It's chocolate, but not as you know it.
It's chocolate, but not as you know it.
In the lead up to Easter, it’s best to consume as much chocolate as possible to ensure you’re fully prepared.
Luckily, San Churro Chocolateria has recently opened a third Gold Coast store in Tweed Heads joining Surfers Paradise and Harbourtown to bring us abundant sweet treats.
It is the ultimate in chocolate indulgence boasting a menu filled with everything from decadent milkshakes including the Peanut Butter Brownie – chocolate fudge, peanut butter, chocolate brownie and ice cream and Salted Caramel to ice cream sundaes and chocolate filled churros.
For something deliciously different try a funnel cake, the lovechild of a doughnut and a pancake.
The Strawberry and White Chocolate Funnel Cake is drizzled in white chocolate, berry coulis and topped with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. It’s San Churro’s version of a jam doughnut (but so much better!).
Churros, made to an authentic Spanish recipe, are warm and crispy and come with a suitably sized pot of melted dipping chocolate. Order them filled with chocolate or caramel or simply dusted in cinnamon or icing sugar with a side of strawberries and banana.
If you’re feeling fancy, there’s an array of truffles to try and of course, Fairtrade coffee to wash it all down.
It’s the ultimate in chocolatey indulgence and when better to get involved than the week before the bunny arrives.
HOURS: 9am to 10pm daily.
LOCATIONS: Harbour Town – Harbour Town Drive, Biggera Waters
Surfers Paradise – 3184 Surfers Paradise Blvd (next to Billabong)
Tweed Heads – Tweed City Shopping Centre, Minjungbal Drive.
Words by Kirra Smith
Have a bit of spare time on your hands? Make these simple and delicious cookies. They are as healthy as cookies get. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
1½ cups almond meal or ground almonds
1 cup dried dates
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tablespoons cacao powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons natural crunchy peanut butter
¼ cup water
Extra peanut butter for garnish (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper. In a food processor place the almond meal and the dried dates. Whizz until the dates are a very fine crumble. Add the cacao, shredded coconut and baking powder. Stir until combined. Add the peanut butter and water and mix together until the mixture is moist and all the ingredients are fully combined. Roll the dough into 16 balls and place in a row on the baking try. With a wet fork, press each ball down to form the shape of a cookie. Place the bikkies in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool. Garnish with a small dollop of peanut butter.
For more great recipes by Gold Coast local Caralee Caldwell, check out her page here.
Waffles. Part breakfast, part dessert – our only criticism is that we want to see more of them in and around our face.
A dish that lived in the shadow of pancakes for far too long, thankfully tides are changing for this once underrated brunch treat. Hailing from Belgium and extremely popular in the US, these days, the crispy, lattice-like slabs are a familiar and welcome sight on our cafe circuit – in both sweet and savoury form.
When you’re craving golden, grill-forged goodies, here are six of the best places on the Coast to get your waffle fix. Pass the syrup!
Bubbo Dessert
As if straight from the streets of Hong Kong and into our hungry gobs, Bubbo Dessert has got our bubble waffle hook-up. If you’re yet to get a taste of this traditional street-style snack, thankfully you don’t have to go far to do so. To-ing and fro-ing between markets across Brisbane and the Coast – from 5-9pm every Friday & Saturday, you can find the Bubbo crew slinging their waffly wares out of their food trailer at the Dreamworld Night Markets. What better way to say ‘hello weekend’ thank with one of these fluffy yet crisp bad bois, rolled into a cone and stuffed with all the things dessert dreams are made of.
Where: Dreamworld Pkwy, Coomera
Cardamom Pod Brickworks
Known for all things nutritious and delicious – whether you’re in the mood for sweet or savoury, Cardamom Pod has got waffle cravings covered. Among their always satisfying selection of vegetarian treats, our stalwart herbivore hook-up also whips up a pretty mean weekend waffle special that’s well worth cancelling plans to get a taste of. Start your day with an Indian Street Food Waffle served with all the trimmings, or go all out with the dessert style Crispy Waffle, served with banana, biscoff caramel and boba espresso ice cream. YUM.
Where: 3/3 Brolga Ave, Southport
Cheeky Waffles
If you’re not yet acquainted with the debaucherous little dessert destination known as Cheeky Waffle, keep an open mind – and an even wider mouth. More than just an out of the ‘box’ presentation, the saucy waffles this novelty nosher serves up are OMG good. Pick your preferred shape, then have it slathered in toppings like caramel chocolate and Biscoff crumb. You might need some solid willy-power to stop at one.
Where: 3189 Surfers Paradise Boulevard, Surfers Paradise
Elk Espresso
We just can’t elk ourselves when it comes to whatever this Broadbeach fave is whipping up. The nosh, coffee and service never misses, but the waffles will always have a special place in our heart and tums. With variations like Fried Chicken, Violet Crumble and Matcha & Black Sesame gracing the seasonal menu at one point another, you’d batter believe the obsession only continues to grow (at a similar rate to our sweatpants collection… weird.) There’s a reason why Gold Coasters have been flocking to this one for over a decade… and the waffles rank pretty highly #We’reWeak
Where: Shop G044, Oasis Shopping Centre, 12 Victoria Ave, Broadbeach
Pancake Diner
Burleigh’s new home of diner-style all day eats sure knows its stuff when it comes to all things golden brown and syrupy. Sharing a pedigree with a little Surfers Paradise Boulevard icon known as Pancakes in Paradise, Pancake Diner will hook you up with brunch and burgers from 7am, 7 days a week. Which means, along with boozy shakes, spiders and 12+ pancake flavours, you can get your fix of butter-drenched Belgian Waffles almost anytime you like. Pimp them with ice cream, butterscotch sauce or blueberries in syrup – the waffle’s your oyster.
Where: 16/221 Christine Avenue, Burleigh Heads
Oh My, Waffle
If you’re a fan of sweets, walking into Oh My, Waffle will have you weak at the knees. At this one stop sugar shop, you will find almost type of treat imaginable – NY-style cookies, brownies, brookies, cheesecake, loaded gourmet shakes…and, sorry, what were we saying again? Oh yeah, WAFFLES. With the choice of flavours available well into double digits, consider those cravings conquered. Now, sorry to say but it’s really time we split – there’s a mountain of Banana Butterscotch with our name on it.
Where: Shop 6,1837 Gold Coast Hwy, Burleigh Heads
Words by Kellie Leader
If there are two guilty pleasures we indulge in way too often around here they are doughnuts and cocktails. Combine the two and you’ve created something a little bit magical that we will probably consume every day for the rest of time.
Can you imagine; the soft, sweet, comforting goodness of a doughnut infused with the tangy, soothing delight of a cocktail. It’s almost too much.
Well imagine no more Gold Coasters because as of this coming weekend, cocktail-infused doughnuts are a thing we can indulge in every single day for the rest of time, so catch you later shredding for summer diet (that didn’t really exist in the first place).
They are the work of Mermaid Beach newbie The Doughnut Affair and let us say, they are some of the very best dougnhuts the Coast has ever seen.
The whole world in fact. The Doughnut Affair began in New York City where owner Kurt Lehndorf first tasted the mouthwatering creations. As you will, he fell in love with the never-before-seen collaborations between TDA and other well known food and beverage brands – the most famous of which was combination of Chandon and a doughnut to create the Chandonut – and he decided to bring the business to our sparkly shores.
Lucky us.
The Mermaid Beach edition will be no different, with plenty of collaborations in the works featuring local brands and businesses you already know and love. But with the added life-giving goodness that is doughnuts.
As of Saturday, October 26th there’ll be six flavours on offer, each of which is as good as any doughnut you’ve ever sampled before (but some of which that have alcohol, so they’re obviously better).
Starting with the Pina Colada Doughnut that is indeed made up of Malibu-ganache, pineapple compote and melt-in-your-mouth doughnut heaven.
Next up is the Champagne Strawberries and Cream with champagne-infused whipped cream, fresh strawberries, strawberry jam and again with the doughnut heaven.
There’s a Breakfast Doughnut with prosciutto, rocket and blue cheese and it’s like a mini doughnut breaky burger and it’s so very delicious.
Don’t forget Bourbon Bacon with bourbon maple syrup glaze, caramelized bacon, black salt and crunchy basil. It’s absolutely amazing.
There’s a plain-glazed goodies, Choc Hazelnut, a gluten-free Salted Caramel godsend, so all the yummiest flavours.
For the kids, there are doughnut balls and they can choose from an array of toppings to have drizzled over the top.
Doughnut-maker extraordinaire Grace is a fourth generation Pastry Chef and if there’s a person on the Earth more passionate about doughnuts than us, it’s her. You’ll see when you taste them.
There’ll also be milkshakes (love you also), kombucha and juices and coffee by boutique Melbourne roasters Code Black who are making their debut on the Gold Coast.
So that’s a lot of words but we have a lot of love for The Doughnut Affair and so will you come Saturday. Good luck not going back every day for the rest of time.
LOCATION: 2375 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach
HOURS: TBC
Words and photos by Kirra Smith
