Thursday, November 13, 2008

Waffle Dessert Bar

Last night the Young Women in our ward had their Young Women in Excellence program. In case you don't know what that is, it's a night where they recognize the young women for different achievements. The girls and their leaders did an amazing job and turned it into the "Emma" awards. They spray painted Mrs. Butterworth bottles with gold paint to give as the awards, and they all dressed up in formal gowns with their hair in updos. The cultural hall at the church was aglitter with stars--including a "star walk" with each girl's name and handprint in a star. It was awesome! Tara Reed, the Young Woman president called me and asked me to help beforehand with the updos. I hemmed and hawed because I REALLY don't know how to do hair other than slapping my own in a pony tail. So she told me that since the awards were Mrs. Butterworth's syrup bottles, they wanted waffles for a treat afterwards. Now she was speaking my language. I told her to say no more; I would take it from there.
I recruited Melissa and Bekah (who hauled me to the gym on Monday a.m. at 5:30 and it's now Thurs p.m. at 10:30 and my biceps still hurt) to help me. Katie was at the ward for something else, but also helped us out in the kitchen. We had a blast talking and laughing together as Bekah and I made the waffles and Melissa and Katie cooked up the syrups. We laid the waffles (plain and chocolate) out on the table with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, "yummy" or buttermilk syrup, regular maple syrup (Mrs. Butterworth's of course), and whip cream. We also served milk and water. Judging by the amount of food left over, and the amount of requests I got for the recipes, I'd say the waffle bar was a success. Thanks to Melissa, Bekah, and Katie, who are awesome cooks and SO much fun! So... That's the story, following are the recipes.

Basic Waffles
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir together milk, oil, and eggs. Gradually add milk mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir until just blended. Pour batter onto waffle baker.


Chocolate Dessert Waffles
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt (1/16 teaspoon)
2/3 cup milk
In a small mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until well blended. Add egg and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.
Spray grids with cooking spray. Pour batter onto waffle baker.
Remove and serve topped with vanilla ice cream.

Melba's note: These two recipes came with the instruction manual for my waffle iron and they're fabulous! There are also two more great recipes - weekend waffles and whole grain waffles. If you ask me nicely, I'll give them to you.

Yummy Syrup by Suzette Done
1 c butter
2 c sugar
½ c karo syrup
1 c buttermilk
Boil and then take off heat
Add 2 t vanilla and 2 t baking soda
When you add the baking soda, the syrup will almost double in bulk so use a bigger pot than you would think to use. (We learned this the hard way, unfortunately...)
If you boil this for too long, it turns into caramel.

Melba's note: This was a staple at girl's camp this summer. It's really called Buttermilk syrup but Suzette calls it Yummy syrup so her teenagers will eat it. We used it as syrup or as caramel topping for sundaes.

Lindsay's Chocolate Sauce
Melt 1 square butter
Add 1 cup chocolate chips
Watch and stir to melt.
Add 1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
Add 2 cups powdered sugar
Stir and bring to boil
Boil 8 minutes
Remove from heat
Add 1 Tbsp vanilla

Melba's note: Lindsay (my sister) calls this "Uncle Bill's Chocolate Sauce" but since I can't remember who Uncle Bill is, I renamed it. Sorry Uncle Bill, thanks for a great recipe!