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I don’t like waffles – there I said it! Although let me clarify that – I don’t like hot waffles topped with ice cream that melts and makes the aforementioned waffle soggy. Which is exactly why these ice cream sandwiches hit my sweet spot – and this honeyscotch sauce? People, you’re going to want to put it on absolutely everything. Including just a spoon. Or toast. I’m open to suggestions.

But I hear you still shouting at me in caps lock – BUT WHY DON’T YOU LIKE WAFFLES?! Well, this is the story of how I unwittingly became the waffle queen of Paarl and also why I can’t stand hot waffles. I was fresh out of chef school with a yearning to do desserts as fancy and complicated as possible – excited to be working in the pastry kitchen of the Grande Roche hotel in Paarl which was, at that time, the best restaurant in Africa. I remember thinking how I was going to create chocolate masterpieces with ridiculously difficult curls and piping and creams and espumas – plated desserts which looked like they’d come straight from a Michelin-star restaurant. But, on my first day there, I was told to make waffles – in a blender. I was mortified and disappointed. I was also young and naïve because in a big fine-dining restaurant with a kitchen of 40 chefs, as a below-junior chef (what is called a commis) I should’ve known that I would get every job that nobody else wanted to do. Peeling potatoes, cleaning fish, cutting vegetables into ridiculously tiny little cubes (which would later just be put in a blender), washing herbs, chopping chocolate and of course, making the waffles which the rich kids ordered when they didn’t want anything ‘fancy’ for dessert. I remember thinking to myself that I might as well have gone to work in a Milky Lane.

I can still taste the disappointment in a hot waffle today. But what is definitely not disappointing is the recipe I left with – shove everything in a blender and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days? Winning! You know what’s also winning though? The combination of these sandwiches with a glass of Haute Cabrière Chardonnay Pinot Noir! Whoever said that wines were difficult to pair with desserts obviously never tasted the combination of honeyscotch, vanilla and lemon zest with this chardonnay – it’s just mind-blowingly delicious! If you’d like to make a meal of it, head over to Sarah Graham’s beautiful blog and try out the delicious Cauilflower and Chorizo Breakfast Hash she’s created. And in case you’re wondering, I’ll eave you with this wisdom: waffles = breakfast food. Therefore you can eat waffle ice cream sandwiches for breakfast! Like I said, winning!