One of the prettiest foods on every restaurant menu is the beautiful Belgium waffle, smothered in strawberries and topped with frilly, fluffy whipped cream. Don’t you agree? It makes you think light, sweet, fresh. If it weren’t for the size of the entire waffle, this pretty combination would make a great dessert or appetizer instead of a full breakfast meal. Some of the biggest problems have the simplest solutions. For example, the dilemma of the usual oversize waffle-strawberry-whipped cream combo.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is one solution where you can have your cake and eat it too. Er, your waffles, strawberries and whipped cream, rather. Let me introduce you to these alternated stacks of crispiness, sweetness and fluff! Why did it take us so long to realize we can cut our waffles into smaller pieces and arrange them on sticks with the other two necessary ingredients? The invention of the strawberry waffle tree is a dream come true! Light and airy, and you don’t have to overindulge just to prove you can eat the whole thing.

You’ll need a waffle maker since the you will be making the waffles from scratch. The batter is easy to make. You will be making the whipped topping from scratch as well. There are sixteen ingredients in all. Prep and cooking time is fifteen minutes total. The first bite to cross your lips will solidify what you already thought. Preparing these pretty little waffle trees was the best spent fifteen minutes of your day.

1. Preheat the waffle iron. Whisk all dry ingredients together (flour, corn starch, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon).
2. In a separate bowl, stir together all wet ingredients. Slowly whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined.
3. Grease the waffle iron before each use. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter on the waffle iron, and cook for about 4-5 minutes (until golden brown), or according to your waffle iron's instructions.
4. Allow to cool while making the whipped cream. Allow to cool while making the whipped cream.
5. Cut waffles into small slices. When building the skewers, begin and end with waffle slices. Dip the top waffle slice in the whipped cream, and slide the waffle (non-whipped cream side facing up) on the skewer.
6. Next, slide a strawberry onto the skewer. For the middle waffle (or waffles if you are making your skewers larger than mine), dip each side in the whipped cream. Slide on the skewer, and repeat until your skewer is done. Repeat for all skewers (with this recipe, I got 13-14 small skewers).