Egg Waffles (or Eggettes/Egg Puffs), are a Hong Kong street snack. The batter is sweet, resembling a pancake batter. When cooked in this special egg waffle iron, the area connecting the eggs puffs are crispy and the egg puffs themselves are light and fluffy. It’s so fun to break them apart and eat one by one.
I did it! I made my own egg waffles. And they were pretty darn good. Totally worth getting the special egg waffle iron. I plan on making these again and again and again.
Egg Waffles (also known as Eggettes or Egg Puffs) are a Hong Kong street snack. The batter is sweet, resembling a pancake batter. When cooked in this special egg waffle iron, the area connecting the eggs puffs are crispy and the egg puffs themselves are light and fluffy. It’s so fun to break them apart and eat one by one.
William Sonoma began selling a Nordicware Egg Waffle Pan a few years ago but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it. After ordering the dessert recently at a Chinese Hot Pot restaurant and being disappointed with their version, I decided to buy it. I’m so glad I did. Now I can have eggettes whenever I want.
I originally bought the mix by William Sonoma. Have you ever noticed that a lot of the mixes they sell are more complicated than making a recipe from scratch? Well, this mix was definitely not easy and after reading a few steps, I started searching the internet for an easier recipe.
One of my favorite Chinese recipe sites is Christine’s Recipes. Her recipes usually turn out great and she provides a lot of step-by-step photos. Lucky for me, she had an egg waffle recipe.
It was easy to mix together. The hardest part was getting the hang of cooking with the egg waffle. I definitely recommend you read all the instructions that come with the pan before starting. Like making pancakes, the first one came out pale and sickly. But the rest were beautiful and came off the pan easily.
Key tips if making with Nordicware Egg Waffle Iron:
- The egg waffle pan is not placed directly onto a stove. You place a cooling rack on the stove and place the egg waffle pan on top of that.
- You only pour in 3/4 cup of batter into the middle of the pan. It’s okay that it doesn’t reach the edge because the batter will spread during cooking.
- Once you pour the batter in, you must immediately seal it tight and flip it over to start cooking rather than cooking on the side it’s already on first.
- Use a timer to keep track. 2 minutes per side. I ended up cooking each side twice before it reached the desired doneness.
- Once you open and take a peek and see that it is golden brown, you slowly lift one side of the pan up. At first, the egg waffle batter will cling to the top but if you wait a few moments, it begins to fall off. As it begins to come off, you slowly lift more of the top lid, so it comes off row by row and at the end, you have a perfect egg waffle.
- It’s hard to tell which side is the top side, but the side that clings to the top will actually have some little indents and nonperfect puffs, so I like to flip it over again when putting the egg waffle onto a plate. See the indents? I treat this as the bottom.
I can’t wait to make more. I’ve only had the original flavor before, but I’m eager to try making other flavors too. I used the ingredients from Christine’s recipe, but didn’t follow the instructions. I tried to make it easier and save some time and it still came out great.
Hong Kong Style Egg Waffles
Ingredients
- 140 g all-purpose flour
- 7 1/2 g baking powder
- 1 tbsp custard powder
- 140 g white sugar
- 28 g tapioca starch
- 2 large eggs
- 28 g evaporated milk
- 140 ml water
- 28 g vegetable oil divided
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, custard powder, tapioca starch. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Add in the evaporated milk, vanilla extract and water and mix.
- Add the flour to the wet mixture. Add in almost all of the vegetable oil, reserving enough to grease the waffle pan, and mix. It's okay if a few small lumps remain like in pancake batter, but try to get rid of most of the large lumps.
- If using Nordicware pan, heat according to instructions by preheating both sides at the same time over the stove, with the pan sitting on a wire rack. Coat the pan with oil.
- Once the pan is preheated, turn the stove to medium heat, pour in 3/4 cup into the middle of the pan, seal tightly and immediately flip over to start cooking. Cook 2 minutes. Flip to other side and cook 2 minutes. Flip over again. At this time you can tentatively open and peek inside and the egg waffle top should be golden brown. Cook for additional 1 minute on this side, to make sure the underside turns golden as well. Then flip one more time and lift the lid slowly. (If your waffle wasn't golden at 2 minutes on each side, then you'll have to add additional cooking time before opening it.)
- At first, the egg waffle may stick to the top, but it should fall off after a few moments or with a gentle prodding of a fork. Slowly continue to lift pan off, and the egg waffle will fall down row by row. The very first egg waffle you make will likely not be perfectly golden, and may break. This is your throwaway egg waffle much like your first pancake. The rest of them should cook correctly and come off easily. Flip the finished egg waffle again as the bottom should be the top. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
How many eggs are required in this recipe?
My apologies. I recently switched recipe plugins and the auto converter feature did not correctly convert all the ingredients over. I have now updated the recipe with all the ingredients
Hi,
Out of curiosity, it is necessary to chill the batter before use? Or can I use it immediately?
Thanks in advance.
I did not chill the batter
Hi there i would like to know where to buy an egg waffle maker in kzn
i’m sorry I don’t know the answer. I got mine from Amazon.
I was recently given a Nordicware egg waffle pan, so I went online searching for a recipe. I came across this recipe which looked pretty good. https://gingerandscotch.com/2012/01/chinese-new-year-perfect-gai-daan-gai-eggettes.html
thanks for sharing! i recommend the recipe i linked to in my post as well.
I too was not impressed with the pancake recipe that came with my Nordicware pan. 4 egg yolks and 6 egg whites resulted in something that was way too much like regular pancake mix. I’m glad I found this web page. For those who wanted conversions, this is what I used:
140 grams plain flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose flour)
7.5 grams (2 tsp) baking powder
1 tablespoon custard powder (I used Bird’s brand imported from UK)
28 grams tapioca starch (I used 3 Tbsp Bob’s Red Mill brand from Oregon)
2 eggs
140 grams white sugar (I used 1 cup granulated)
28 grams (2 Tbsp) evaporated milk
140 ml (2/3 cup) still water
28 grams (2 Tbsp) vegetable oil, for making the egg batter
small quantity of vegetable oil, for greasing the mould (I used PAM cooking spray)
2 drops vanilla essence (I used 1/2 or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
thanks! I prefer this recipe over the one that came on the back of the pan too.
Hello! Your egg puffs look so good! I wanted to get a egg puff maker for a xmas gift. Can you tell me where you got yours and the style #? Thank you!!!
William Sonoma. And they only have one kind. I believe there is a link in the post.
after cooking, will the middle of the eggette be holllow?
no, it is sort of like a cake inside.
For step 3 are we suppose to add step 1 and 2 together than add the rest of the ingredients before heating them up?
Basically yes. As it states, you add the flour mixture from step one into the wet mixture you’ve already made. And then the remaining ingredients.
Where did you find the custard powder and tapioca starch? Chinatown? Asian food market? Christine alson mentioned to hold down the pan while cooking… Did you do that as well?
Tapioca starch- Chinese market like Ranch 99. Custard powder- there is a British brand, Bird’s custard powder. Can be found at Fresh n Easy, Amazon, British shops, etc.
Thanks for the recipe. The picture looks beautiful. Yummy. 😀
Thanks!
Hi, I looked at Christine’s recipe. The units are hard for me to convert, i.e. grams, ml, etc. Do you have a converted, i.e.cups and tablespoonds, etc, for this egg waffle receipe? Pls help. my email [email protected]. Thank you. I have the egg pan already.
Sorry, when I made this recipe, I weighed things out with my scale. You can try googling to see if there are conversions somewhere for the ingredients you are having trouble with converting.
I have been eyeing this pan for a long time! Your post just inspired me to make a trip to Sonoma. Question: you mentioned a cooling rack is needed over the stove… Did you cook it over a gas stove or electric? Do you think it will work with both? (I have a gas stove)
I have an electric. I’m not quite sure what you might need with the gas stove but I think you would need something to keep it away from the stove
Hi Kirbie,
Great post! Really enjoyed your experience in cooking these delicious egg waffles. My question for you, and a random one is it, do you think egg waffles suit the taste buds of Orientals or Westerners more?
M
It’s an Asian dessert so I think most Asian would love it. But I actually think it’s one of those desserts that Westerners would really enjoy as well, especially since it is similar to pancakes and waffles. It’s definitely one I would introduce to my non-Asian friends.
these are so cool!! you have to take a pic of the pan too next time
I will! I was just thinking that when I was making more this weekend that I forgot to take a picture of my pan. I’ll do it for my next post. You can also see a pic on the William Sonoma website.
I’ve never heard of those – very interesting!
They are very fun to eat and tasty! It’s hard to find places that sell it. You might want to consider making your own.
I used to LOVE getting these in NYC’s Chinatown. I think they used to be 20 egg waffle bites for $1. Sounds like I need to get myself a pan, pronto!
I’ve only found one place in SD that has it and it wasn’t very great, which is why I decided to just get my own pan and make it. It wasn’t very hard at all and they tasted so good!
Good job!! These look amazing 🙂 you should just open shop, I’d be a regular 😀
Haha. Perhaps I should open a snow shaved ice and eggettes place? That sounds like fun.
Wow!!!! You finally broke down and got one of those waffle makers, I see! 🙂
Your egg waffles look gorgeous! The little puffy egg shapes are so cute and they are fun to break off and eat.
Like Eggettes in SF, maybe you could also experiment with flavored egg waffles (they do chocolate, coconut, and melon, along with plain).
Yup, that’s the plan! I want to try chocolate, pandan, and a few others. Yeah I broke down and got one. I think if I make these a lot, it will be worth the price.