Chocolate Waffles With Caramel Sauce and Ice Cream

Oh yesss...dessert for breakfast. That is my favorite thing in the entire world.  And what could be better than a waffle sundae for breakfast?  I can answer that ----> absolutely nothing! I woke up a few mornings ago craving something sweet, so I browsed through some of my recipes, and when I saw this - I knew it was the one.  Who can resist a chocolate waffle with home made caramel sauce, and ice cream??  Ice cream for breakfast is something I have a little too much(:  I guess you can say my sweet tooth was satisfied after I made these waffles. This recipe was absolutely heavenly.  The caramel sauce especially was the best caramel sauce I've ever had.  I'm gonna keep the recipe handy for future dishes, because it makes an incredible dessert topping and goes perfect with ice cream.  I used Ben and Jerry's American Dream Ice cream because that was what I had on hand (vanilla ice cream with caramel swirl and fudge covered waffle cone pieces...yum!!)  My parents and I gobbled these waffles up.  And my mom declared it the best thing she'd tasted in a long time.  I didn't disagree.

Ingredients:

For the Caramel Sauce:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the Waffles:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg, separted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)

Vanilla (or your choice of) ice cream, for serving

Chocolate shavings, for decoration Instructions:

FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE:
Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring, for 3 minutes.

FOR THE WAFFLES:
Combine the melted butter and cocoa powder and stir until well combined. Add the sugar and egg yolk and beat well.

Sift together all the dry ingredients and add to the chocolate mixture alternately with the milk. Beat the egg white until stiff. Fold into the chocolate mixture.

Heat a waffle iron and cook the mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately with the Caramel Sauce, ice cream, nuts (optional) and shavings of chocolate.