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!

Home Made Mayo

What do you do when you opened a tin of tuna, chopped up a bunch of celery and then find that you have no mayo in the house? You make your own mayo! That's exactly what I did (albeit 1 day later because I don't have any mustard at home either :P)

Well, I've finally bought the dijon mustard from the supermarket and set to work making my first batch of mayo. I've gone through the internet for home made mayo recipes and they basically use quite the same proportions but I've made a little adjustment here and there to my taste and here's what I used:

1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons of dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of lemon juce
1/2 cup of oil (the suggestion's to use a light-tasting oil so it won't mar the taste of your mayo)
1 teaspoon of salt (to taste)

Setting the whisk on medium, I whisked together the egg yolk and dijon. When they are well mixed, I dribble in the oil, little by little to make sure they bind together well. As you whisk away, the mixture should look creamy and 'together'. Finally, add in the lemon juice and salt and whisk away to combine everything.

Voila! Creamy mayo, with a fresh tang. Sunshine!


And straighaway, I made myself a mini tuna mayo sub topped with green olives. Oh I added a few shakes of cayenne pepper to the tuna mayo too!

Bon Apetite!

Chocolate Lava

It so happended 2 of my nephews came over for dinner last night and king junior asked for Chocolate Lava for dessert. It's been a few months since I last made that so to make the boy happy, Chocolate Lava for dessert it shall be!




The chocolate came oozing out when I cut through with my spoon. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
A.
100g dark chocolate (I used Cadboury Old Gold 70% cocoa. You can use your favourite)
100g unsalted butter (cubed at room temperature)

Melt these 2 items together using a bain marie.

B.
2 eggs
50g sugar

Beat these together till it turns white.

C.
20g flour (I used self-raising but you can use plain too. It just won't rise as much)

Method:

Heat your oven to about 180 deg C. Butter your ramekins (no ramekins? use muffin cups but make sure you butter them well so the cake can come off easily when done)

Pour melted chocolate / butter (A) into the egg mixture (B). Stir to mix well. Then stir in flour (C). Stir till well-mixed.

Pour into ramekins and bake for 10 minutes, till the outside's done and the inside's still runny. If you are using muffin cups or even paper cups, reduce the bake time to about 8 minutes or even lesser. But don't worry about over baking. I like it runny in the middle (hence the lava) but if you over bake, you will just get a super moist chocolate cake :)

You can prepare the batter ahead and just pop into the oven and then serve immediately, with ice cream, fruits (sour cherries with vanilla ice cream + cream are a good bet) or just eat it on its own.

Left overs can be stored in the fridge (in their ramekins or cups), and popped into the oven to heat for a couple of minutes the next day and turned into super moist chocolate cake.

Enjoy!

Muffins for Breakfast

Yohei's been bugging me to bake muffins (because I refused to let him take Ee Jia's muffins the other night). The recipe's called Easy-for-Kid's Chocolate Muffins from AllRecipes.com. The muffins are not too sweet but could do with a bit more butter :)

So the Kings are having muffins for breakfast this morning :)