Chocolate Waffles

We often eat breakfast foods for dinner. They are nice and fast and we always have the ingredients on hand. A few years ago I came across a recipe for chocolate waffles and I thought that would be a nice treat. Big mistake. Now Kay and her dad will only eat chocolate waffles. I've come up with tons of other interesting waffle options but I end up eating them alone while they make their own separate chocolate batch!

In order to ease my guilt over serving what basically amounts to dessert for dinner, I did two things. First, I insist that they call the topping "vanilla syrup" and not "frosting". I know it is a minor detail but I feel better if the word frosting is not part of our dinner! Second, I messed with the recipe trying to add a little nutrition to it. I figured any little bit would help!

So here is our not-quite-so-dessertlike recipe for chocolate waffles.

(Kay loves any recipe involving sifting!)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped fine (or any other nut of your choice or it can be left out completely)

1/3 cup sugar

1 T baking powder

3 T cocoa powder (we use a mixture of the regular and the dark)

1 tsp expresso powder (optional)

2 eggs

4 T melted butter or margarine

1 cup milk (we use soy)

1/2 cup plain yogurt (we use low fat)

Sift together all the dry ingredients except the walnuts. Stir in the walnuts. Beat together the wet ingredients and add them to the dry. Cook according to your waffle irons directions. Our's uses about 1/2 cup of the batter.

Vanilla Syrup

1 T softened butter or margarine

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 T milk (again we used soy)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix together. Add extra milk if needed to make it thin enough to drizzle.

Kay: This recipe was kind of dry before we added the yogurt. Now it is very soft and chewy. I thought this would be good made with chocolate soy milk but Mom said no! I really want my own frosting bowl so that I can put as much as I want! Sometimes I help Mom and other times I make these all by myself.

Mom: Kay, it isn't frosting, it is syrup!!!

She really does make these herself a lot of the time. Usually she'll ask for them and then I whine that I don't feel like making them so she gets up and does it! But to prove that I'm not the worst mother ever, I usually do get up and at least clean the dishes as she uses them!