Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Waffles

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Waffles, Farmers Wife Original

It probably won't come as much of a shock to you that I created yet another breakfast recipe... lol! I'm just a little bit obsessed with breakfast foods, and it's the one thing I can be completely creative with and have no fear of how my boys will react. For awhile now I've been toying around with the idea of a Pumpkin Spice Waffle, but I wanted to add something to make it stand out just a little bit. Then a couple weeks back I received the most fantastic package in the mail...

Thanks to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program I received a box FULL of Ghiradelli Chocolates to try! I was so excited I started bouncing off the walls... No seriously I did. Then I opened the packages... Yeah... Getting chocolates in the mail in the middle of our AZ heat didn't work out too well, lol! They did have a completely melted ice pack in there in the attempt to keep the chocolates from melting, unfortunately that didn't work. These were SO melted, they haven't really recovered even being stored in the fridge. Once chocolate melts, it changes the texture completely, and I learned this lesson the hard way. Now don't get me wrong it tastes fantastic still, but to eat it as normal chocolate is impossible, since as soon as I remove it from the packaging it starts to melt again. It is however great for baking! So instead of pairing it with some fruit or beverage, I paired my chocolates with Pumpkin and baked it into waffles... Oh yeah baby! They were AWESOME! I can't believe how much we enjoyed these, in fact we even ate these cold as midnight snacks... haha!

These waffles came together SO fast, the longest part was honestly just the baking, in other words, waiting for the darn waffle iron to cook each one... haha! But it was worth the wait, served up with some warm maple syrup, these are such a wonderful treat full of fall flavor!

Ingredients: (yield about 12 waffles)
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/4 Cups Pumpkin Puree
1/2 Cup Milk (I used 1%)
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 Bar Ghiradelli's 72% Twilight Delight Dark Chocolate

Directions:
In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices. Whisk together until fully combined. Then in a medium bowl combine the vanilla, pumpkin, milk, oil and eggs. Whisk those together until full combined, then pour into the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined and the batter should be thick. Next coarsely chop the chocolate, and using a spoon fold into the waffle batter. Heat your waffle iron, and spray with cooking spray. Using a measuring cup, measure out the amount of batter needed to fill your waffle iron, for my round one that was about 1/2 cup. Spread out slightly, and lower the top of the iron and let it cook until golden and slightly crispy. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm with your favorite syrup.

Review:
These were just outstanding, they were fantastic fresh out of the iron (because you know it's torture to wait for them all to finish baking!), and were delicious smothered in syrup too! The addition of the dark chocolate was out of this world, it took an already delicious waffle and made it spectacular! My Little Sous Chef devoured these, and then asked for more, so I'd give them a 4.5 star rating!

Happy Baking!

P.S. Don't forget about the Giveaway going on until this Thursday, Sept. 29th for a $100 American Express Gift card!! There's still time to enter!