Wild Black Belgium Waffles - Spiked! and GYCO Challenge Entry

July is here and it is time again for the Spiked! and Get Your Chef On Challenges. This month I combined the secret ingredients and made something Berkeley and I are seriously in love with!

Flagstaff, well Northern Arizona in general, is really big on brewing. One of my favorites is Big Blue Van from CollegeStreet Brewery. For whatever reason, I cannot find it ANYWHERE in Flagstaff! We have found their other beers in town but just not this amazing blueberry hefeweizen.

While on the hunt, we came across this Wild Black Lager in the craft brew section of one of our favorite places to get craft and microbrews. When I saw the blackberry lager a great thought came to mind. Everyone knows about and loves blueberry pancakes, what about blackberry waffles? And that is when I decided to combine the two challenges!

These turned out amazing!! Berkeley has eaten about 4 8-inch waffles this morning. The Wild Black was great for this. It is not bitter and the blackberry flavor is strong but not overwhelming and also has a creaminess to it. All those qualities come together for a great waffle batter that resulted in a great light waffle packed with a great flavor with a mild blackberry flavor. These waffles were topped off with a drizzle of blackberry syrup for me and Berkeley had a few smothered in peanut butter.

Wild Black Belgium Waffles
ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 t salt 
• 4 tsp baking powder 
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 
• 3 Tbsp sugar 
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter 
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1 1/4 cup Wild Black Lager
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 large eggs
• handful of blackberries

directions

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. Set aside. 
2. Melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in milk and then the beer. Gently heat until mixture is warmed through. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and eggs. 
3. Once combined, slowly add the beer mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk until thoroughly combined and there as few lumps as possible. 
4. Roughly breakup a handful of blackberries and add them evenly to the batter. 
5. Add batter to your preheated waffle iron and cook to your liking. Serve with Blackberry Syrup.

Blackberry Syrup

ingredients

• 1 cup blackberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 cup of Wild Black Lager
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp cornstarch

directions

1. Add the ingredients to a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a rolling boil and slowly reduce down to desired consistency. 
2. Serve over waffles, ice cream, with peanut butter on toast or anything else you want to add a little blackberry kick to!