Blackcurrant Waffles - and the best waffle recipe so far!

The quest for waffles is never ending. However, the quest for the best recipe may be over (at least for us). This may now be our favourite, and this is probably my second favourite filling/topping combo, after chocolate sauce with chopped hazelnuts. For me, this even tops the classic maple syrup and (ice) cream...

We had a lot of blackcurrants left after our cheesecake exploits, basically. They're a good source of Vitamin C. Sadly fresh ones are more difficult to source... curse you, Ribena, and your use of 95% of the crop!

But tinned ones are relatively cheap (89p a can as of writing, at Tesco) and work very well!

The Best Waffle Recipe (So far...) - Plain Version


These rise like billy-o and taste good to boot! The recipe comes from an ancient and very well used cookbook owned by my boyfriend's Mum. It's the only one we've tried using self-raising flour but it rises the best out of all the ones we've done, even better than the one using 4 whole teaspoons of baking powder!


2 eggs
2 teaspoons sugar (we used 3 tablespoons, naughty us!)
175ml milk
75-150ml water
1 teaspoon vanilla
225g self raising flour
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cornflour
125g melted butter
A NOTE ON THE WATER: The first time we think we may have accidentally left the water out, and we really liked the batter. We now use half the amount of water (75ml), which gives a great consistency, but sadly tends to result in 3.5 waffles rather than 4. We've decided it's worth it... quality over quanitity. 

1. Beat egg yolks and sugar together, then beat in milk, water and vanilla
2. Gradually sift in flour, cornflour and salt, beating constantly then beat in melted butter
3. Beat egg whites and fold in (gently, people, gently!)
4. Set aside for 10 mins
5. EAT!
6. WELL... COOK THEN EAT!

(The last 2 are the most important. Possibly just the last one. Thank you boyfriend. I'm sorry I keep sharing your involvement today...)

Blackcurrant waffles

The recipe is exactly the same as above, but after pouring the waffle batter into the machine, dot as many blackcurrants as you fancy into it, then shut the lid. Cook as normal, then top with more blackcurrants and some of the blackcurrant juice, mixed with a little sugar if you wish. Best served with ice cream.

Overnight waffles - putting yeast genetics into practice

If you've been to Oxford, you might have been to G&D's, the ice cream cafe that's open until midnight every night. If you're an Oxford student, you've almost CERTAINLY been there (especially if you're a non-clubber like me). I became well acquainted with it last year when I gained a loyalty card with lots of interesting offers in Fresher's week, that culminated in a free sundae. I did mean to take a photo of that but Mum and I actually only remembered after we'd eaten it, so somewhere I have a photo of an empty plate and two spoons.

But enough of that. My point is that they do waffles.

Their waffle machine is frequently broken, often for weeks at a time. But I keep going back again and again and again. I have been known to walk miles out of my way on my waffle quest, simply because it is worth it.

But I started wanting my own waffles. So I ended up on gumtree, and then discovered that of the 3 waffle irons in the country, one was 2 miles down the road from where my boyfriend lives, and it was ancient but was only six quid. That's worth it in my books.

So I've been enviously hearing his tales of waffle batter antics from hundreds of miles away, trying yeasted waffles, non-yeasted waffles, waffles with maple syrup and so many other nuances. So when he visited me at uni this week I stipulated that the waffle iron should join him.

The fire alarms in my building are ridiculously sensitive, hence our elaborate filtering mechanism using my ancient sash windows, curtains and the extension lead from my computer (so I can't use both at once... which is my stronger desire?)

My boyfriend is the waffle king at the moment. But I get to make the next one.

Maple syrup is his standard topping, and he insisted on buying ice cream. We bought a 2 litre tub and only used about 3 scoops... oops. I hate not having a freezer but I blame Tesco for not selling anything smaller. 

They're good. They really are. We used the recipe from La Cerise, but we're trying a baking powder one tomorrow because the yeast was a bit overpowering, though I quite liked it. My room smells of beer now.

It might have been because we left it in front of the radiator overnight... but after learning about yeast for the past 2 terms and cloning yeast in practicals it was nice to see a real-world application...

I like chocolate sauce and nuts, personally. That's just the way I roll.

I don't mean I roll in chocolate and nuts. That would be weird. 

So there you have our first attempts at waffles. They won't be our last.