Belgian Waffles - It's a Waffle Party!

        Do you LOVE waffles? Crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. Heck I think that's how I like a lot of my food, it's about the contrasting textures!

        I was actually never a huge fan of waffles to start with and only ever liked the Vietnamese pandan waffles but I will make an exceptian for the Belgian ones.

        At work, we have a rewards program where we are rewarded with points for our good work and also for service recognition/anniversary with the company. You can trade in your points at any time in exchange for something from the catalogue which ranges from things like movie vouchers, homewares, electronics, even overseas trips. 

        I had accumulated enough points to claim a compact digital camera with super zoom however it wasn't quite what I was after so I donated my camera to Grandpa who had lost his during the Queensland floods. I had enough points left over to claim a Sunbeam Belgian waffle maker, which I had been eyeing off for a while now.

        One cold rainy Friday evening Ryan was called into work, so earlier that day I sent out a message to some friends for an impromptu waffle party at my place, what better way to christen my waffle machine? With some eager reponses I went about researching online for a recipe for Belgian waffles and found this recipe. I remember I had to make a few changes to it but never wrote down exactly what those changes were. 

        The batter that I ended up with resulted in some pretty tasty waffles. It's a yeast based waffle batter which meant that I had to sit my mixing bowl next to a heater to help it rise on this particular cold night. It was well worth it though.

        My fellow wafflers came and we fired up the waffle machine to start making some hot waffles. I had plenty of chocolate at home to make a sauce and also had some strawberries in the fridge. I requested my guests to bring some additional toppings of choice, and a tub of vanilla ice cream too.

        The chocolate sauce is simply some milk chocolate melts and milk, melted over a double boiler and stired until combined.

        So our toppings of choice are 'maple' syrup (shame it wasn't the real deal), strawberries and a mix of crushed walnuts and cashew nuts. Chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream not shown in this pic.

        Golden goodness. I actually doubled the batch and we were eating waffles a few days in a row, such indulgence.

        DIY waffle assembling. All on with the toppings for most of us. It's more fun that way, and everyone gets to pick and choose what they want to go with their waffles. Great for those picky eaters. I've got to say I was actually a little skeptical about the crushed walnuts and cashews but they went so well with the chocolate and strawberries and vanilla ice cream. We didn't have any bananas that evening but the next day I was able to have a waffle with some ripe sugar bananas from the garden - it was delicious.

        What could possibly be better than this? Definately beats heading out to Max Brenner to queue up on a cold and wet Friday night! And we had much more fun at home making our own waffles.