Showing posts with label Kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kids. Show all posts

Chocolate Dipped Waffles


Phew, sorry about that.  All that canning.

ALL THAT CANNING.  I canned it all.

There will be a post shortly featuring my library of canned goods.

For now however I give you chocolate waffles.


I love waffles.  They are so versatile.  Savory(ish) with chicken, waffle sandwiches, just plain old waffles with butter and syrup.

Can't go wrong!

In France waffles have a unique spin - they aren't breakfast or dinner, but a snack.

Des gaufres, often dipped in chocolate and/or sprinkled with crispy pearl sugar are widely available.


You can buy them pre-wrapped in the supermarche, about the same quality as your average Ho Ho (okay, maybe a little better).

You can get them in a patisserie with lovingly caramelized sugar baked in.

It's something I've been wanting to re-create for a long time.  But for a few years, try as I might, I just couldn't get waffles right.

They always came out...floppy.


Floppy waffles may occur naturally with aging, but I wasn't ready to give in to them just yet.

Anyway, long story short, the mighty Google has finally led me to this pearl (sugar) of a recipe.

The chocolate shell was my own creation.

The smiles on my kids' faces?  I'm taking credit for that as well.

Chocolate Dipped Waffles

The recipe that saved me here was the Waffle of Insane Greatness.  Where did it originate?  Who created it?  I don't know!  You can find it on all the big food sites *now*, but I salute the chef who created it.  And named it.  That name is a winner.

3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate shell:
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons coconut oil

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix together.  Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well.  Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.

Cook on waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.  Couldn't be easier!

For chocolate coating, heat chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a double boiler.  When melted and completely combined, remove from heat.  Dip waffle quarters quickly, let dry on wax paper.  Mangez.

Space Aliens Birthday Cake (Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache)


Argh, summer!  So busy.

It's been swimming lessons time for the kids, and they make it intense.  An hour a day, 4 days a week for two weeks!

It's always fine once we're there, but getting the swim bag packed every day and two kids plus self to the pool is just...consuming.


Once I got everything there except my own swimsuit.  Oops.

The up-side is, once you're in for swim lessons they let you stay all day.  

Nothing wrong with that!


Another great thing about summer is, my son's birthday is inside of it.

A July birthday!  The lucky guy.  

Me, I'm a January girl.  Ugh, miserable.  Usually I like to pretend January doesn't even exist.


He wanted a space-aliens party this year and I MAY have overdone it, with the papier-mache solar system and the internet-ordered aliens party plates.

But the cake was the most fun of all.

He won't hear of any cake flavor other than chocolate, so it's chocolate.  With chocolate frosting and chocolate ganache inside (I'm all about the ganache lately).


Little man is four.  I can hardly believe it.  The time, it flies.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache Filling

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup hot chocolate (unsweetened, if you can get it)

Preheat oven to 350, grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt.  You don't need a stand mixer, just a great big spoon.  Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and hot cocoa.

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For frosting, make this recipe (use milk instead of champagne, or use champagne...also add 1/2 c of cocoa powder)!

For ganache, make this recipe!  

Spread it all around and enjoy.