Pancake palace
Pancakes and waffles make the ideal brunch at home on lazy winter weekends. With a tantalising array of recipes that run the gamut from sweet to savoury, British lawyer-cum-cake maker and food writer, Hannah Miles, offers her take on this beloved breakfast favourite.
SALTED CARAMEL WAFFLES
Makes 8
Salted caramel gives these dessert waffles a modern twist. I could eat this sauce with anything, but it is particularly delicious with hot waffles and chocolate curls. The recipe calls for vanilla salt, which is available online. If you want, you can make your own at home following the method given here, but be aware that it takes two weeks to create.
Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, separated
1½ cups milk
5 tsp butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
½ cup plain/bittersweet chocolate curls, to serve for the salted caramel sauce
¾ cup caster/granulated sugar
7 tsp butter
1 tsp vanilla salt (see Note) or sea salt, plus 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 cup double cream
Begin by making the salted caramel sauce. Put the sugar and butter in a saucepan or pot set over a medium heat and simmer until both have melted and the resulting caramel starts to turn a deep golden brown. Add the salt and cream and whisk over the heat until the sauce is smooth and glossy. If any lumps of sugar have formed in your sauce, strain through a fine mesh sieve/strainer over a mixing bowl. Set aside to cool.
To make the waffle batter, put the flour, baking powder, egg yolks, milk and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Add 80 ml/scant 1⁄3 cup of the caramel sauce and whisk again. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and then gently fold into the batter a third at a time.
Preheat the waffle iron and grease with a little butter. Ladle a small amount of the batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook the waffles for 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Keep the waffles warm while you cook the remaining batter in the same way.
Serve the waffles immediately with the caramel sauce on the side, topped with chocolate curls.
Note: To make vanilla salt, split two vanilla pods/vanilla beans and remove the seeds. Cut the pods in half. Stir the vanilla seeds into several large spoonfuls of sea salt flakes. Place the salt, seeds and vanilla pods/vanilla beans in a sterilised airtight jar and set aside for two weeks. Discard the vanilla pods/vanilla beans before using.
Reproduced with permission from Pancakes & Waffles: Delicious ideas for breakfast, brunch and beyond by Hannah Miles. Published by Ryland Peters & Small and distributed by Bookreps NZ.
