The idea for this recipe came Saturday morning as I sat on the couch, sipping my coffee and wishing I had the energy to make waffles. My eyes fell upon a jar of preserves I picked up the night before. Strawberry Champagne Preserves. Hmmm….Strawberry Champagne Preserves. Waffles. Strawberry Champagne Preserves. Waffles. Strawberry Champagne Waffles? 

I’ve been too busy to get excited about serious cooking lately, let alone developing new recipes, but my heart leaped slightly at the thought of these. The bubbles from the champagne were sure to make them oh-so-airy on the inside and swirling strawberry preserves into the batter would make for pockets of strawberry goodness. Suddenly my visions extended to a strawberry-champagne reduction sauce to pour over the top. To make these right I’d need more strawberries.

Monday, not only did I have fresh strawberries in hand, but the perfect opportunity arose for trying these out. No. I wasn’t having a good friend over for brunch. It was somewhat of a desperate parenting opportunity. Here is the story as I shared it on Facebook:

Lilly has been terrible lately about listening when she is told to do something. Tired of fighting her I went a different route today. When the girls were told to clean up the playroom before lunch, Lilly announced “No, I don’t want to.” I told her: “When mommy tells you to do something, you listen. If you choose not to clean the playroom like you were told, you don’t get to eat what mommy is making for lunch.” She was totally unconcerned “I don’t want lunch, mommy.” She then sat down in a chair and played with dolls while WATCHING her sister clean the entire room.

At lunch time, Lilly was given some whole wheat bread and Trinity sat down to a plate of Strawberry Champagne Waffles topped with whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and fresh strawberries. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth by Lilly. She pleaded “Make it MESSY again!!!” in hopes of having a second chance to clean. It remains to be seen whether she has learned her lesson but at least it got her attention more than time-out ever has.

Whether you’re having a fancy brunch, a cozy family breakfast, or making a parenting point, these are delicious!

Strawberry Champagne Waffles

You can make a strawberry sauce up to a few days ahead of time and store in the refrigerator.

Strawberry-Champagne Reduction Sauce

• 2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup champagne

Place sugar and water in a small saucepan and warm until the sugar has dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Place strawberries and 1/4 cup of the simple syrup in a blender and puree until smooth. Taste and add extra simple syrup to taste. It will depend on how sweet your strawberries were to start with. If desired, pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove some of the seeds (Some will still go through since they’re so small! You could double strain it if you really want a smooth sauce).

Place 3/4 cup puree and 1/4 cup champagne in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about ten minutes (more if you want it thicker).

Set sauce aside until ready to use or refrigerate for a few days.

For the waffles:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup champagne
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup strawberry preserves

Wisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

In a smaller bowl wisk together milk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add the champagne and stir until combined.

Place 1 cup of strawberry preserves in glass bowl and microwave in 20 second intervals until it is easy to stir.

Pour waffle batter into your waffle iron and drizzle strawberry preserves on top before closing. (At first I drizzled the preserves directly into the batter, then poured into the waffle iron but adding it later ensures that each waffle has some strawberry preserves throughout.) My waffle iron makes 4 waffles at a time. I poured in half of the necessary amount of batter, drizzled about a tablespoon of preserves over each waffle then poured the rest of the batter on top before closing the waffle iron.

Top with strawberry sauce, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries: