Brown Butter Waffles with No-Churn Blueberry Ice Cream

Oh my. That photo right there makes me salivate profusely everytime I look at it. Every. Time. It's probably worse for me because I know exactly what it tastes like, and it tastes even better than it looks in that photo. This is the first time I've ever made waffles for this blog, because this is the first time I've had a waffle iron since I moved out of home! YAY. Thanks to the awesome Suze for letting me borrow her waffle iron. I'm the kinda person who cannot eat waffles without ice cream. The combination of those piping hot, golden waffles with some creamy ice cream melting on top makes me happy. So this weekend I made my own ice cream and waffles. And ate it with maple syrup. And bacon. Yup.

Once you have a waffle iron, you need a good waffle recipe. Luckily for me, my brother has a great one. We've been using it for years and it has never failed us. It may seem a bit more tedious than some of the more basic recipes (because you have to separate your eggs and whip the egg whites separately), but it is definitely worth the extra effort. The waffles you give lots of love will love you back! My brother's one complaint was that the recipe uses vegetable oil and he would have loved to try it with butter instead. We are a butter-loving family. So I took it to the next level and made these waffles with browned butter. If you've been reading my blog for long enough you know how much I love the aroma and flavour of brown butter. It's ridiculously good with pretty much everything. These waffles are no exception.

Rather than flavouring the waffles with blueberries, I decided to make Blueberry Ice Cream instead. It's been a while since I've made ice cream and there are two big reasons for that. 1. It can be a pain to make the custard base for an ice cream, chilling it, then waiting for it to churn and freeze. 2. I HATE HATE HATE photographing things that melt. It is incredibly stressful to try and scoop that pretty, perfect little scoop of ice cream and then shoot it before it turns into a puddle. I usually end up covered in melted ice cream. The awesome Lisa solved one of these problems by sharing an amazing no-churn ice cream recipe (linked below). It's so ridiculously easy and works just as well as churned ice cream in my opinion. And it's so pretty that it was worth running around to get the shot of one scoop of ice cream.

When I was a kid I remembered tasting a sample of blueberry ice cream in the supermarket. It was so good, it stuck with me forever (even though my Mum refused to buy a tub for me no matter how much I whinged). I remember searching in the supermarket ever since then for blueberry ice cream and never finding one that was like the one I tasted. This recipe tastes JUST like how I remembered that blueberry ice cream. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I'm surprised that it's not a more popular ice cream flavour because it works so well and the colour is so beautiful. Look at all those pretty swirls of purple! It is definitely worth making at home, and you can use frozen berries if you want to save a bit of money. 6 dollars for a fresh punnet eek.

In other news, it was really fantastic to hear that I was included in the Top 100 Voices of 2013. And even better, two of my best friends Karen & Lisa are included in the top 25 Food and Wellbeing category with me! Love you crazy, talented girls. You can see the other great bloggers included in the category here.

Speaking of nominations, go check out the Saveur food blog awards and if you have the time make sure you vote for the incredibly talented Top with Cinnamon. And check out Izy's blog if you haven't already, I'm currently slightly obsessed with it. To celebrate I made a (crappy) gif, which is no where near as amazing as the mesmerising ones you'll find on her blog. Blame my handheld photography and dodgy photoshopping skills. But I do love a good drizzle of maple syrup.

Brown Butter Waffles with No-Churn Blueberry Ice Cream
(makes approx 8 waffles and about 1-1.5L of ice cream)
For the blueberry ice cream (adapted from spicy ice cream):
2 punnets (250g) fresh or frozen (and thawed) blueberries
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3-4 tbsp sugar, adjusted to taste
2 cups cream (pure/pouring cream (or heavy cream in the US, min 35% fat unthickened))
1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk

Place blueberries, lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan (I used 3 tbsp of sugar first and then added another tbsp after tasting it later) on low-medium heat. Stir regularly until the sugar dissolves and the skins of the blueberries start to split. Continue to stir and allow mixture to simmer for 5-10 minutes, and try to mash the blueberries with a fork as they soften. When mixture starts to thicken slightly, remove from the heat and allow to cool. When at room temperature, transfer to a bowl and chill in the fridge until needed.

Place cream in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer on high until it reaches soft peaks (take care not to overmix). Gently fold in condensed milk until combined and then pour mixture into a large loaf tin (about 1.5L capacity). Dollop blueberry mixture over the top of the cream mixture and then use a spatula to fold the fruit carefully throughout the cream. Alternatively, blend the fruit mixture and add it at the same time as the condensed milk for a smoother colour and texture (I prefer the rustic, swirly look). Freeze overnight.

For the waffles (adapted from this Toastmaster Waffle Iron recipe):

110g (about 7 tbsp) butter (can be substituted with 7 tbsp vegetable oil)
1 3/4 cup flour (plain/all-purpose)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk, room temperature

Preheat your waffle iron. Place butter in a small saucepan on low heat stirring occasionally, until foamy, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, about 4 minutes longer (take care not to burn, I removed mine from the heat just as it started turning brown as it continues to cook in the saucepan even after it's off the heat). Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl and set aside. In another mixing bowl, whip egg whites to stiff peaks, set aside. While slowly mixing (either with a whisk or an electric mixer on low), add egg yolks to mixture, follow by the butter, and then the milk. Mix until combined. (If your milk is too cold this may cause the mixture to go a bit grainy because of the butter solidifying, but this is okay). Fold egg white into mixture until combined. Pour mixture into your heated waffle iron, I used about 1/2 cup of mixture per waffle. Cook to your waffle iron's instructions, until waffles are golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with your blueberry ice cream, and some maple syrup and streaky bacon if you're into that sorta thing ;)

Leftover waffles can be frozen once they have cooled completely, then reheated in the toaster or microwave before serving.