Waffles

Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 2, 2011

When I was a kid I used to walk about a half mile to get to the penny candy store. Mr. Fina had a great selection of things like sour belts, lollipops, watermelon sours, and chocolate covered gummy bears. But for just a quarter I used to get these tiny square ice cream sandwiches. Since then I have loved ice cream sandwiches, from the ones that are super soft to chipwiches. I even consider that Choco Taco a pretty decent ice cream sandwich relative.

Since I’ve been gluten free, I have had a hard time finding every day treats that are gluten free. I can’t just walk into a convenience store and grab an ice cream sandwich, so I decided to make mine own that I can at least have a home. Waffle ice cream sandwiches just fell into place because I have been heavily relying on them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For a long time I could not find a gluten free bread I liked so I was using waffles I made in large batches as my bread substitute for sandwiches. So waffles are a pretty neutral flavor, even slightly sweet, so they would work well with ice cream.

I have been giving my ice cream maker a decent work out this summer with sorbet so I figured I would actually make some ice cream with it this time. I made a simple vanilla ice cream that I packed with vanilla beans, by using vanilla extract and homemade vanilla sugar. The waffles were simple since I used a mix since it was might convenient for something gluten free, however I highly suggest making waffles from scratch whenever possible. The overall process was really simple, but the thing to keep in mind is the time it takes for the waffles to get COLD. While I think room temperature waffles are acceptable, I think that you run less risk with ice cream melting with really cold waffles.

Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

For Waffles

use your favorite recipe or mix*

For Simple Vanilla Ice Cream (from Cuisinart)

1 cup whole milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

For Waffles:

Follow recipe instructions. Ladle batter into hot waffle iron, cook until waffle is a brown color. Waffle should be slightly crisp. Lay out all waffles, do not stack, allowing to cool and not get soggy from steam. Place waffles in fridge or freezer to get cold.

For Ice Cream:

In a chilled bowl, combine all ingredients using a hand mixer or whisk. Let mixture chill over night or at least one hour. Process the ice cream according to machine’s manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is formed, transfer to bowl and freeze until the consistency is thicker, but not hard to spread.

Assemble Sandwiches:

Once the waffles are cold, halve with a serrated bread knife. Spread a thick layer of ice cream over one half of waffle. Gently place other waffle portion on top to create sandwich. Immediately place into freezer. Freeze over night, or at least 2 hours, prior to serving,

Optional:

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Dip frozen ice cream sandwiches into chocolate, place back into freezer immediately. Freeze for 15 minutes, prior to serving.

*I used Pamela’s Baking and Pancake mix because it’s one of my favorite gluten free mixes

Whole Wheat Waffles

March 26, 2010

I describe myself as a morning person. I basically am but when I’m going to bed late during the week from watching tv, movies, cleaning, homework (previously) I tend to be less of a morning person than what my true nature is. Sleeping in on the weekends is about 8.30. I love to be out to in the summer gardening or reading a book in our backyard. I just feel that you are missing the best part of the day.

Yesterday was International Waffle Day so that means the best way to ‘celebrate’ is to enjoy some waffles. Well, even with being a morning person I still could not pull myself together to make waffles for breakfast. I also did go out to Shecky’s on Wednesday and it was the first time that Emily and I actually really drank at this event. Plus I really think that waffles are a special occasion breakfast. It goes against my daily yogurt/muesli/ fruit routine. So waffles at dinner would have to work.

I love the Buttermilk Waffles I typically make and I loved the Bacon Chocolate Chip Waffles too. But the first uses a crazy amount of butter, of course that is what makes them amazing! And the second, bacon + chocolate, ‘nuf said. So I decided to try a healthier approach this time. I used King Arthur’s Recipe for Hearty Whole Wheat Waffles.

The waffles were really simple to get together and came out well. They were plain and clearly tasted like whole wheat. I think that adding some cinnamon would really enhance this recipe, but it would depend on the taste you want. Or just serve them with fruit or bacon! Price made himself some bacon that we cooked in the oven on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet. Bacon is bacon but this way the fat drips away and cooks evenly from top and bottom. Plus he was happy with this breakfast for dinner idea since it gave him leftovers for breakfast today. Def nice to have when it’s (briefly) snowing out at the end of March!

Whole Wheat Waffles

Makes eight 8″ waffles

Ingrdients

1 1/2 cups King Arthur whole wheat flour, white whole wheat or traditional
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil

Process

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and butter or oil.
Mix together the wet and dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
Cook the waffles as directed in the instructions that came with your waffle iron.

Source: King Arthur Flour Recipe

Bacon-Chocolate Chip Waffles

January 6, 2010

Yep, that’s right… Bacon Chocolate Chip Waffles! I read about this recipe at Coconut Lime. I knew that I had to make it for our 5 year anniversary (1/2). It’s not that it was going to be complicated or fancy, just new and indulgent. I wanted to step things up from the typical scrambled egg, toast, yogurt, or leftovers (yes, leftovers.. in fact I had left over chicken tika masala on new years day.) So waffles and some Bailey’s would make for a better Saturday morning.

Bacon is a big deal right now. In fact I gifted bacon jam at Christmas. I have not yet tried the jar I kept for us, but I think the whole thing is just hilarious. Bacon in a waffle was quiet ingenious. Plus the chocolate is a perfect complement to it- sweet and salty are always great together. I have had a bacon chocolate bar from Vosges in NYC.

The waffles were simple to make and came out really well. The combination of chocolate and bacon provided a great balance of salty and sweet in the waffle. The bacon added a nice smokeiness to the waffle. I would not expect to enjoy smokey in my waffles but it was great. Even though we clearly knew there was bacon and chocolate in them it was still so surprising when we were eating them. Def out of the ordinary, but def worth a try! My only suggestion to this is to use the mini chocolate chips, and I say that only because my waffle iron did not seem to enjoy closing with the regular chips.

Bacon Chocolate Waffles

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 cups of buttermilk* 2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup crumbled bacon
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Process

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.
Whisk together the egg, oil, vanilla and buttermilk in a small bowl.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips and crumbled bacon.
Follow the instructions included with your waffle iron to complete the waffles.
*If you don’t have buttermilk on hand you can make your own with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for every cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes

Recipe from Coconut Lime

Buttermilk Waffles

October 3, 2009

We woke up to rain. Lots of rain. Rain pounding down on the skylight over the stairs. Rain does funny things to you. It makes you want to cancel all of your plans just so you can hibernate while watching bad movies and cooking shows. Luckily, Price had a class to go to and I wanted to get to Harvest Fest in Somerville so we were ‘forced’ outside. At least I got to make a comforting breakfast for us… waffles.

Last year my boss Helen gave me the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It was a thank you for making all the birthday cakes for our then pod (now I do them for the office). I love the structure of the book as it gives a detailed description of the recipe for an introduction and the recipe amounts are given in several ways from volume and weight measurements. Also, at the end of each recipe there is a section called ‘understanding’ that explains little things about the recipe, like cake flour has less gluten-forming protein than all-purpose flour. There is a pine cone cake (you can see the picture on amazon) that I am dying to try… too cute! Anyway, whenever I want to make waffles now I go to this book for a great buttermilk waffle recipe.

This waffles have a great tangy flavor without overpowering your palate. There is a lot of butter in the recipe so you don’t even have to add anymoreon top. The butter in the batter also helps create a crisp crust. We always make the whole batch and freeze the waffles to save them for a weekday breakfast (as if there is any time) or a dinner.

Buttermilk Waffles

Makes 6-8 8″ Waffles

Ingrdients

1 3/4 cups unsifted cake flour or 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 cups of buttermilk*
16 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Process

Wisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Beat the eggs and buttermilk together in a small bowl.
Combine the buttermilk and eggs into the flour mixture. Mix lightly with a fork until the flour is moistened. Mix in the melted butter. The batter should be lumpy.
Cook in your waffle iron. A really hot iron will produce a better waffle- nice crisp edges!

Note-You can freeze up to 2 months. When freezing the waffles free them separately and then store or place a piece of parchment paper between each waffle before freezing.

*If you don’t have buttermilk on hand you can make your own with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for every cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes