Egg Waffles with Blackberry Honey Butter

So there I was minding my own business surfing around the internet. Just doing some random reading of different things, and I stumbled on something. These little things called Hong Kong Egg Waffles. I did some research and found that they are actually called gai daan jai or eggettes. Well they intrigued me to say least.

After some careful thought out and very well executed prodding from my buddy (spoiled brat), I did a search as to where I could find one of these egg waffle/eggette pans. Well low and behold, it turned out you could get one right around the corner at Williams-Sonoma. I decided to take the plunge "in the name of research" and just for the fun of it and to see what I could come up with. You know, I am taking one for the team here, suffering for you and my art, feel my pain!!

The pan comes with a basic batter recipe that I followed for the most part but made a couple of adjustments to, mainly to see the what the difference would be.

For the topping, as blackberries are in season at the moment and the last batch I had tasted incredible, I used them as a base. I cooked them down and added a bit of honey so it would form a syrup. Mixed with butter it made a nice filling for this breakfast treat.

I did contemplate some other options along the way... I fell in love with Nutella Crepes while I was in school in Italy, and the Banana Nutella Crepes while in Ireland (speaking of which, a spoiled brat owes me some of those)...this just opened up all sorts of options for these waffles. Savory, dessert, breakfast, attention deficit disorder...I think I'll stick with blackberries for now...

Give these a shot and let me know what you think, then we will move on to the other versions...what do you say about that?

A quick note about the pan. The traditional egg waffle pans are made of cast iron, of which I am a big fan. The one I picked up is made of cast aluminum with stainless steel handles. It seems pretty durable, and it is made by Nordic Ware, so with the proper care, it seems like it will last.

Egg Waffles

This recipe is a slightly modified version of the one that comes with the Egg Waffle Pan. I chose to go with the metric measurements for this recipe as it is a more precise measurement system, great for baking.

Gai Daan Jai

4 ea Egg Yolk
180 ml Milk
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
90 g Butter (no substitutes), melted
185 g Sugar
155 g Cake Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1 pinch Nutmeg, freshly grated
⅛ tsp Salt
6 ea Egg White, beaten to medium peaks
Vegetable Oil
Confectioner's (powdered) Sugar, for dusting

1 Add Egg Yolks, Milk, Vanilla, melted Butter and Sugar in a bowl and mix well.

2 In a separate bowl mix Flour, Baking Powder, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Salt.

3 Add the Egg Yolk and Milk mixture to the Flour, and mix until there are no lumps.

4 Fold in the Egg Whites, adding one third at a time.

5 Heat both sides of the Egg Waffle Pan over Medium heat.

6 Lightly brush the heated pan with oil.

7 Add ¾ of a cup of the batter to one side of the pan. Attach the other side of the pan and invert.

8 Cook for about 2 minutes over Medium heat until golden brown.

9 Flip the pan over and cook for an additional 2 minutes until this side is golden brown as well.

10 Remove waffle and place on a wire rack and allow to set for about a minute.

11 Top with favorite topping and Confectioners Sugar if desired.



Blackberry Honey Butter

1 cup Blackberries, fresh
½ cup Honey
¼ cup Butter (no substitutes), softened

1 Place the Blackberries and Honey in a small saucepan over Medium heat.

2 Stir frequently to break down the Blackberries.

3 Cook for about 15 minutes until Blackberries are mostly broken down.

4 Place in refrigerator until cool (about 30 minutes).

5 Mix Honey Blackberry mixture into softened butter.

6 Refrigerate until needed.
 
 
After the waffles are complete, spread a bit of the Blackberry butter on them and roll them up or leave them flat. Sprinkle some confectioners (powdered) sugar on them as well. Options are wide open for these. Line a bowl with one and build an ice cream sundae on top of it. Anything you can do with a regular waffle you can do with these little crunchy, custardy, fluffy creations.
 
Enjoy!