Signature Desserts

Chocolate Waffles topped with Jacques Pépin’s
Fast Pink Fondant and Caramel-Glazed Strawberries

These delightful chocolate waffles from Chef’s Chocolate Choice are topped with renowned chef Jacques Pépin’s “Fast Pink Fondant and Caramel-Glazed Strawberries.”

Chocolate Waffle Brownies
(makes 5 to 6 waffles)

3 oz. (3 squares) melted unsweetened chocolate
½ cup butter or shortening, melted
3 eggs
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ to ¾ cup chopped nuts, optional (walnuts or pecans)
¾ cup milk
powdered sugar, optional

Place chocolate and butter or shortening in small saucepan. Melt over low heat. Set aside to cool. In separate bowl, beat eggs and salt until light in color. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat by hand to combine, then fold in the cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in flour and nuts. Slowly add enough milk to make a thick batter. Preheat the waffle maker. If using the Chef’s Choice M840, use 1/3 cup of batter. When using other waffle irons, check manufacturer’s directions. Spoon waffle batter onto preheated waffle grid. Close lid and bake until signal indicates waffle is done. Remove and serve. Waffles will store well for several days if wrapped in plastic.

Jacques Pépin’s Fast Pink Fondant and Caramel-Glazed Sauce
(adapted from a recipe by Jacques Pépin)

Fast Pink Fondant: Mix warm water, corn syrup, food coloring. Put confectioners’ sugar in bowl and add water-corn syrup mixture. Stir with whisk until well-mixed then beat with whisk for 20 to 30 seconds, until very smooth. Depending on the moisture in the sugar, you may need slightly more water (until fondant is loose enough to be drizzled or spread). Or, if fondant is too thin, add a little sugar. Break waffles into individual pieces and arrange on wire rack and drizzle fondant on each waffle heart. This can be done ahead so the fondant dries slightly and remains shiny. The fondant should be used within an hour or so of preparation. Otherwise, cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t harden.

Caramel-Glaze: For glazing, use ripe strawberries, preferably with stems so you can hold them easily as you dip them into the hot sugar (between 310 and 320 degrees). Be sure the berries are dry so they do not splatter, and proceed with caution.

If berries are ripe and sugar is used right away while it is hot and thin, the shell of sugar crusted around the berries will be thin. The hot sugar will partially cook the ripe berries. Within 15 to 20 minutes, the berries will release some juice, which will begin to melt the shell of sugar, so the glazing cannot be done more than 1 hour before serving. The riper the berries the faster the moisture is released. The right time to serve the berries is when the sugar shell is partially melted, so that it is thin and close to breaking open. The berries will be warm, juicy, and a bit soft inside. If hard, partially ripe berries are used, the sugar remains thick and the berries are dry and hard.

To glaze the berries: Put sugar and cool water in a small saucepan, preferably unlined copper, and stir just enough to wet the sugar and create a syrup. Then cook over medium to high heat until a candy thermometer registers between 310 and 320 F degrees. This will take approximately 15 minutes after the mixture comes to a boil. (An unlined copper pan tends to prevent sugar from crystallizing. (If unavailable, add 6 to 8 drops of lemon juice to the syrup when it is almost cooked to prevent crystallization.) Oil a tray very lightly. If the 12 strawberries are not clean, wash them gently and dry them thoroughly.

Put the pan containing the boiling hot sugar syrup on a pot holder and tip it to the side to dip strawberries, one at a time, into the hot syrup, making sure that each berry is completely submerged so that it is coated all around. Set coated berries on the oiled tray. The sugar will harden around them. Set aside until serving time. When ready, adorn the fondant covered brownie waffles with glazed berries and serve immediately.

One of America’s best-known chefs, cookbook authors, and cooking teachers, Jacques Pepin has published 25 books, numerous articles, and hosted nine acclaimed public television cooking series. His most recent book is a visual biography, Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook, which was published in May 2007 by Stewart Tabori & Chang.