I’m warning you right now, this post is dangerous, once you read it, you will know how to make Waffle Love waffles and there will be no going back.  For those of you who don’t live near me and are unfamiliar with Waffle Love, it’s a food truck that produces the most glorious waffles known to man, no exaggeration!  Bob and I once waited over an hour for a waffle, they are unbelievably delicious!  When I found this recipe on “Oh Sweet Basil”, I could hardly contain myself.  I informed the fam that Waffle Love was happening at our house on Sunday night, no one argued.  On to the goods . . .

3/4 cup whole milk, scalded and cooled to warm milk (you can scald it in the microwave for about 3 minutes)

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons warm water

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs, whisked

3 tablespoons honey

3 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups bread or all purpose flour

2 cups Belgian pearl sugar (Bob ordered this from Amazon, just FYI, it’s expensive)

1  Add 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar to milk and water then add yeast, stirring to combine, allow yeast to proof or get foamy and puffy.  (I did this step twice, both times my yeast did not get foamy or puffy, I realized that I had bought quick rise yeast and a Google search informed me that you do not need to proof quick rise yeast, that it needed to be added with the dry ingredients so I followed this step without adding the yeast and then I just added my quick rise yeast when I added the flour.)

2  Beat together butter and sugars then add eggs, honey and vanilla, then add yeast (or no yeast, as the case may be) mixture.  Next I traded out my paddle beater for my dough hook and added 2 cups of flour to the mixture and mixed until the flour was fully incorporated then added the remaining flour (here is where I added my quick rise yeast) and mixed until fully incorporated again.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 4 hours, up to 24 hours.

3  After 4 – 24 hours, punch down dough and knead in pearl sugar, separate into 8 – 10 balls (I made them smaller so got about 14 – 15).  Place 1 ball on a hot, greased waffle iron and cook until golden brown (in my waffle iron, each waffle took about 4 minutes).  Serve with your choice of toppings.  We had Nutella, Biscoff, homemade whipped cream and strawberries.  I made the waffles smaller so that we could all experiment with which combination of toppings we liked best.  Here’s a pic of the waffle without any toppings:

You can see how the pearl sugar caramelizes and makes it so crunchy and yummy.

Homemade Whipped Cream, my version

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 – 2 teaspoons vanilla

4 – 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, depending on how sweet you want it to be

Beat in mixer with whisk attachment on high speed until stiff peaks form.