Easy Crispy Fluffy Pandan Waffles

I grew up eating pandan waffles...

Whether you live in Hougang, Clementi, Yishun, Joo Chiat, Tampines or any heartland neighbourhoods in Singapore, there are always humble down to earth bakery shops somewhere near your home that sell freshly made pandan waffles. These waffles are usually prominently made at the front entrance of the shops... so that smell of cooking pandan will lure to buy at least a waffle or two!

Living in Australia means I have been saying sayonara (meaning Goodbye in Japanese) to pandan waffles for ages!!! Why? ... because every time when I come back to Singapore for holidays, I'm constantly overwhelmed with too many good food and always fail to find enough stomach space to enjoy these energy loaded pandan waffles.

I'm not going to say sayonara pandan waffles forever...

Here, making my own waffles at my Melbourne home means that I can say... Hello, you yummy pandan waffles!

Pandan Crispy Waffles

Prior making these waffles, I have done some research and compared many waffles recipes. And I saw an important similarity in most waffle recipes...

It is kind of obvious that any batter that is made with high water content can't make crispy waffles! Yup... water is crispy waffle's enemy and fat is crispy waffle's friend!

As you know that fat can be our friend and also enemy and so depending on your perspective, you might want to make your waffle differently.

If you are a person who is after convenience like me who like to mix and cook your pandan waffles very quickly, this is the recipe that uses minimal water and will never fail your expectation!

For this recipe, the use of minimal water means that we have to use regular coconut milk with minimal water content and so do not use reduced fat coconut milk or substitute the coconut milk with water, milk or even pandan juice!

Regular vs light coconut milk
For an ultimate taste and crispness, I would strongly recommend the use of the regular coconut milk.

Why? I can't deny the fact that the lesser water make more flavoursome waffles!

Another thing I want to raise about coconut milk... Remember I said at my Kueh Bangkit post before that the water and fat content of coconut milk from different coconut can often vary dramatically. For this reason, I was "attacked" pretty badly for using canned coconut cream for my baking... All because it can produce consistent result?

Yes that I have to agree that the canned coconut milk is not as fresh, fragrant and natural as the freshly squeezed ones but I like to strongly stand by my point here that it is the ultimate consistency that I'm after. So please pardon me being extremely blunt here... If you wish to cook or bake something that produce inconsistent results because the ingredient that you used can be always different, by all means please go ahead!

Instead of coconut oil, I have used melted butter and it is fantastic too!

Sorry that there is NO fresh pandan juice today!
To minimise the amount of water in these waffles, I have to use pandan paste.

This recipe is very easy... as all I have to do is mix.

Nice pandan smell!
I was enjoying the smell while watching the batter is bubbling in the hot waffle iron.

Can't wait to chomp these waffles... LOL!

Crispy on its outside.
Soft, moist and fluffy at its inside.

This recipe that I used originates from Noob Cook which suggests the use of coconut oil for an ultimate coconut flavours but I reckon the use of regular coconut milk with minimal water content and butter can produce very yummy coconut-y waffles too.

If you are health conscious and like to use less coconut milk and less butter to make your pandan waffles, there are two recipes at Food.com (originated from House of Annie) and Cuisine Paradise that you can try. However, both of these recipes need whipping of egg whites to stiff peaks as it is an essential step to make waffles with slightly lower fat content a little more fluffier. Hence, this recipe will cause a little extra inconvenience.

Another advantage is you can use fresh pandan juice if you are using the recipe from Cuisine Paradise. Having said that, I can't really say which recipe makes the best pandan waffles as this is the only pandan waffle recipe that I have tried so far. And you know... so far so good, no complains at this moment as we are loving these waffles.

Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from Noob Cook

Makes five 9 x 9 cm square waffles
(A) Dry ingredients
125g unbleached all-purpose flour
50g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

(B) Wet ingredients
1 large egg (50g without the shell)
1/4 tsp pandan paste
200ml coconut milk, preferably the regular canned ones with minimal water content
60g unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly to room temperature

cooking oil spray to grease

Combine all the ingredients in A in a bowl.

Using a whisk, combine all the ingredients in B in another large mixing bowl. Sift ingredients A into ingredients B and whisk until the batter is just smooth. Do not over mix.

Preheat waffle iron to its lowest heat setting.

Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Caution: If you are cooking waffles on your stove, please do not spray cooking oil into direct fire!

Pour adequate waffle batter (about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup) onto hot waffle iron. Cook until both sides are lightly golden brown.

Enjoy!

Happy Cooking

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