g each with shell)
2/3 tsp vanilla paste or extract
320ml (1 1/3 cup) buttermilk, at room temperatureOther:80g (about 1/2 cup) dark chocolate chips or callets that you like and I have used dark chocolate callets with 70% cocoa
Combine all dry ingredient A in a bowl.
Using a whisk, combine eggs, melted butter and vanilla from wet ingredients B in another large mixing bowl and then add the buttermilk. Sift the dry ingredients A into mixture B and whisk until the batter is just smooth. Do not over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips or callets until just combined. Allow to rest for 5 mins.
Preheat waffle iron to its medium low heat setting - not the lowest!
Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick oil spray. Caution: If you are cooking waffles on the your stove, please do not spray cooking oil into direct fire! Pour adequate waffle batter (about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup) onto hot waffle iron. As this mostly buttermilk watery batter does not expand a lot during cooking, please make sure the waffle iron is fully covered with the batter. Cook until both sides are crispy and is easily removed from iron. If the waffles are not easily removed from the iron, this means that they have not been thoroughly cooked and won't be crispy! Repeat this step until all the batter has been used.
Serve immediately most ideally with Ben and Jerry's hot fudge sauce (recipe at here) or keep warm in a 100°C or 200°F oven until ready to serve.
Happy CookingPlease support me and like me at Facebook...
