I’ve been obsessed with chocolate waffles for some time now, but hadn’t yet perfected the recipe. I wanted something crispy on the edges and tender in the middle, yet still deep and dark and packed with rich chocolate flavor.

Turns out, a chocolate waffle is a lot harder than you think. Adding cocoa to a basic buttermilk waffle recipe makes a softer, more cake-like waffle, a sacrifice in texture that I’d make if the flavor were spot on, except it isn’t. Rather, the resulting waffles are pallid and pathetic. Barely worthy of being called chocolate waffles.

So instead, when asked to contribute a chocolate waffle to the KitchenAid® Kitchenthusiast blog, I stopped trying to make a chocolate waffle, and instead looked at the problem from a completely different angle: how could I get a brownie batter (already the perfect flavor and texture I was looking for) to work in a waffle maker?

That’s not as easy as it sounds, either, since brownies, unless grossly overcooked, tend to crumble and fall apart while still warm. The trick lies with the unique swivel feature of the KitchenAid® Waffle Baker.

In order to maintain the delicate, fudgy texture of a brownie, it’s not going to behave like a normal waffle, and won’t come out of the iron like a normal waffle either. It takes a bit of finesse, tiling the iron while it is open and gently easing the warm waffles out of their molds and onto the plate. Luckily, I ruined plenty of waffles figuring this out so you don’t have to.

The result is delightfully crispy and densely chocolate, rich enough that one wedge is more than satisfying. If you love the edges of the brownie pan these waffles were made for you. Serve them warm, right out of the waffle baker, with fresh fruit and a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and you’ll be in brownie heaven in a fraction of the time it would take to make a pan of traditional brownies.

Visit the KitchenAid® Kitchenthusiast™ blog for the recipe »