Fancy Mother's Day Brunch: Choco Waffles

For most of my life, I have always loved sweet over savory, but recently my dining preferences have been tested (stupid France and your delicious crepes!). To finish off and balance our fancy brunch, Kevin and I made a chocolate waffle to go along with the absurdly delightful Bacon Cheddar Waffles. Which dish would win the battle of sweet vs savory (Hey, I think I just figured out what Kevin and I should call our cooking and/or buddy cop show) and make our mothers proud? 

Choco Waffles

Adapted from Food Network

Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4-6 waffles

3 tbsp unsalted butter

3 tbsp vegetable shortening

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup chocolate syrup, plus more for topping

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cooking spray

Powdered sugar and raspberries for topping

I should've known it wouldn't be chocolatey enough by the color

1. Preheat the oven to 250 F.
2. Preheat a waffle iron.
3. Melt the butter and shortening in a saucepan and mix well. Set aside.
4. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. 
5. Mix the eggs, milk, chocolate syrup and vanilla in a separate bowl.
6. Slowly combine the wet ingredients with the dry ones.
7. Add in and mix the butter/shortening combo.
8. Pour the batter into the waffle iron and cook until crispy.
9. Top with chocolate syrup, raspberries and powdered sugar.
10. Admire how fancy it looks.

Kevin's photography gets even artsier with black and white. Next, we teach him Instagram!

The choco waffles were a little bit of a mixed bag. Sure, it's fun to say choco waffle repeatedly, but it just didn't hold up to the amazingness that was Bacon Cheddar Waffles (which is probably a good thing because I'd be in an actual coma now). I hadn't quite yet mastered the waffle iron, so I didn't crisp these up as much as I should have. Their major downfall, however, was that they just weren't chocolatey enough. Pumping up the chocolate syrup quotient or mixing in actual freshly melted chocolate would definitely fix this problem. Criticisms aside, they were actually pretty good when you got a bite featuring waffle, raspberry, chocolate syrup and powdered sugar. To really take these to the next level, you should add nutella (but then again, what doesn't nutella take to the next level aside from shellfish). So there you have it; savory once again beat out sweet. Now please excuse me while I cower in the corner and question my entire life.

Choco Waffle up close and personal

I hope you enjoyed these brunchtastic Mother's Day adventures. I just wanted to give a special thanks to my mom, who, most importantly of all, helped me create my favorite dish ever- Cajun Eggs Benedict.

Without my mom's penchant for excess, this never would've been possible. Love you, mom!