BY
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)
I just used vit. d for the picture’s sake)
Topping:
Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce
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
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 and soda, 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!
Mix up a batch of this waffle mix for a one-of-a-kind gift idea! You can download and print the cute labels for free, thanks to Lollychops.com! Click here to find labels.
I want these SOOOOOO bad. Can we PLEASE have them when I come visit??
I was planning on doing something fun for Valentine’s breakfast- and I think you just met a need I didn’t even know I had! Those look soooo yummy! I’ll definitely be trying those on Saturday.
Yum! Wow, that takes breakfast to a whole new level. I will have to try these! (maybe when morning sickness wears off, so I can enjoy them to the fullest 🙂 lol). Delicious!
I can’t wait till the weekend so I have time to make this! They look so yummy!
So this is what you were talking about yesterday! I made waffles this morning with frozen blueberries in them. I was feeling pretty good about myself till I clicked into your blog. These look fabulous! A must try. Thanks for the recipe.
Mmmmmm, these look heavenly!
Seriously, these treats are toooooo tempting! In Portugal they sell the yummiest Chocolate waffles so I’m excited to try these! Actually, I’ve been wondering why I’ve been crazing so many treats lately…perhaps it’s your fabulous posts with tempting pictures that are permeating my subconscious and fixating a desire to eat and eat and eat! 🙂
You’ve figured out our devious little plan Jodi,I’m glad it’s working! Muah ha ha ha ha!
These look sooo yummy! I am sure my kids will LOVE them as much as I will! Every year we do a “Red” dinner on Valentines night. I may have to have a fun food day all day this year! Thanks!
These are great! I’m so lucky to live in the test kitchen!
I can’t wait to try these!
chocolate and berries! my two favorites combined…yum! a definitely must try 🙂
These looks soo good. Belgium Waffles are my all-time favorite breakfast food. I’ll definitely be trying these. They remind me of chocolate waffle cookies.
These look fabulous. I am curious about the cornstarch though. I have never heard of adding it to waffles. What does it do?
Amy- great question. I was going to talk about this in my post but I saw how long my post was and didn’t want to bore people!
There are a couple of ingredients in this recipe that are key to the perfect texture. One is the cornstarch, and the other is the oil (as opposed to butter). Those things both create a batter that becomes crisp on the outside and soft and airy in the middle.
Using butter and 100% flour in this recipe would result in a softer/soggier waffle.
Make sense?
Sara- Thanks for the insight. Your posts never bore, I love them.
YUM. These look so good. Can I use semi-sweet chocolate chips? Diego can’t have milk chocolate.
Nathaly,
Any any kind of chocolate will work. Milk, semi-sweet, dark, can’t go wrong!
I used semi-sweet because I prefer it to milk chocolate.
These look delicious! I see Saturday breakfast coming my way. The only V-day food tradition we have is my mom would make a cute little “flower arrangement” out of those chocolate striped shortbread cookies and heart shaped gummies, way cute, and delicious
Okay, I got a little peeved that you didn’t add the nutritional info so I calculated it myself. Now I am very sad that I won’t be having them any time soon!! Boohoo!!
Valentines Day is for splurging! That’s the whole point! lol.
I am really looking forward to making these. I even bought a waffle iron for the occasion! Just wanted to let you know that I receive many compliments on your chicken fajitas and your tri-tip marinades! They are so tasty!!
You don’t heat up the berry sauce, eh??
jen- no, I don’t heat up the berry sauce. Since it’s mixed up ahead of time and sitting on the counter while I make the waffles, it’s at room temp by the time I serve it. I like that on a hot waffle with cold whipped cream, but you could certainly heat up the berries if you wanted to…
This looks amazing! I need to get a waffle iron!
Michelle
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/
I have never seen anything more delicious in my life!!
These turned out PERFECT! Thanks Sara.
Could you possibly make these into pancakes rather than waffles?
aswensen- I've never tried it, but the thing that makes me doubtful is that the batter is much thinner than a pancake batter and I don't think it would hold its shape at all. I wish I had better news! You could always experiment…
Thanks Sara! I may experiment and see how it goes!
These are just the thing for my new Texas-shaped waffle iron!
THIS WAS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I made it this morning for a Valentine's Breakfast for my family. WOW!!!!! Now I'm excited to try some of your other recipes. This was the first.
Thanks
After I figured out not to put in too much batter at a time, and not open the lid until they were ready (my first trial cost me an hour clean-up scraping the crusted batter that had oozed out) I LOVED them! We actually opted for the vanilla ice cream version with buttermilk caramel syrup (aka HEAVEN) and it was a hit. I think people actually like me better now that I can seduce them with your delicious recipes. Now if only I could make my food look as delicious and perfect as it does in your pictures…
Can you omit the chocolate and make a plain waffle?
Jangathing- You *can* but while this recipe makes an amazing chocolate waffle, I don't think it's the best plain waffle recipe- the batter will be really thin so you may need a few Tbs of flour to replace the coco powder.
Amazing! Seriously amazing. I am posting these on The Sisters Cafe tomorrow. Thank you a million times for this fabulous recipe!
Made these today for Valentines day breakfast and I think we have ourselves a new tradition! Deliciousness!! Thanks for helping me start my family's day with love in their belly!
Making these right now. Can’t see where the bkg soda goes in, I assume it’s with the dry ingredients? I love your recipes, thankyou!
Holy Hambones!!! These are off the hook! I was trying to find a chocolate pancake recipe that I had used and really enjoyed and thought it was from your site. Long story longer…I could not find that recipe but stumbled upon your chocolate waffles. Incredible. I think my boys and I like them better that the pancakes. I served them with strawberry greek yogurt and they were awesome. A PERFECT Mother’s Day treat!! Thanks.
Okay that was like eating chocolate cake for breakfast! WOW! So delicious. I broke my “protein only for breakfast” this morning just for these. I couldn’t resist. thanks!
Another AMAZINGLY, DELICIOUS, SINFUL recipe from ourbestbites. Best recipes anywhere!!! Thank you !
Made these this morning for my birthday breakfast, they were fabulous! Oh my goodness! The berry sauce may be my new favorite thing and was so easy! Thanks for the great recipe!
THESE ARE AMAZING!!!! THE PERFECT RECIPE!!! I MADE TWO BATCHES THIS MORNING! I DID A FRUIT MIX RATHER THAN A GLAZE BUT THIS IS NOW ONE OF MY FAVORITE RECIPES! THANKS FOR SHARING!
Okay…leave it to me to mess up the easiest recipes; jello…rice…and waffles! I tried these tonight and they were a disaster. I mixed the ingredients exactly. I didn’t grease the waffle iron. I used my mom’s and it has a temperature dial so I went with medium (between light, dark, and medium). I ended up with half the batter stuck to the top plate and half stuck to the bottom. Sounds like commenter #33 initially had the same problem. What did I do wrong? The only thing I can think of is the temperature was wrong or I cooked the waffle too long or not long enough? Maybe I checked it too early? I’d appreciate some tips because this batter was yummy and I would love to figure out a way to make these turn out. I ended up trying to make pancakes instead and while they didn’t work well they sill tasted okay. Maybe someone has a suggestion on how high of heat to use or approximate cooking time? Thanks a bunch!
Hi
what size jar did you use for gifting of the dry ingredients? I am thinking about doing a fundraiser, selling these waffles and the dry ingredients on the side. Do think it is a better idea to prepare each jar separately vs mixing the dry ingredients all together and then putting into jars?
Although it would be easier to mix a giant batch and distribute into jars, I would probably mix them individually. And I used pint jars. Hope that helps!