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.

Tarts & Quiche

I love tarts and quiche to bits and my deepest memories of the former is when Delifrance first had it's stores in Singapore. Their very attractive fruit tarts are huge (by the standard at that time) and the fruit toppings is ever so generous.

I recently re-visit their stores and find myself no longer yearning for them as I used too. For some reason, they don't look as good as they used to be. I am not sure if my perception has changed or that their standard has indeed dropped. Could be a combination of both I guess, especially with my exposure to those made by high end hotels such as Marina Bay Sands, plus my training in culinary school.

Instead of buying them, more often than not, I baked them on my own. They are not difficult and the sweet and savoury type can share the same tart base if you want to save time from baking two versions. There are also ready baked tart shells from specialty stores which one can make big batches for parties in a jiffy.


Chocolate tart variations created for Candlenut Kitchen

Fruit tarts with chocolate mousse filling

Savoury tarts - Quiche with salad as a complete meal

I love the sweet version as desserts while the savoury ones as a quick meals served with a salad. My recent picture posting on Facebook have prompted friends asking for tarts making class and I am very happy that I have two classes lined up for this month. I am so looking forward to the fun and rewarding sessions with the participants!

For those reading this post and are keen in the workshop, the details is at:

ST Classified:
http://www.stclassifieds.sg/sell/cooking-and-baking-lessons/courses/tarts-making-class/ad-889995

and my FB:
https://www.facebook.com/lynn.lim.395?ref=tn_tnmn#!/littlebakeshop

Waffles

I love waffles, especially the pandan ones. The combination of coconut and pandan is so irresistible that I never fail to like any desserts or pastry with these two ingredients. Naturally, I was very delighted when we had a school lesson on it during my course. As fate would have it, I fell sick during that lesson and missed it. Nonetheless, I was comforted that I had the lesson material and recipe with me.

Since then, I had been debating whether to buy my own waffle maker... what's the use of having the recipe and not having the tools to make it! A decent one from a reputable brand is not cheap however, and so I held back my buying urge.

Two years later, I finally had the chance to make a very special batch of waffles - dairy and egg free for the Angels, to go with the special ice cream I made for her (I had posted this in an earlier blog: http://little-bake-shop.blogspot.com/2011/01/little-hall-of-fame.html). The waffle machine belongs to the Angels' mum. Today, it sits in my home, short term adoption while the Angels' family is away for a year plus. The first opportunity I had, I made a batch of my favourite of pandan waffles.

Pandan Waffles - first batch of waffles I made specially for myself. Ate 2 big slices of it for brunch on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Some weeks later, I hosted a tea and waffles party for two of my friends family. The kids are overjoyed, especially when they get to choose their own favourite ice cream to go with the waffles.

Tea and Waffles Party - the children really enjoyed their waffles with ice cream more than anything else!

Buffet Dessert on Tier Cake Stand

I have always wanted a cake tier stand to add to my collection of kitchen and bake wares. However, finding one which is pleasing and yet at the same time affordable has not been easy. Thus, the search continued after a year on... till I received one recently, from a very dear friend and her partner as a belated house warming gift!

I couldn't't hide my joy of delight as I carefully unwrapped and opened the gift in front of her, at her insistent that I opened it immediately. Yes, it is beautiful, classic looking and of the colour I had wanted! It may not be of expensive high quality porcelain or bone china, nor is it branded. But because it was from two very dear friends who took time and effort in searching what my heart desire, it is all the more precious than ever.

So I told her, one day I would like to bake an assortment of pastries and present them on their gift, and we would have afternoon tea together, just like what hotels or high end cafes do! Well, one and a half month have gone since I got this precious gift and I have yet to invite them for tea. But I had a chance to present it to another group of dear friends last Saturday, when we had a gathering over at my place. I specially made three different dessert for the occasions and served them buffet style.

My precious 3 tier cake stand, a gift from two very dear friends.

Black Sesame Ice Cream, one of my favourite ice cream flavour.



Durian Mousse Cakes and Chocolate Slices. The latter is dairy, gluten and egg free - the same cake which I made for the Angels while the durian mousse is an improved version of my earlier attempt - richer and more texture as I kept the pulp instead of pureed them.