Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake Waffles

August 28, 2014

There’s a fine line between breakfast and dessert, and I never know if I’ve crossed it or not. Muffins, scones, sweet biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and doughnuts, are they breakfast or dessert? I say breakfast, but only because I’ve been known to eat all of those first thing in the morning—and all at once, but that’s a whole other story. Maybe I’m just calling them breakfast so that I won’t feel so guilty eating them early on in the day. Doughnuts double as a dessert for me though, because I love them in the evening just as much as in the mornings. I love them during midday as well. I just love doughnuts in general, have I mentioned that before? This isn’t about doughnuts though. This post is about waffles. Focus Jon, focus.

Pancakes, waffles and French toast, now those are for sure breakfast items, right? They’re always present at every breakfast I’ve ever been to. So I’m gonna go with, yes. Mentioning the three together of course brings up a very important question, Which do you prefer? Waffles, pancakes or French toast? I’m all about the pancakes…that is when I’m not scarfing down a stack of French Toast, then I’m all about the cinnamon and bread. But then there are the times when I’d kill for a waffle. A thick Belgian style waffle with a mountain of whipped cream (and if my doctor or mother are reading this, fresh fruit, of course).

What happens though when said waffles are made to taste just like dark chocolate zucchini cake topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? That’s totally, hands down, without a doubt, 100% still considered breakfast, right? Of course it is. Phew, I’m glad we settled that. I wouldn’t of been able to enjoy the rest of my day without hearing the right answer. Let’s go have dark chocolate zucchini cake waffles for breakfast, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, of course. Breakfast, I love you. Really, I do.

Waffles and pancakes, as a whole, are super easy to whip up. That’s why they’re my favorite things to make for breakfast. You don’t have to worry too much about time, because the hardest part is just measuring out all of the ingredients and mixing them together, and that’s not hard at all, right?

Let’s start by mixing together the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until completely combined.

**Note: Most grocery stores now carry a dark cocoa powder, so if you can find it, use that! That’s what I put in these waffles. Unsweetened dark cocoa powder. It’s a thing. A very delicious thing.**

You’ll then make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and dump in the wet ingredients. Add the melted coconut oil, egg yolks, buttermilk and vanilla.

**Tip: I used coconut oil because that’s what I had on hand, but you can definitely use melted unsalted butter, or vegetable oil, if you’d prefer. Any of those will work perfectly in this recipe and won’t alter the taste!**

Give the batter a stir until just combined. There should be no more lumps, but at the same time, don’t mix it too much because then you’ll end up with tough dry waffles. No one wants that. I think we’re all looking for the same thing, moist dark chocolate waffles.

Set that batter off to the side while we turn our attention to the egg whites. Whip up the egg whites, in a separate clean bowl, until it has doubled in size and stiff peaks form.

**Note: It’s very important that your bowl and beaters be super clean and dry because if they’re not, it’ll prevent the egg whites from fully whipping up to their highest peaks. Humidity will also affect the whipping of egg whites, keep that in mind.**

Add the egg whites to the waffle batter, in batches, and fold it in gently. Do not stir or mix vigorously because that’ll deflate the egg whites. Just fold them gently with a rubber spatula until they’re all incorporated.

Your waffle cake batter is essentially done, but because I want to take these to the next level, we’re not really done. Let’s grate up a few zucchinis. (Zucchini?) Cut off the ends and shred them with a box grater.

Add the grated zucchini to the batter along with the chopped up dark chocolate (only because there wasn’t enough chocolate for my taste).

Fold them both in until they’re well combined.

Heat up your waffle iron and wait for it to get super hot. I like to spray mine with a bit of non-stick cooking spray, just to be super safe. I’m haunted by nightmares of perfectly delicious waffles getting stuck to the iron. That sounds dreadful.

Drop in about 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the hot waffle iron. Cook as directed by your manufacturer’s settings. My waffle iron has a red/green light indicator, I just go by that. Green when they’re done. Easy.

You can serve them up as you’re cooking along, or you can place the cooked waffles on top of a wire rack set over a baking sheet and keep them warm in a 250°F oven until ready to serve.

If you’re having these for breakfast, add a pat of butter on top and drizzle the waffles all over with some maple syrup, that’s the classic route you can take. You can also dust them with a hefty amount of powdered sugar. Just make it rain down sugar. Either of those would be delicious, if you ask me.

For those of you wondering, no you can’t taste the zucchini at all. It’s not like someone is going to try these waffles and say something like, “HARK! There’s totally shredded zucchini in these here chocolate waffles!” If someone does that, they’re probably magicians or psychics. I’d be scared. The zucchini really just makes these waffles super moist.

This is a great way to get your kids (if you have them) to eat more veggies. You’re sneaking in a green vegetable, prepare to be parent of the year. That’s a major big deal. I’m not sure if kids like zucchini or not, but they’ll for sure eat it now. No one has to know.

And if you’re not feeling these for breakfast and are looking for a tasty dessert after dinner, well you always have the option of slapping a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Yes, ICE CREAM. There’s nothing better than waffles and ice cream.

Good news: You can make these waffles in advance and then freeze them. That way, next time you’re looking for a quick dessert or breakfast, you can warm them up in the oven for a few minutes and then top them with that scoop of ice cream we were talking about…you know you want to.

Waffles should always be made of chocolate and they should always have a scoop of ice cream on top. You can quote me on that. Let’s make this a trend. Enjoy!