Grapefruit Waffles with Chocolate Dipped Strawberries (for someone you love!)

I'm coming up to my anniversary soon, so I thought I'd bring a little romance onto the blog. After being with someone for many years and living together for most of that time, it's easy to feel like the romance is dead sometimes. After all, you don't often tend to make a special effort with someone when you spend every evening and every morning with them anyway. There are fewer romantic dates, fewer mushy text messages going back and forth and, sometimes, a lack of spontaneous romantic gestures. We always try and do small unexpected nice things for one another though, because it is a really lovely feeling to make somebody that you love smile.

Special breakfast is a nice way to remind someone that you love them. My partner gets up stupidly early to go to work almost every day, though, so I don't really get many opportunities. We've both been incredibly busy lately but the other day we had a fluke day that we were both home from work and we had deliberately made no other plans for the day. So, I felt I should seize the occasion to get up and make him breakfast in bed. Not just any breakfast either - grapefruit waffles with chocolate coated strawberries! I ask you - is romance dead?! :)

Yes, a decadent and sweet breakfast - I don't advise having this one for breakfast too often. I've used yellow grapefruit because I had a big bag of them bequeathed to me from someone's tree. You can also use pink grapefruit. The grapefruit adds a fantastic fresh zingy aspect to the sweet waffles, so I recommend try it. If, however, you're making these for someone who hates grapefruit, you can substitute some freshly squeezes orange juice in it's place. 

All in all they take about 15 minutes to make, which is not very long for someone you love! Try these for birthdays, anniversaries, mothers or fathers day, Valentines day or (my favourite) any day of the week because nobody needs an occasion to tell someone you love them. Or just make them for yourself - because it's also important to love yourself, right? 

Vegan Grapefruit Waffles with Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Ingredients

150g dark chocolate

6 strawberries, washed and dried completely

1 1/4 cups wholemeal flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (with the pulp!)

2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

Maple Syrup (fo' drizzlin')

To Make:

1.  Mix the dry ingredients for the waffles together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and gently stir in the soy milk, grapefruit juice and oil.

2. Melt you chocolate by chopping it up and placing it in a completely dry metal mixing bowl (glass or ceramic is ok too, it just will take longer to melt). Fill a separate bowl with boiling hot water and suspend the metal bowl over the top so that the steam from the hot water heats the metal. This will melt the chocolate evenly. Stir as it melts. 

3. Make sure your strawberries are completely dry. Once the chocolate is melted, coat the strawberries in it and then place them on a non stick baking sheet on a plate. Continue with your remaining strawberries and then place the plate in the fridge while you cook the waffles so they can set. You'll have some chocolate left over, keep it suspended over the hot water to that is stays melted while you cook your waffles.

4.  Heat up your waffle iron (be sure to spray with oil to prevent sticking) and make the waffles according to the instructions of your waffle maker. Make sure you re spray the waffle maker between each waffle.

5. Once the waffles are cooked, get 2 plates and place 1 waffle on each plate then drizzle maply syrup over the waffles. Top with another waffle and drizzle the remaining melted chocolate over the top. Place the chocolate dipped strawberries on top and eat it straight away!

Makes 2 servings (because you deserve some too, right?)

This recipe makes enough for 4 waffles (this may vary depending on the size of your waffle maker) and 6 chocolate dipped strawberries.