Belgian Waffles

Bought a waffle maker and I've been looking for a recipe that the family likes.  I think found it.  It's definitely a keeper!

Taken from Taste of Home, I halved the recipe and it yielded 3 waffles with some batter left behind.  Could have been 4 if I didn't over-fill the pan for the first one.

Here's the ingredient list:

1 cup flour
3/8 cup sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg, separate (I happened to have only large eggs and it had a double yolk :P)
3/4 cup milk
114g butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla (I think I added more)

1.  Melt butter and leave to cool.
2.  Mix flour, sugar and baking powder.
3.  Lightly beat egg yolk, add in milk, vanilla and the cooled butter.
4.  Mix the liquids into the flour and mix well, getting rid of the lumps.
5.  Beat the egg whites still stiff.
6.  Fold egg whites into the batter.
7.  Let the batter stand for a while before making your waffles.

Here's the waffle.  Don't mind the holes haha!

Classic Belgian Waffles (and my new waffle maker)

Because my BFF and her little darling will be visiting us for tea, I needed to test out a recipe that will make them happy.  That, and testing my new waffle maker.

First, let's meet the new soldier in my kitchen army.  Bought off Taobao, this gadget is made in Germany (surprise, surprise!) and is really easy to use.  It makes those thick, Belgian waffles with the really deep dimples, something that would make substantial breakfast / lunch / tea / dinner (depending on your mood).  

More on the waffle maker later on.  Now, let's get back to the recipe.

I used the Classic Belgian Waffles recipe found on Food & Wine.  It's something from Thomas DeGeest.  I was a bit surprised that it contains no sugar (but of course, what do I know about real Belgian waffles?).  The sweetness would come from the icing sugar, chocolate sauce, Nutella or whatever you want to put on it.  Here's the list of ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2. 1 cup warm water
3. 3 cups all-purpose flour
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt
5. 1 cup whole milk
6. 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
7. 2 large eggs, separated
8. 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
9. Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

*Note*

I used only half the portion as I wasn't sure how it would turn out.

Simple instructions:

1.  Separate egg whites from egg yolks and whisk egg whites till soft peaks form and keep cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients

2.  Melt butter and let it cool 

3.  Mix yeast with the warm water, set aside

4.  Mix flour with salt

6.  Whisk yeast, cooled melted butter, milk, vanilla extract into the flour till smooth

7.  Fold in egg white and let the batter stand for 20 minutes

As for making the waffles, please follow the instructions for your waffle maker.  For mine, I find that I had to fill the pan to the brim so the batter would flow into every cavity, allowing the batter to touch the pan on all sides so the surface would crisp up.  Once done, you can put in a heated oven to keep warm if you are not eating immediately (or you intend to serve everyone together).

Sprinkle icing sugar over the waffles before serving, together with your favourite sweet sauces, whipped cream or fruits (or all of the above :P )

Bon appetit!

Triple Chocolate Mousse

I've posted this before, long time back but heck, it's Christmas! What's Christmas without some sweet temptations?

I made this for my little get-together a week before Christmas and I think someone's going to blame me for his/her weight gain :P

This recipe was taken off Anna Olsen's "Sugar" programme and it went onto my "die-die-must-try-to-make" list immediately. Here's the ingredient list:

Dark Chocolate layer:
6oz (~ 170g. I'd give it a bit more) Dark Chocolate (I have used Cadbury Old Gold 70% cocoa and Carrefour housebrand 74% cocoa and both are good)
1/2 teaspoon gelatin powder
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cup whipping cream

White Chocolate layer:
5oz (~ 141g) White Chocolate
1/4 teaspoon gelatin powder
1/4 milk
1/2 cup whipping cream

Milk Chocolate layer:
6oz (~ 170g) Milk Chocolate
1/4 teaspoon gelatin powder
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup whipping cream

How to:
The method for all layers are the same. You should only prepare each layer as and when you need it.

1. Stir the gelatin into the milk and let it sit for a while.
2. Melt chocolate in a bain marie (or over a pot of simmering water), stirring constantly.
3. Heat the milk till it just starts to bubble and whisk it into the melted chocolate.
4. Let the chocolate + milk mixture cool to room temperature.
5. Whisk the whipping cream into a soft peak.
6. Gently fold whipped cream into cooled chocolate mixture.
7. Pour into mould and even out. Chill till set before putting on next layer.

Chilling times:
Milk Chocolate: at least 4 hours
Dark & White Chocolate: at least 1 hour

My notes:

The quantity here for the white and milk chocolate is half of the quantity Anna Olsen's original recipe. I'm not much of a sweets person so I've decided to use less of the milk and white.

Depending on how you are serving the mousse, you can change the sequence of the layers as you wish but I find the dark/white/milk sequence tastes best (especially when you have your spoon right to the bottom and spoon out all 3 layers into your mouth at the same time... heavenly...). Just make sure that each layer is well set before you pour on the next layer (otherwise the layers may mix up together).

For ease of serving, I used individual cups but you can also make it in a big tray. Just make sure you line the tray with a plastic wrap first. To serve, put a large serving plate over the mousse, tip the whole thing over and peel off the plastic. Slice the mousse with a hot, dry knife and use a cake server to lift off.

Garnishing:
Anna Olsen used a Dacquoise Crunch (a meringue spread thin and slow-baked, then broken up into pieces). I didn't do this because of time constraint. I just might try it next week :)

Have fun!

Japanese style cheese cake

Tried my hand at baking cheese cake yesterday (I normally do the easy non-bake ones). It's not the heavy American / New York type but the light, fluffy Japanese Cheese Cake that saw queues snaking outside the shops when it was first introduced here. The recipe was simple but the baking time was long. I can't remember where I got the recipe from. If I recall, I will put the credit up here but meanwhile, here's what I used (being just an experiment, I used only half the ingredients and used a loaf pan instead of the round pan):

A.
250g cream cheese
100ml fresh milk
50g butter

B.
140g sugar
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

C.
60g cake / superfine flour
20g corn flour
1/4 tsp salt
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp lemon juice
6 egg yolks

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C, lightly grease 8" round pan & line with parchment / greaseproof baking paper.
2. Melt A in a bain marie (or a double boiler) and let the mixture cool off
3. Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in B till foamy, add in sugar the sugar and whisk till soft peaks form. Cover and put in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the cake.
4. Fold C into A (prepared in Step 1) then gently combine the whisked egg whites in Step 2 with this mixture.
5. Pour into cake pan and bake for 1hr 10 mins in a water bath.
6. Let cake cool before removing from pan. This cake is best eaten chilled.

The texture of the cake is light, somewhat close to the store-bought type but Moobe feels it needs a bit more cheese though. I'll find out what Joy and Lai Leng think tonight :P
Happy baking!

Chocolate Lava

When J & LL came over the weekend, I tried baking chocolate lava which turned out a tad too dry (yea, overbaked :P). Yohei requested for Chocolate Lava for dessert today and since WT was coming over to get some paperwork done, I baked a small batch. It turned out much better, having learned from the previous stint but I think I can still improve on the the temperature control. The chocolate is moist, as you can see from the picture but it doesn't flow out as I had hoped it would. Ah well, there will always be a next time. The recipe came from here.

I halved the recipe and it yielded 5 small ones (used small cups as I don't have any of those regular ramekins). For chocolate, I mixed 3oz of Carrefour's Noir chocolates (60%) with some Hershey's unsweetened chocolate since we all prefer it rich with the slightest hint of bitter.

It would have been much better if we had some vanilla ice cream handy but that would be too sinful, wouldn't it? :)

Enjoy!