Waffles for dessert, you ask. I say why not! The inspiration for these waffles comes from Daniel, Daniel Boulud’s restaurant in New York City. I was the pastry sous chef at the time, and when we started to play around with this idea, I thought it was bizarre but figured I would at least have a tasty snack along the way. I found that they make a perfect ending to a meal, especially in the summer, with all the wonderful stone fruit available that time of year. The inspiration for the “toffee” came years later when I was recollecting how our master breadmaker at Daniel, Mark Fiorentino, used to make the most delicious panettone studded with crushed brown-sugar cubes. His rendition of this Italian classic was purely addictive, but then again anything Mark touches turns to gold. So I married the two hungry memories, and the result is divine.
Whether you make these for breakfast, which I encourage, or to serve as a dessert to your guests, once the handle on the waffle iron goes down and the sweet aromas fill the air, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with them as well.
Ingredients
- 335 g (2 1⁄3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 10 g (1 tsp) baking powder
- 5 g (1 tsp) baking soda
- 2 g heaping (¼ tsp) kosher salt
- 70 g (1⁄3 cup) grapeseed oil
- 50 g 1 whole egg, plus 30 g 1 egg white
- 430 g (1¾ cups) plus 2 tbsp whole mil
- 1 orange Grated zest
- 1 lemon Grated zest
- 8 to 10 rough-cut cane sugar cubes
- Plug in your waffle iron and preheat it, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Sift the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a large bowl. In a separate medium bowl, combine the grapeseed oil, whole egg, milk, orange zest, and lemon zest evenly with a whisk. Pulverize the sugar cubes in a food processor to the consistency of heavy sand and set aside.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; while whisking, slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk the batter together until it is silky and evenly combined. Be sure that there are no lumps.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg white to medium stiff peaks. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to gently fold the egg white into the batter just before cooking the waffles. When the waffle iron is hot, coat both sides with cooking spray and then ladle 1⁄3 to ¾ cup (75 to 180 ml) of batter—depending on the size of your waffle iron—into the center of the iron. The batter should spread from the center out to the sides to an even ½-in- (12-mm-) thick layer. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp of the ground sugar cubes across the batter. The sugar will caramelize and become toffee-like during cooking. Pull down the top of the iron and cook the waffles, following the manufacturer’s directions. If you don’t have a modern-day, Jetsons-type waffle iron with all the bells and whistles to tell you when the waffles are cooked, keep them baking until the iron stops steaming and the cooked waffle separates easily from the top of the iron. Immediately remove the waffle from the iron. Stack the waffles on a serving platter and keep them warm while you cook the rest of the waffles.
- Serve immediately while warm and fluffy.
