Waffles As Yummylicious Dessert and Wholesome Meals

The mere mention of 'Waffles' conjure many images of a cooked, leavened square or round piece of dough with various patterns and flavour. They are typically served as a sweet dessert or snack and for the American version, it is typically expected to be served with ice cream, cream and a sweet syrup.

For us locals, it is common to find many bakeries serving a green coloured version, the pandan waffles, with assortment of jams to choose to go with it. The fact that there is no shortage of queuing customers in front of these stalls at any time of the day, is a testimony of how much we love them!

Personally, I love them too and had done a post titled "Waffles" back in 2011. At that time, I didn't have my own waffle maker and had to borrow one. I bought one eventually one and a half years ago but didn't get down to using it till recently. Once I start using it, I have never had enough of making waffles, both as dessert and as savory wholesome meals!

Old Fashioned Waffle - Love this, with ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup.
Can never get enough of this!

Waffle Brunch - If you only had waffle as dessert, think again!
By pairing it with scrambled eggs, sautéed tomatoes and a dash of ketchup,
they make wonderful delicious and wholesome meals. Have it for breakfast with a cup of juice, served it with a salad for lunch or simply as it is for a light and easy dinner.

Here's my recipe to share and inspire you. You can make a bigger batch and store in airtight containers in the fridge, ready for a quick and easy snack or meal anytime. I keep mine for up to 3 days. If  you prefer to make fresh, it's not that difficult, except perhaps whipping up the egg white.

Waffle Recipe
Ingredients (Makes 4 pcs of 7in x ¾in round waffle)
- Plain flour  1 cup
- Corn Flour  1.5 tbsp
- Baking Powder  1.5 tsp
- Baking Soda  ¼ tsp
- Salt  0.5 tsp
- Cinnamon Powder  0.5 tsp or 1 tsp, depending on persoanl preference
- Sunflower Oil or Melted Butter  2 tbsp
- Milk  1 cup
- Vanilla Extract  1 tsp
- Egg Yolk 1 no.
- Egg White  1 no.
- Sugar  1.5 tbsp

Steps:

1. Sieve all dry ingredients, except for sugar, into a bowl

2. Mix egg yolk, oil (or melted butter) and milk into the flour mixture, using a hand whisk till mixture is smooth with no lumps

3. Whisk  egg white with sugar till stiff peak form, using either a hand whisk or handheld electric mixer and fold into the batter in 2 or 3 batches

4. Let batter rest for 30 mins in the fridge, before portioning and cooking in your waffle iron. As a rule of thumb, I set mine to high temperature and cook till there's hardly any steam coming out from the side of the waffle iron.
5. Transfer waffle to a rack (so that steam does not get trapped on the underside of the waffle and make it soggy!) while you finished preparing your accompaniment such as ice cream, tomatoes or eggs. Plate as per your preference and serve!

Enjoy!

Note: For Pandan Waffle, replace the following ingredients:

- milk to coconut milk

- vanilla extract to 2 tsp of pandan essence (optional)

- cinnamon powder to 1 tbsp of thick pandan juice (you may blend a small bunch of pandan leaves with the coconut milk, let it steep for half an hour before sieving with a fine sieve to remove the shredded leaves; the steeping will help to draw out the natural green colouring from the leaves)

P.S: I had bought my waffle maker as it was a good brand at a discounted price. However, in my excitement, I failed to notice the waffle plates are not deep enough to make thick waffles. If you prefer those thicker waffle with deeper impression, you may want to take note of this when shopping for your waffle maker, that is, if you have not buy yours yet.