brioche waffles with maple cream & strawberries

as much as I’d like to report that spring has sprung in fair Vermont and its nothing but blue skies, daffodils and Ben & Jerry’s around here…thats not the case. In truth, it’s been really rainy and cold, so we’ve been seeking out more indoor activities than we usually would this time of year. And that is how we ended up in a movie theater to watch the new Avengers movie over the weekend. Jesse had the perfect way to describe it: “it’s like the plot was written by a little kid playing with action figures – these two are fighting! and then this one comes in to fight! and then these guys are fighting!” …at least the popcorn was good.

another rainy day activity we partook in was driving the loop of lake champlain islands. Since it was rainy, I didn’t mind just going for a drive (usually I’d want be out of the car as much as possibly to do some hiking) and there was hardly anyone driving out on the islands. Considering how rainy it was, we saw a lot of birds including osprey in their nests, an eagle and loads of loons, ducks and hawks! Yes, I feel ancient because we essentially went bird watching on a Saturday afternoon. Complete with a road trip snack provided by the emergency bag of jelly beans I keep in my purse. I repeat, ancient.

let’s talk about these waffles…

when I went home last week, my dad gifted me a jar of maple cream from Cornell (in my humble opinion, this is where the best maple products and apples come from). Immediately I wanted to schmear it on all the things, but I controlled myself and decided I’d bake up something delicious to be the carrier vessel for this maple goodness.

and then our oven went out of commision. you really don’t want to know why, so we’ll just gloss over this kitchen hickup and say our new one is arriving this week.

so without my oven for almost a week, I was left with no bake recipes and honestly I couldn’t think of a no bake recipe cozy enough to pair perfectly with maple cream. but then I remembered, duh, my waffle iron is still in commission. and not just any waffles, I wanted to rehash my babka dough as a waffle. enter the brioche waffle.

and yes, this recipe is kind of a cop out. it’s literally just my babka recipe sans the cinnamon swirl filling (although that’d probably be sinfully good) and smashed into my waffle iron. and after eating more than i’d like to admit, I’m a firm believer that yeasted waffles are the only way to go. Yes, these are very similar to liege waffles, but I don’t have fancy pearled sugar nor do I think these waffles need anymore sugar. they are so rich on their own you won’t miss the pearled sugar, especially if you have maple cream on top. BUT feel free to add a handful of pearled sugar if you have it on hand, the result will be a more caramelized waffle, but trust me, they’re just fine as is.

brioche waffles with maple cream & strawberries

what you’ll need
dough:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (300g)
1/4 cup white sugar (55g) + 1 teaspoon for yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 dry active yeast packet (2 1/4 tsp)
2 eggs + 1 yolk
1/4 cup warm milk
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

toppings:
maple cream
fresh strawberries

how to whip it up
Gently stir yeast into the 1/4 cup warm milk plus 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let it prove for 5 minutes.

While the yeast is proving, in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, gently whirl the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt). Then add eggs and butter (don’t forget the extra egg yolk here!). Mix until mostly combined, then add yeast milk mixture. With your stand mixer set to a medium slow speed, let it knead the dough for 5 minutes. Your dough should be smooth, elastic and slightly sticky. Once dough has reached this point, cover bowl in plastic and let dough rise until double (usually 1.5-2 hours).

With floured hands, divide dough up into 9 small lumps (they should be roughly 80 grams each). Cook waffles using your waffle iron’s instructions.

Schmear with maple cream and top with fresh strawberries. Enjoy!