Tag: chocolate

Nutella S’more Waffles

Every November 19, our family celebrates our fire anniversary. We have this special occasion because eleven years ago, our whole house burned down at 1:30 in the morning. But, by God’s grace, He saved us from the fire and allowed our family and helper to get out of the house just in time. You can read more about the experience HERE.

s'more waffles
s’more waffles

Whenever we celebrate our “fireniversary”, we usually eat out at a restaurant with grilled food (since it reminds us of the fire) or we sometimes have a special meal together at home and remember God’s faithfulness. However, last Thursday (Nov. 19), we couldn’t meet up and have dinner as a family since we had prior commitments that we couldn’t postpone. We also tried to have breakfast or dinner together last Saturday, but some of us needed to attend other important activities too.

waffles cooking in the Krups waffle machine
waffles cooking in the Krups waffle machine
s'more waffles
s’more waffles

Hopefully, within the week, our plan to have dinner as a family will push through. (Hello, family! If you’re reading this, you know what to do. Haha!) In the meantime, I’ll be sharing one of my favorite snacks when we were still living at our old house in Kapitolyo. The lovely, gooey, and yummy S’MORES! But, this time, I made a little twist. Instead of using whole graham crackers as the base, I added crushed graham crackers to my waffle recipe and used the waffles to complement the toasted marshmallows and nutella spread. I hope you can try this one soon! It’s really a simple snack that can be prepared in 20 minutes or less. Enjoy!

Special thanks to my Dad and Mom for lending a helping hand (literally. hehehe.)

crushed graham crackers
crushed graham crackers
Nutella
Nutella

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NUTELLA S’MORE WAFFLES

Recipe makes 8-9 square waffles

 

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

4 tsps. of baking powder

½ tsp. of salt

½ tsp. of cinnamon powder

1 tbsp. of white sugar

1/3 cup of crushed graham crackers (For the basic recipe, no need to include this.)

 

Wet Ingredients:

½ tsp of vanilla extract

2 cups of whole milk

2 eggs

½ cup of vegetable oil

 

S’more ingredients:

Nutella (or other chocolate spread)

Big, white marshmallows (4-5 marshmallows per pair of waffles)

 

Steps:

  1. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl.
  2. Whisk the wet ingredients in another bowl.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine well.
  4. Cook the batter in the waffle machine.
  5. Once the waffles are done, you can spread the nutella chocolate on each piece and top them with toasted marshmallows.
  6. In case your waffles cool completely, you can heat them up in the toaster for 3 minutes. Make sure to spread the chocolate on the waffles and add the marshmallows before toasting them.

Note: Waffles can be stored in a sealed container in the freezer for a week. When ready to eat, you can bring them out from the freezer, store at room temperature for 5 minutes, and toast for 3-5 minutes.

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s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
nutella
nutella
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles
s'more waffles
s’more waffles

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Simple Sunday Snack: Puff Pastry

I recently watched a video of Gordon Ramsay and a baker in Paris making freshly baked croissants. It caught my attention because the video showed the basic steps of making the delicious, flaky, buttery bread from scratch. The baker used a machine to fold and knead the water-based dough with a huge block of butter since he was making bulk orders for his store. After folding the dough seven times, they prepared it for baking.

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As I watched them roll out, cut, assemble, and bake the dough, I couldn’t help but crave for croissants and other puff pastries. I then remembered a shop (Sweet Craft) that offers really good, pre-made puff pastry dough. So, during the recent long weekend, I invited my siblings to join me in buying and baking the dough. We spent two hours assembling, decorating, and baking the puff pastries. It was really fun! We also experimented with different kinds of shapes and used some of my favorite fruits, chocolate, cream cheese, and nuts as the filling/topping.

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Using the pre-made puff pastry dough helped me appreciate the art of baking more because it reminded me of the hearts and skills of the professional bakers out there. In order to make really good puff pastry dough from scratch, the baker needs to make sure that he/she uses the right amount of ingredients and measure them down to the last gram of flour or butter or teaspoon of water. Also, the baker needs to carefully discern how many times he/she would fold and knead the dough without letting it get tough. These are just some of the crucial aspects in baking and it’s just amazing how bakers can create such interesting and beautiful things.

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Indeed, it really was a wonderful experience for me and my siblings to bake pastries that night. I loved the fact that I was able to do something that I love (baking) and enjoy it with my family. Also, I enjoyed seeing the puff pastry dough transform into delicious, crisp, golden brown, flaky, and buttery treats! They were beautiful. They were exactly how I imagined them to be!

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The day after we baked the pastries, my older sister and I decided to give some of them to our family friends who were visiting the country for a few days. My sister packed a couple of pastries and informed me early in the morning that she would pass by their place to give them the treats. Before she left, God somehow urged me to give our friends fresh strawberries too because we had extra strawberries from our baking session the night before. So, I asked my sister to add three strawberries to the container too.

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A few hours later, I got a message from my sister and it showed a photo of our friend, Ate Riz, and her daughter, Cami, holding the pastries and strawberries. I remember feeling delighted and shocked at the same time because my sister shared to me that ate Riz and Cami randomly prayed for strawberries that morning. It was really amazing to see God’s grace and provision in that simple moment with our family friends. When I woke up that day and asked my sister to add strawberries to the container, I didn’t know that Ate Riz and Cami were already praying for some.

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It reminded me of how sovereign our God is and it encouraged me to continue listening to His voice and obeying Him even in the smallest things. He can use even the simplest moments and acts of obedience in our lives to bless others and ourselves. Thank You, Lord, for allowing us to experience You in moments like these. :)

“Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.” -Deuteronomy 5:33

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Encourage yourself one treat at a time. :)

THURSDAY TUNE #22: Speak Life

One of the things that I thank God for is having really good friends at work. Sometimes, when it gets tough in the workplace, these friends graciously extend their help and encourage the people around them, including me. When I got to the office this morning, I found a bar of KitKat on my desk with a note from an “anonymous” person. But, because I recognized the handwriting, I knew that it was from one of my friends in the I.T. department.

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She decided to give me and our friend/colleague KitKat chocolate bars today because she noticed how stressed we were these past few days. Hahaha. But, this random, simple, and awesome act reminded me of a verse in the Bible, where it says:

“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.” -Ephesians 4:29

God used this moment to encourage me in the morning.  Before I even started with my tasks for the day, He reminded me through this that there are so many things I can be grateful for in spite of seemingly unwanted circumstances in life. He encouraged me through my officemate to simply find joy in knowing the Lord and in doing my best for Him wherever, whenever.

Here’s an awesome song by TobyMac. It’s called “Speak Life”.

I hope that you’ll be comforted and encouraged to find joy in Christ and extend his joy to others as well. :)

 

The Sweet Struggle

One of my favorite desserts at Starbucks is the sweet and creamy, mini Banoffee pie! It’s just one of those simple desserts that I can’t get enough of. The combination of bananas, crushed graham, chocolate, caramel, and cream works so well! Recently, I had the opportunity to prepare a Banoffee pie at home. I figured that it would take less than two hours to make it, so I started at around 4pm. But to my surprise, it was already around 10 pm when I finished making the dessert.

 

Why did it take me so long to prepare it? Well, it’s all because of the dulce de leche (caramel) in it. I read in a lot of Banoffee Pie recipes that we can actually make our own caramel by heating up the condensed milk until it has reached our desired consistency and color. However, it is crucial to remember that heating the condensed milk directly from the pan won’t be a good step since it would probably just burn the milk easily.

The other two fastest ways to cook/heat up the condensed milk are the ff:

Plan A: This includes simmering (or boiling with a medium heat) an unopened can of condensed milk that is submerged in a pot of water for 2 to 3 hours (or maybe more).

Plan B: This includes double broiling the condensed milk in a bowl on top of a small pot with simmering water, while mixing the milk constantly.

Of course, Plan A sounds easier, but I chose to do Plan B because of some precautions and warnings about Plan A that I read in some news articles. Apparently, some can manufacturers do not recommend cooking the milk in the unopened can to avoid accidents/problems such as: explosions due to overheating and health risks as some say that the cans may release chemicals to the milk once heated.

I started double broiling the condensed milk and actually enjoyed the first few minutes of it. But, when I saw that the color of the milk was still the same even after two hours of broiling, I started to get discouraged. I remember telling God how it seemed that it wasn’t such a good idea to do Plan B. In my mind, I was thinking of the time I was wasting because I was double broiling the milk. And it sort of frustrated me because I couldn’t see any results. The cream-colored condensed milk wasn’t getting thicker and wasn’t turning into brown.

I decided to get a glass of water to cool myself down and went back to the kitchen after a few minutes. When I went near the stove, I noticed a number of ants huddling around and enjoying the few drops of condensed milk on the countertop. At first, I shivered when I saw them because I am not a fan of insects. However, God still used that opportunity to speak to me.

He reminded me of how ants are described in the Bible: HARDWORKING and WISE. They persevere in preparing beforehand and they enjoy their harvest afterwards.

 

I was tempted not to finish cooking the dulce de leche, but God encouraged me to be faithful, like the ants, even in that simple task. He encouraged me to persevere and not to give in to the discouragements around me. But more importantly, He encouraged me to remember who He is (Faithful, Able, Gracious) at that time when I was struggling. :)

Psalm 105:4 “Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always.”

(One of my favorite verses in the Bible. :D)

I continued to double broil the condensed milk and decided to stop only when it already reached the caramel consistency and color. By God’s grace, after many hours, I was finally able to have my dulce de leche ready for the Banoffee Pie. Thank You, Lord! :)

“If the struggle you’re facing is slowly replacing your hope with despair.

Or the process is long and you’re losing your song in the night.

You can be sure that the Lord has His hand on you.

Safe and secure, He will never abandon you.

You are His treasure and He finds His pleasure in you.”

[Steve Green’s He Who Began a Good Work]

 

 

Encourage yourself one treat at a time! :)

 

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About Me

My name is Nicole Obligacion and I started this blog because I was inspired by Hebrews 10:24 and Hebrews 3:13. I love to eat, cook, bake, read the Bible, and encourage. :)

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