New Year's Day Chocolate Waffles

Happy 2013!

Because I'm an Event Manager, I was working on New Year's Eve instead of sleeping on my couch while fireworks went off around me. My night at work was spent being fully entertained by live bands, musical theatre acts, a stilt walker, human bird puppets, a vintage plane fly over, and so on. There's no way I could have paid for or attended a more exciting evening elsewhere!

Regardless, I woke up on January 1 feeling hung over after just 5 hours of sleep. My feet were sore from walking around the event/premises and all of my muscles hurt from a "free" 1 hour consultation with a personal trainer at our new gym. Please don't worry, I'll never go fitness crazy and try to be on a real diet! My body was in rough shape and I was wide awake, despite being exhausted. That called for a filling, fun, and indulgent breakfast: chocolate waffles!

A hot cup of coffee, recipe displayed on the iPad while music played simultaneously, and gadgets and ingredients galore. That's my happy place :)

Chocolate waffles with chocolate chips wasn't enough, though! I added the conveniently unwrapped caramel bits. They really, really look like chick peas - I promise you they're not beans but sticky, delicious sugary treats.

Chocolate Waffles
adapted from Alton Brown's recipe
Makes approximately 8 waffles

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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
3 eggs, beaten
2 ounces of butter, melted and cooled just slightly
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
16 ounces of sour milk or buttermilk
3 ounces of chocolate chips
3 ounces of caramel bits
non-stick spray for the waffle iron

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, melted/cooled butter, and vanilla to combine. Add the sour milk or buttermilk and beat to combine. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in your largest bowl, adding the chocolate chips and caramel bits, and stir until just combined. Give the batter 5 minutes to rest before baking.

Preheat your waffle iron and spray with non-stick. Pour the batter into the center of the iron, closing until your handy waffle maker says it's ready!

We have the Cuisinart Round Classic Waffle Maker. On the scale from 1 to 5, we prefer setting 4 and using 1/2 of a cup of batter. My trick is to leave the waffle in until about 30 seconds after the light turns green for a desirable, crispy exterior!

You may remember my first experiences and challenges with waffle making from Winning vs. Waffles! I've gotten the hang of it, although the first waffle is always a little bit off in texture and size, causing it to become a "taste tester."

Hot, fresh, chocolately waffles are perfect for a New Year's Day breakfast! True hangover not required. These will be a January 1st tradition from now on, if I have my way. Shoot, we might have them every Saturday year round!

If you're one of those resolution folks who diets and exercises during January, just save these for Valentine's Day!

Serve the waffles warm, keeping them in a heated oven if necessary. Per usual, Bryce and I took totally opposite approaches to eating ours. He went for the whipped cream slathered with a fork application.

Mine was dusted with powdered sugar!

That just wasn't enough so it was cut, drizzled with maple syrup, and unnecessarily styled before eating! By the time I was finished arranging and photographing, Bryce was done with both of his waffles.

These chocolate waffles are great and not too chocolatey at all! They made a fantastic breakfast served with coffee (for me) and milk (for Bryce). The possibilities for topping a chocolate waffle are endless: peanut butter, berries, nutella, frosting...

Here's to a 2013 filled with good food and plenty of chocolate and creativity!