These Belgian-style waffles are given a hidden crunch by the addition of pearl sugar to the dough. If you can’t find pearl sugar, you could coarsely crush some sugar cubes to achieve a similar effect. Start the recipe a day ahead to prove the dough.
Ingredients
Chocolate-chip waffles
Peanut-butter fudge ice-cream
Method
Main
1.For chocolate-chip waffles, stir milk, yeast, egg and a third of the flour in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook to combine. Scatter in remaining flour (don’t stir), set aside until yeast mixture bubbles through flour (1 hour), then add caster sugar, vanilla seeds, 1 tsp fine sea salt and knead until a dough forms (3-5 minutes). Add butter a little at a time, kneading until soft (4-5 minutes), form into a ball, place in a lightly buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size (2 hours). Knock back dough, knead in chocolate, wrap in plastic wrap, weight with a plate and refrigerate overnight. Scatter pearl sugar over dough, knead to incorporate, then divide dough into 6 pieces, roll into balls and set aside on a tray lined with baking paper until doubled in size (45 minutes to 1 hour).
2.For peanut-butter fudge ice-cream, bring milk, 650ml cream and half the peanut butter just to the simmer over medium-high heat, whisking to melt the peanut butter. Whisk yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy (3-4 minutes), pour cream mixture over and whisk to combine. Return to pan and stir continuously until mixture thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon (4-5 minutes), transfer to a bowl and whisk occasionally until cooled to room temperature, then refrigerate to chill. Bring remaining cream, remaining peanut butter and glucose to the boil in a saucepan, add chocolate, remove from heat, stir to combine and cool to room temperature. Churn cream mixture in an ice-cream machine, then layer into a container, adding spoonfuls of chocolate mixture as you go. Freeze until firm. Makes about 1.2 litres.
3.To finish waffles, brush a heated waffle-maker with oil. Flatten dough balls slightly into the waffle-maker and cook in batches until golden and cooked through (5-6 minutes). Meanwhile, bring cream to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, add chocolate, remove from heat and stir until smooth. Serve waffles warm topped with scoops of peanut-butter fudge ice-cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce, sliced banana and roasted peanuts.
Note Pearl sugar is available from select delicatessens and The Essential Ingredient.
Drink Suggestion: Rutherglen muscat. Drink suggestion by Max Allen
Notes