Belgian Waffles

When I told some friends who had already visited Belgium that I was going, every single one of them told me that I must have a "gaufre au chocolat".  My french is OK, so I knew they were referring to a chocolate treat of some kind, but I wasn't sure exactly what a "gaufre" was.  I thought about researching it before I went, but since Allison was coming with me, and she knew exactly what they were talking about I decided to let it be a surprise.  For those more worldly people, you know that a gaufre au chocolat, is a waffle with chocolate.  In particular it is a Belgian style waffle with chocolate.  I also assume that those of you that are more worldly than I used to be would know how absolutely spectacular these waffles are.

What you start with seems like an average every day waffle... but that's not true at all.  In North America, Belgian waffles are only different because they are thicker than normal waffles.  The difference in Belgium however is in the cake, not just the size.  In Belgium waffles use a yeast dough instead of a batter.  Instead of being a crispy treat with a really light center, it's more of a cake dough with a crispy outside.  In some cases I found pockets of sugar inside these waffles as well.  I'm not sure if that's from the makers not mixing the dough well enough or if it was done on purpose.  Honestly, I really liked these pockets of sugar, so I'm hoping it's on purpose.

After cooking your waffle the next step is pretty much up to the person that's going to eat it.  First of all, since you're in Belgium I recommend getting chocolate on your "gaufre".  In fact, the first one you try, I recommend you just get chocolate and nothing else.  I can assure you that you'll be hooked very quickly and it won't be your last.  After your first I think it's safe to be a little experimental with your toppings.  I couldn't get over how good the melted chocolate was, so each of my gaufres had to have a chocolate element.  The gaufre above was pretty tasty, it was a nice whipped cream with chocolate.  The only problem with these tasty waffles is since it's a street food it's really hard to eat and messy, but that's what napkins are for.

CC