German Waffles - Das ist sehr gut ya!!!
10 July 2013
I am not the most adventurous
chef, cook or baker. In fact not at
all. Though I must confess that though I
don’t particularly enjoy cooking and baking, I thoroughly enjoy EATING things
that have been cooked and baked. I have
perfected a few dishes, and my repertoire is ever growing.
Every single weekend, we enjoy a
different type of breakfast, to have a break from the cereal, toast or rusk
routine of the week days. These are the
kids absolute favourites, and they normally ask me on a Friday already what
breakfast treat we’re having on the weekend.
It usually varies between pancakes, flap jacks and waffles. And of all of those, waffles are by far the
most popular, probably because very few other meals allow you to have ice-cream
with your breakfast. The kids also
always choose waffles as their birthday breakfast treat. For Christmas my mom bought Amber a little
donut maker, and this is super cute and makes really yummy donuts. Though they are a little bit tricky to make
in terms of getting them out of the machine, and you have to make absolute
heaps to even come close to filling Luke.
He’s a bit of a bottomless pit.
Last week we enjoyed a two night
get-away at Kleinbaai with as many of the Lombard clan as we could assemble for
a mid-week breather. Naturally eating
figured large on our agenda. We were on
holiday after all. Why would it
not? My mom had brought along her little
German waffle iron set that she had bought from the local church market/fete in
Tulbagh. And having sampled these delicious
delicacies a few weeks earlier, when we did a grand farewell for my cousin
Adam, who’s gone to Istanbul, I saw an opportunity to increase me repertoire. And on a shopping excursion to the metropolis
that is Gansbaai (the nearest little village to Kleinbaai), we did a spot of
browsing at an antique shop. And low and
behold, what should we find? A German
waffle mould – it was fate. I simply had
to have it. It clearly was a sign.
My stepsister, Katarina, was the
master chef and shared her knowledge with me.
They are delectable. And we stood
very socially chatting and laughing in the kitchen, whilst making them. Naturally the family was charmed with our
efforts and suitably impressed. Though
we had quite a piggy night on that occasion.
My aunt Bettie had made some killer chocolate fudge (to-die-for!), Oupa
Willem shared two big slabs of Cadbury’s Bubbles chocolate and Ouma Helene had
brought out some of their anniversary choccie stash too. By the time the waffles came out, we somehow
managed to wolf those down with remarkable ease too.
And so last night, I indulged and
made some for us at home. It was a rip
roaring success and they came out beautifully.
And tasted even better than they looked.
In fact, I must confess to feeling very domestic-goddess-ish when I saw
them all piled up on a plate. Never mind
that, I was super impressed with myself.
I did it! It was very much a “Ta-Da”
moment!
I will include the recipe that my
mom wrote down for me:
German Waffles
- 2 large eggs – I never pay attention to size. An egg is an egg, is an egg. Unless we’re talking ostrich, in which case I’ll concede to size.
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar – I’m assuming this is castor sugar? Either which way, it’s what I used.
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 cup flour – I’m assuming self-raising. Is there really any other kind? Who uses cake flour?
- ¼ teaspoon salt
I have never used a sieve when it
comes to dry ingredients. Duh! That’s why you use a beater, to get all the
lumps out. Nor have I ever separated dry
ingredients from wet ingredients and mixed them separately. I am a firm believer of the “all-in-on-dish”
school of thought, and simply beat the whole happy lot together at once. Perfect!
In a medium sized pot, I heat the
oil. I put the oil in about one and a
half centimetres deep. Enough to cover
the little waffle mould. My advice would
be to be fully ready, with a few plates, lined with paper towel, as they are
slightly oily and need to be drained properly.
Also have on hand a butter knife, to help ease the waffles off the
waffle iron, and a big draining spoon (you know those big ones with holes in
them). The big spoon, is only used if
the batter comes right off the mould and you have to fish your waffle out of
the oil.
Making the waffles is quite a
hands-on and fast operation. And so
until you’ve got the hang of it, I would suggest you only use one mould at a
time, until you’ve got your rhythm going.
Before you start, put your waffle mould in the hot oil to heat it up. I think this is rather important, because it
helps to make the raw batter stick to the waffle moulds immediately. However, be sure to shake of any excess oil,
as the batter will simply run off the iron, if there is too much oil on it.
Once your mould is hot, take it
out of the oil, shake off the excess and dip it into the batter, about half the
depth of the mould, not covering it completely.
It has to rise once you dip it in the oil, and if the batter covers the
whole mould, you won’t be able to successfully get the cooked waffle off
again. Once you’ve dipped it into the
batter, dip it into the hot oil, and watch a miracle. These only take a few seconds to do. And once you’ve got the beautiful golden
colour, you simply lift your mould out of the oil, use the butter knife to help
ease the waffle off, and start all over again.
You only need to warm your mould up in advance for the first waffle,
thereafter, there is no need to dip it in the oil again before you dip it into
the batter. So simply remove the cooked
waffle from the mould, dip into the batter once more, dip into the hot oil and
VOILA!
BTW – rule of thumb. The first waffle always flops. This is expected, so do not get
discouraged. You’ll get the hang of it
quickly. This first-flop rule also
applies to pancakes, flap jacks and waffles.
In fact, it even applies to Amber’s little donuts too. I suspect it’s got to do with getting the
temperature right and coating the pan, etc. for the first batch.
I suggest that you don’t stack
them on top of each other unless they’ve cooled down. For extra effect and domestic-goddess brownie
points, sprinkle the finished products/waffles with icing sugar. Designer!!!
This does however mean that you can never sneak one, as you get coated
in icing sugar powder each time. A dead
give-away.
I’ve included some pics of my
waffle iron moulds. I’m not sure where
you would buy them new. However, if you
do a bit of scratching around in an antique shop, second hand shop, charity
shop etc. you’ll be sure to find one or two.
On Monday I put my theory to the test and found a mould in an antique
shop just up the road. Such a cool find,
at a mere R15. There are many patterns
out there and they just look so gorgeous.
I urge you to unleash your
inner-goddess and give making these a bash.
It is just so worthwhile.
Das ist sehr gut ya! WUNDERBAR!!! Ich liebe Deutsch Waffeln. True story.
Click and Like on Facebook
The ingredients - my very patient Grantie held up a blanket so that the background wouldn't be too busy. Speaking of cooking - he thinks I'm cooked in the head. He's probably not that far off.
Most basic ingredients ever!
My little waffle iron moulds - they might look a bit dodgy and old, but I washed them, scrubbed them, boiled them and then for extra good measure put them through the dishwasher
The patterns they make are simply beautiful! My mom has four different moulds - each making awesome shapes.
A small little batch, sans the Icing Sugar
Sooo much nicer with the Icing Sugar sprinkled on the top - I put a teaspoon full in a tea strainer and simply banged it on the side to form a icing sugar avalanche
They do look gorgeous! Though I must confess that the more I look at them, the more the round shapes look like little steering wheels to me. It's clear that I'm married to a petrolhead. I'm assuming it's catching.
Well, I have to say that I am going to comb Benoni for these waffle iron moulds! I tasted the real thing at Kleinbaai and was VERY impressed! Every home should have some!
ReplyDelete