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Do they flop around like a limp wet noodle?

I love it when my waffles have a nice golden outer crispiness along with a moist and airy middle.  That is, to me, the differentiator between a true waffle and a pancake that was cooked in a waffle iron.

I had been told that the secret to a nice crisp waffle was whipping up egg whites to be nice and stiff and folding them into the batter.  It's a lie, truly.  The whipped egg whites do contribute to the fluffiness, but even that contribution is minor.

You want the secret?  I can't keep secrets very well, so I'll just tell you.  The secret to that crispy outer shell is corn starch.

For each 1 cup of flour material (regardless of the type of flour you use), add in 2 tablespoons of that corn starch.  Resist the urge to double it under the seemingly logical assumption that if 2 is good, 4 must be better.  If you use too much, that outer crust will be more like a thick french bread crust with all it's gum rending wonder.

Now, go forth and make yummy crispy waffles.

This article is part of the Troubleshooting Waffles series.

When I was a teen-ager, I was part of a youth group.  One thing the group sometimes did was take over some facility for a night, like an ice rink or a fitness club or an elementary school.  The organizers would negotiate some fee from the facility managers, and we'd descend on the place at 10 or midnight or so and we'd Do Stuff all night.  Like, at an ice rink, we'd skate, then play broom hockey, then do dodgeball, and so on.

One particular time we took over an elementary school.  And one of the activities the oh-so-wise organizers planned for us was a cream pie fight.  We were divided into 3 teams, and each were given pie tins and cans of whipping cream.  We made our pies and attacked our neighboring teams.  There were probably some rules, and there was some guy as a referee, but really, nobody won and everybody and everything in that classroom ended up covered in whipped cream.

One of the most frustrating things for me when I started learning to make waffles was when they'd stick to the waffle iron.  When a waffle sticks to a waffle iron it is a Disaster.  Capital D.  It's a disaster on the proportions of a childs first birthday cake or that poor classroom after our pie fight.  Except not fun.  If it only sticks to the top or the bottom, that's bad.  It's impossible to get it out without destroying it and making a mess. 

But when it sticks to both at the same time and the waffle splits, it's just horrible.  You get bits and pieces out, and chunks of waffle everywhere.  Everything keeps cooking because the iron is hot, so it get extra crispy.  And worst of all, you can't make any more waffles until you get that one cleaned up.

I've had waffle stickage in a few different situations, and here's what I've found:

• If a waffle iron is not hot enough, it will stick.  Your waffle iron should have some kind of a ready light on it.  Never ever ever pour batter onto your waffle iron if that light isn't on.  It doesn't matter how hungry you are or how whiny your kids are.  It will make things worse, not better.

• Using a "cross-over" waffle iron will cause stickage.  In my case it was a panini maker / waffle iron.  A device that is not made for the sole purpose of making waffles will not make good waffles.  That's because it's made for something else, and just happens to include waffle plates.  This is a gimmick the manufacturer employs to lure poor, innocent, naive, unsuspecting, would-be waffle chefs into buying their crap just so they can increase sales.  And it's disturbing how often it works, too.  I can tell you this because I did it myself.  A waffle iron needs to be made specifically for the purpose of making waffles.

• Even non-stick Teflon waffle irons need oil.  You may have missed it in your waffle iron owners manual, but you should brush a bit of oil on your waffle iron every so often, even if it's one of those new-fangled space-age non-stick Teflon jobbers.  It still needs a bit of oil. 
  
  I use a silicon brush to put a tad of a high-heat canola oil on between each waffle.  You can get away with skipping the oil for a waffle or two.  If I do that I lose track and end up going too long and getting a bit of a stick on one, so I just do it each time.  There's a sweet spot in there that's just right for you.

• Undercooked waffles will stick.  I love undercooked chocolate chip cookies.  And some chefs purposefully undercook chocolate cake just so you'll get that yummy gooey middle.  But waffles that are undercooked will not come out of the waffle iron intact.  Make sure you don't even check your waffle until it's been in the iron for at least 2 minutes.
  
  Some people use the steam from the iron as a gauge.  When the steam goes away, it's cooked.  However I've found that to be an inconsistent measurement.  I've also found that the "ready" light on the waffle iron is inconsistent, but it seems to be inconsistent in a predictable way.  If it's the first waffle, it's dead on.  If the previous waffle was perfect, the next one will need an extra 30-60 seconds after the light goes on.  And so on, like that.
  

I hope these tips allow you to miss some of the pain I've gone through learning the art of waffling.  Ah, such fond memories.

I decided I want to make pineapple tarts this year. I have not gotten a chance to taste them since I came here over 4 years ago except last year when my mum flew here with a container of pineapple tarts.

So I bought the pineapple tart mould online last week. Planned some time this weekend to make them. I was a little nervous because I was making a batch of them and if I screwed up, it would all be over.

It all went well. I could do better with the pineapple filling by cooking it longer so that it thickened more. The pastry was soft and buttery. And Topher wanted to give 3 thumbs up if he could.