V-Day Breakfast: White Chocolate Blueberry Waffles

Unfortunately, I can only report on my culinary adventures after the fact, which means that you, my reader, did not make the most awe-inspiring, romantic breakfast for your boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever this past Sunday. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about that... at least not until my time machine becomes operational. You'd do well to print or copy down this post for next year, though. Your efforts will be rewarded and I won't even ask for any credit for it.

And so, I present a surprisingly easy, incredibly impressive breakfast: White Chocolate/Blueberry Waffles and Chocolate-dipped Bacon. Yeah, pretty much screams 'Valentine's Day," huh?

Ingredients:

1 Box Krusteaz Waffle Mix

4 Eggs

2/3 Cup of Oil

3 Cups of Water

1 Pack of White Chocolate Chips

1 Small Package of Blueberries

1 Container of Strawberry Yogurt

1 Package of Turkey Bacon (or the real stuff if you prefer)

1 Pack of Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

1 Small Package of Strawberries

Powdered Sugar

Cubed Cantaloupe (optional)

One note before I begin: I underestimated the size of my girlfriend's waffle maker, so this recipe is for the entire box of waffle mix. I ended up with 12-15 extra waffles. While that's hardly the end of the world, it can present a storage issue, so use your best judgment and follow the directions on the box accordingly.

In a large bowl, combine waffle mix, eggs, oil, and water. Mix until a generally smooth batter is formed. At this point, you'll want to dump in the blueberries and white chocolate chips. White chocolate seemed to be the way to go here because the more subtle sweetness would counteract any bitterness in the berries without overpowering them as standard chips might. The ratio should be approximately 2:1, chips to berries. Stir the batter to evenly distribute the goodies.

Plug in and warm up the waffle iron. Each iron is going to be a little different, so keep an eye on your waffles until you get the hang of it. Also, be careful not to fill the iron so much so that it overflows; you'll be surprised how little batter you'll actually need. When the waffles are golden brown, move them to a pan or plate and place in a just-barely-warm oven. Repeat until you are finished with your batter and be sure to spray the iron with non-stick spray before each round.

I cooked my turkey bacon the day before and let the strips chill in the refrigerator until I needed them. That way, the melted chocolate adheres better and does not simply melt off again.

Now, I suppose you could put your chocolate chips or melting chocolate in a bowl with some butter and throw it in the microwave, but Valentine's Day is a time for grand gestures, so I opted to try the fabled double boiler. For this, you'll want to put an inch or so of water in a pot over low heat. Find a bowl that will fit on top of the pot without dropping in and fill it with your chocolate and a couple pats of butter. I didn't measure this exactly, so be prepared to add more butter to loosen things up as you go along. Stir the chocolate constantly until melted and smooth.

When you're ready, dip the bacon and place on a plate. Put the plate in the fridge so that the chocolate can re-solidify. Oh, and if there's any chocolate left, feel free to dip some fruit for later.

Serving:

Arrange 2-3 waffles on each plate in a pleasing manner. Open an container of strawberry yogurt and stir until smooth. Put a healthy dollop of yogurt on each arrangement and top with a couple strawberry slices. There's so much goodness going on in these waffles, your sweetheart won't even want to use syrup.

Arrange the bacon and fruit around the waffles and serve, preferably with mimosas and candles, you sly devil.

Notes and Tricks:

The chocolate-dipped bacon is a bold move, but may be more trouble than it's worth. I think it may have been tastier had I used real bacon, rather than turkey bacon. I imagine the end result would be crispier and saltier, which would even out the heavy sweetness of chocolate. Nevertheless, it was worth the experiment.

Indulge your creative side and play around with how you slice your strawberries. A few quick cuts and you have heart shapes (Even if they turn out a little abstract, your efforts will be noticed). Fanning the berries works great too. To do that, take a whole strawberry and make vertical, parallel cuts that go almost to the top of the berry. Then, take it in your hand and fan out the slices; the result is a sleek, professional look.