Valentine Recipe: Chocolate Heart Waffles with Fast Pink Fondant & Caramel Glazed Strawberries

Recipe For Love, From Jacques Pépin

Whether you’re looking for a romantic breakfast in bed to dish up for your sweetie or a Valentine’s Day treat for the family, everyone will be delighted with these delightful chocolate waffles from Chef’sChoice^® topped with renowned chef Jacques Pépin’s delicious “Fast Pink Fondant and Caramel-Glazed Strawberries.”

Place chocolate and butter or shortening in small saucepan. Melt over low heat. Set aside to cool. In separate bowl, beat eggs and salt until light in color. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat by hand to combine, then fold in the cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in flour and nuts. Slowly add enough milk to make a thick batter. Preheat the waffle maker. For best results, use the Chef’sChoice WafflePro Model 840.  If using the Chef’sChoice M840, use 1/3 cup of batter. When using other waffle irons, check manufacturer’s directions). Spoon waffle batter onto preheated waffle grid. Close lid and bake until signal indicates waffle is done. Remove and serve.(Waffles will store well for several days if wrapped in plastic.)

Jacques Pépin’s Fast Pink Fondant and Caramel-Glazed Sauce (adapted from a recipe by Jacques Pépin)

Fast Pink Fondant:                                                       Caramel-Glazed Strawberries
2 Tb. warm water from the tap                         1 ½ cup sugar
1 Tb. corn syrup                                                ½ cup cool water
3 to 4 drops red food coloring  (optional)        6 to 8 drops lemon juice (optional)
2 cup confectioners’ sugar                                12 very large, ripe strawberries with stems

Fast Pink Fondant: Mix warm water, corn syrup, food coloring. Put confectioners’ sugar in bowl and add water-corn syrup mixture. Stir with whisk until well-mixed then beat with whisk for 20 to 30 seconds, until very smooth. Depending on the moisture in the sugar, you may need slightly more water (until fondant is loose enough to be drizzled or spread). Or, if fondant is too thin, add a little sugar. Break waffles into individual hearts and arrange on wire rack and drizzle fondant on each waffle heart. This can be done ahead so the fondant dries slightly and remains shiny. The fondant should be used within an hour or so of preparation. Otherwise, cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t harden.

Caramel-Glaze: For glazing, use ripe strawberries, preferably with stems so you can hold them easily as you dip them into the hot sugar (between 310 and 320 degrees). Be sure the berries are dry so they do not splatter, and proceed with caution.

If berries are ripe and sugar is used right away while it is hot and thin, the shell of sugar crusted around the berries will be thin. The hot sugar will partially cook the ripe berries. Within 15 to 20 minutes, the berries will release some juice, which will begin to melt the shell of sugar, so the glazing cannot be done more than 1 hour before serving. The riper the berries the faster the moisture is released. The right time to serve the berries is when the sugar shell is partially melted, so that it is thin and close to breaking open. The berries will be warm, juicy, and a bit soft inside. If hard, partially ripe berries are used, the sugar remains thick and the berries are dry and hard.

To glaze the berries: Put sugar and cool water in a small saucepan, preferably unlined copper, and stir just enough to wet the sugar and create a syrup. Then cook over medium to high heat until a candy thermometer registers between 310 and 320 F degrees. This will take approximately 15 minutes after the mixture comes to a boil. (An unlined copper pan tends to prevent sugar from crystallizing. (If unavailable, add 6 to 8 drops of lemon juice to the syrup when it is almost cooked to prevent crystallization.) Oil a tray very lightly. If the 12 strawberries are not clean, wash them gently and dry them thoroughly.

Put the pan containing the boiling hot sugar syrup on a pot holder and tip it to the side to dip strawberries, one at a time, into the hot syrup, making sure that each berry is completely submerged so that it is coated all around. Set coated berries on the oiled tray. The sugar will harden around them. Set aside until serving time. When ready, adorn the fondant covered brownie waffles with glazed berries and serve immediately. Have a lovely Valentine’s Day!

Recipes courtesy of:  One of America’s best-known chefs, cookbook authors, and cooking teachers, Jacques Pépin, author of Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook &  Chef’s Choice Kitchen Products.

I looked around and this Heart shaped waffle maker is available at both Target & Sears.

What a great way to show your love, all year round.