Skip to footer

Chocolate Belgian waffles

Crispy on the outside and satisfyingly chocolate-y on the inside.

|
Eat. Run. Read.
A chocolate waffle for an especially sweet brunch delight.

As a kid I took my waffles with a chocolate chip in each divot and drowning in syrup. My sister was/is the family’s designated wafflemaker – most weekend mornings she could be found presiding over the iron, a double batch of batter in the bowl beside her, making waffles for the week. 

Alas, this sister is far far away in California, but luckily I have another friend nearby to provide for my waffle needs who took waffles to a whole new level recently. She by-passed the chocolate chip distribution step entirely and just made straight up Chocolate Belgian Waffles. 

They’re crispy on the outside and satisfyingly chocolate-y on the inside. Surprisingly these waffles aren’t overly decadent. Chocolatey? Yes. But not too sweet or too rich. We ate them with butter, syrup, and strawberries. Delish! 

Notes before you begin:

  • The special ingredients (pearl sugar and Hi-maize) are totally worth it
  • I did add espresso powder.
  • Substitute for Dutch-process cocoa: 1/2 cup regular cocoa powder with a bit under 3/8 of a teaspoon baking soda (the ratio is 3 tablespoons cocoa to 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 cup is 8 tablespoons and not 9 tablespoons).
  • The batter has to sit for an hour!
  • Make a full batch and keep them in a 200 degree F. oven until you're ready to serve.

Chocolate Belgian Waffles 

Recipe summary
Hands-on time: 30-40 minutes
Total time: 1 hrs 45 minutes
Yield: eight 7-inch to 8-inch round or heart-shaped waffles

Starter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2-1/4teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 

 Batter
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Hi-maize Fiber or unbleached all-purpose flour*
1/2 cup Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon espresso optional
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2/3 cup (4 ounces) semi-sweet mini chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate chips
1/4 cup pearl sugar, optional*

*Using flour instead of Hi-maize and omitting the pearl sugar will yield a less-crisp waffle.

Stir together the starter ingredients, and let rest, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Combine the flour, Hi-maize, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt in a separate bowl. 

When the starter is ready, mix in the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and pearl sugar, mixing to combine. Let the batter rest, covered, for 60 minutes. Preheat the waffle iron to the setting of your choice during the final few minutes of the batter's resting time. Stir down the batter, then scoop a heaping 1/4 cup onto the hot waffle iron.

Close the lid and cook until the waffle's done; irons vary, so we can't give a specific time here. Transfer the finished waffle to a ready plate, and serve with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, if desired. 

Related post on Eat. Run. Read.: Pumpkin Pancakes

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Chocolate Belgian waffles
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2012/0419/Chocolate-Belgian-waffles
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe