chocolate honey chestnut cream waffle sandwiches.

If these waffle sandwiches are any indication of the year to come, I think I'm off to a good start.

This year I'm more conscious of the fact that it's a brand new set of 365 days more than ever. Perhaps it's because I'm finally in a position where I'm entitled to more freedom to spend my time as I please i.e. in university. I feel that I have so many aspirations to achieve and goals to fulfil - and I am very excited to work towards them - and I think this is in part due to having gained the discretion to prioritise what would be most beneficial to me at present and in future. Also, my heightened awareness of the new year may be attributed to my current state of residence in a country that has four! seasons! where the passing of time is more acutely felt. And then maybe also because of the horrifying incontrovertible truth that I would cease to be a teenager in five months.

So, about these waffle sandwiches. What an unprecedented turn of events. I had initially planned to make chocolate honey liege waffles but then changed my mind and decided on chocolate crepe parcels with chestnut cream wrapped up in them instead because they were quicker to do, and lo and behold I had no milk in the fridge. I could have just gone out to buy a packet but "out" was approximately three degrees warm so there was no way those were happening. But I did have yogurt so thankfully I could still pull off the regular sort of waffles. I took my first idea of the chocolate honey liege waffles, searched for a regular chocolate waffle recipe, made some adaptations et voila.

When I read the reviews for the chocolate waffle recipe I've referenced, there were opinions that the waffles weren't sweet enough and that the batter was too thin. I guess I had terrific luck that the changes I had planned to make conveniently remedied these issues; I was meaning to replace the buttermilk with yogurt and add honey for an extra dimension of flavour even before I saw those comments.

I love love love how the waffles turned out. They are intensely chocolaty with a sweetness that has a touch of complexity to it, slightly dense and very moist. They could use a tad more flour to keep them from collapsing unto themselves after baking but I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever about the flavour. I'm already planning to make more.

These are so good you really don't have to take it a step further and sandwich-fy them but the according to the way my brain assesses such situations, the next logical course of action can only be to amp the waffles up with an additional complementary flavour and drastically transform the way they are meant to be eaten while I'm at it.

I really do hope that you'll give these a go! X

Chocolate Honey Chestnut Cream Waffle Sandwiches
adapted with modifications from here

For the waffles:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g honey
420g yogurt

For the chestnut cream:
chestnut paste
whipped cream

Make the waffles: Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, butter, vanilla, honey and yogurt together until combined. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Set aside while you preheat your waffle maker and when it's hot enough, cook waffles according to your machine's manufacturer's instructions.

Allow waffles to cool before filling with cream.

Make the chestnut cream: Whisk equal volumes chestnut paste and whipped cream together. You can adjust the ratio of chestnut to cream according to your taste. Transfer chestnut cream to a piping bag.

Assemble the waffle sandwiches: Halve the waffles lengthwise. Pipe alternating rows of chestnut and regular whipped cream on one half. Place the top half of the waffle on the top of the cream and halve the waffle sandwich on the diagonal or just down the middle such that you get two rectangles. Serve immediately or refrigerate until you're ready to eat them.