I've been hesitating on making the rest of the waffles in the waffle book because they're all meant to be dessert waffles rather than breakfast options. And I have so many other desserts to make. And most of them call for ingredients that I don't typically have on hand anyway. So, I've been making other desserts instead and the waffle recipes have just been sitting there. Staring at me.

But we needed something for breakfast this morning. And we had all the bits for these s'mores-inspired waffles. They're pretty sweet and rich. But, honestly, they're no worse than most of the things in the "pastries" section of the Breakfast Bible. So, I figured I'd just roll with it and give 'em a try!

They were pretty good. Although, even with a reduced quantity of chocolate (~75% of what the recipe called for), we all still found them very rich and excessively chocolate-y. I think next time I'd probably go with half chocolate. I also had a bit of trouble getting the somewhat unusual, watered down Swiss meringue to whip up nicely. It still worked. And the finished texture was actually quite nice. It just wouldn't hold a peak. Maybe that was just down to my impatience with the double boiler though. I may not have let it cook enough before transferring it to the stand mixer. Either way, it was still pretty good. Just a bit tricky to work with.

The recipe suggested making these with either malted or peanut butter waffles. I decided that peanut butter waffles (with some of the AP flour swapped out for whole wheat) sounded like a nice combo, so I went with those. That said, I do think that the malt waffles would have also been very nice. As would whole wheat. I might actually try 100% whole wheat peanut butter (or malted) waffles next time. I think the whole grain would be a nice way to evoke a bit more of the graham cracker character that I normally associate with s'mores.

S'mores Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 1 batch (6-7) peanut butter or malted waffles (preferably made with whole wheat flour)
• ~180g dark chocolate, chopped
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
• 6 Tbsp. warm water
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract¹

Directions

1. Make waffles as directed and preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Place the waffles on baking sheets and top each one with ~30g of the chocolate.
3. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for ~2 minutes to melt the chocolate and crisp the waffles.
4. Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a simmer and place a heatproof bowl over it.
5. Add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and water to the bowl.
6. Gradually add the sugar while whisking vigorously.
7. Keep whisking until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mergine is opaque and warm to the touch.
8. Transfer to a stand mixer and beat on high speed until soft peaks form (3-5 minutes).
9. Beat in vanilla.
10. Spoon the meringe into the waffles and return to oven until meringue is lightly browned on top and cooked through (4-6 minutes).
11. Serve with a glass of milk on the side.

¹ Oh no! I just realized that I completely forgot to add the vanilla to my meringue! That would have made it so much nicer! Whoops. Oh well... not much I can do about it now. :( ^Back