Classic Belgian Waffles with Hazelnut Praline Cream and Strawberries

Waffle for breakfast! Hell yeah! Cooking breakfast is my favorite thing to do and it's always motivate me to wake up on the weekend morning. I've got this great belgian waffle iron from the city store in Melbourne and it's really great cooking equipment to have.

Belgian waffles are traditionally made in deep, square, waffle iron, which produces thick waffle with deep wells to trap butter and syrup. On this recipe, I use yeast raised batter, which this can be done the night before but don't let that put you off. Doing the hard work the night before is worth the effort, all I need to do in the morning is to add the eggs and cook the waffle.


Classic Belgian Waffles with Strawberries and Hazelnut Praline Cream

Ingredients
285 Plain Flour
2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Dried Yeast
140 Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
375ml Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs, separated
250g or Punnet of Strawberries, to serve


Method
1. The night before, sift the flour, sugar, salt and dried yeast into large bowl. Stir in the cooled melted butter, milk and Vanilla essence to make smooth mixture. Cover the bowl and leave at the room temperature overnight.

2. In the morning, beat the egg yolks into the yeast mixture. Put the egg whites into clean bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold them into the batter with metal spoon, do not overwork.



3. Lightly greased the waffle iron. Depending on the size of the waffle iron, pour about 125ml of batter into each compartment, close the lid and cook until golden, for about 4-6 minutes. Avoid the temptation to open the lid for the first 3 minutes. The best waffle is there should be crisp on the outside and serve immediately once their cook.

4. Serve the hot waffles with a scoop of Praline Cream and few fresh Strawberries.


Hazelnut Praline
Ingredients
110g Hazelnuts
110g Caster Sugars


Method
1. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Put the hazelnuts and sugars into a sauce pan over low heat until sugar melts

2. Once it begins to brown, stir briefly and continue cooking until sugar turns into caramel colour. Pour the mixture onto the oiled baking sheet and let it cool.

3. Break up the cold praline with a rolling pin to form a coarse powder.

To make praline cream, you can add 300ml Double cream and whip to a soft, loose consistency. Add the praline and stir it gently to give marble effect the set aside and let the caramel bleed into the cream.

The great thing about cooking waffle is you can play around with it, whether you want to be savory or sweet. I have a sweet tooth so I definitely go for this one!
I also love the classic waffle serve with fresh strawberries, few crunch of hazelnut praline, and touch of maple syrup... YUM....!!