As I was drifting off to sleep after our New Year’s Eve party, I suddenly shouted out, “Mexican chocolate waffles! Wouldn’t that be great?! And served with cinnamon whipped cream!” “or dulce de leche,” Matt said. YES! It was one of those ideas I knew would work. I had some Mexican chocolate in our pantry that I hadn’t used, yet, and I usually like to think of a fun breakfast when we are all home together. So New Years Day seemed like the perfect morning for a fun breakfast, laced with chocolate.
It worked as good as it did in my dream-like state at 1:30 a.m. The chunks of Mexican chocolate gave the waffles a chocolate/spice/sugar grit throughout, and the waffles were crispy and as I brushed them with melted butter, I knew we had a winner. I’d recommend these for any time you want something a little out of the ordinary. The girls at the grocery store seemed to think me mad for buying Ibarra brand instead of Nestle’s Abuelita. I really am not well versed in Mexican chocolate, but next time, I’ll avoid the scorn and buy Abuelita brand. However, for tasty little chunks in a dark chocolate waffle, Ibarra worked just great :)
You can serve these with the simple cinnamon vanilla whipped cream, or like Matt suggested, I think some warmed dulce de leche would be amazing. Or even some simple chocolate syrup. No matter what you do, these waffles stand delicious on their own!
Mexican Dark Chocolate Waffles with Cinnamon Whipped Cream*
makes about 6-8 small waffles, or 4-6 Belgian
3-1/2 oz AP flour (about 1/2-3/4 cup)
1 oz. (1/4 cup) cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 TBS dark cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
6 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Ibarra Mexican chocolate (half a baking bar), chopped fine
Cinnamon Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 TBS cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 tsp sugar
Preheat the oven to 200F.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the milks, oil, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla extract and blend well. In a separate bowl, whip the egg white with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry with a few simple stirs, then mix in the chopped chocolate and then gently fold in the egg white until fully incorporated. Don’t overmix! The egg white makes these waffles crisp!
Cook the waffles according to your waffle maker directions. I use a stove-top waffle maker and it takes about 1-2 minutes per side over medium high heat and I use about 1/2 cup waffle batter spread over my waffle iron per batch.
As you bake, place the finished waffles directly on your oven rack to keep crisp and warm until ready to serve.
For the whipped cream: In a tall cup with an immersion blender, or in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, blend the heavy cream, cinnamon, vanilla bean paste and sugar until soft to medium peaks form. Give a generous dollop per waffle and top with shaved chocolate or cinnamon. Enjoy!
*base waffle recipe adapted from Fine Cooking
