I recently had a bar of earl grey dark chocolate and it was so surprisingly delicious, and I was inspired to make some sort of baked good with this flavor combination. I hadn’t used my waffle maker yet since moving to Chicago, so chocolate earl grey waffles seemed like a perfect plan for a new recipe! I chose to make them vegan so one of my friends could have them, and because I am trying to eat a more plant-based diet - partially inspired by the culinary medicine course I am taking in medical school currently!
I used Koia cacao bean plant-based milk because I had made chocolate waffles with it before and I think it is really tasty and a healthier version of chocolate milk. I found a type of earl grey tea that had a bit more of a vanilla flavor, so I thought that would be really amazing for baking. I also added two whole tea bags of tea leaves to the batter to enhance the flavor, since it can be subtle. I tested it in a batch of the waffles first to ensure that it wouldn’t be too strong of a flavor or make for a grainy texture, and neither of those problems occurred. The tea leaves were quite finely ground, so it added just the right amount of earl grey flavor to the waffles! I also added a lot of grated dark chocolate, because the more chocolate, the better!
These waffles turned out so delicious! I brought them to a rooftop workout and brunch potluck with some medical school friends, and they were a hit! They taste delicious plain, or with almond butter and blueberries.
Recipe
Makes 10-15 small waffles
Ingredients
Wet:
3 flax eggs (3 tbsp flax mixed with 8 tbsp water, refrigerated for at least 5 minutes to set)
1 bottle Koia cacao bean plant-based milk (or desired chocolate milk)
⅓ cup brewed earl grey tea
2 tea bags of earl grey tea
2 tsp vanilla extract
About ¼ cup maple syrup (optional, if using fairly sweetened chocolate you may not need this)
Dry:
1 and ¾ cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp baking powder
½ bar dark chocolate, finely grated
Steps
Prepare the flax egg and refrigerate while assembling the rest of your ingredients.
Once the egg is set, mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl.
Mix in the dry ingredients until smooth.
Lightly grease a waffle iron and cook the waffles. It took 3-5 minute to cook each waffle on my mini waffle maker.
Let cool, and enjoy plain or with toppings!