Preheat your waffle maker. Ours has a Belgian waffle setting, which we selected for this recipe, with the darkness level set to 2 up from Lightest.
In a large bowl mix sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In a small bowl beat the eggs, vanilla extract and water, before adding to the dry ingredients and mixing together.
Add in the melted butter and beat vigorously to mix well and create a thick, gloopy batter.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Oil the waffle maker with vegetable oil using a spray or wipe on with kitchen towel.
Spoon a quarter of the batter into each half of the waffle machine, close and cook until the machine beeps (about 3 minutes), or until fully shaped but soft to the touch.
Open the machine and leave to cool for 30 seconds. As these waffles are super soft and very fragile when hot, we found it easiest to place a small baking tray over the cooked waffles and flip the entire machine upside down; this is a two person job but the easiest way to get them out without breaking. After a few seconds of cooling outside the waffle machine, the surfaces start to crisp up beautifully. The inside stays soft, like a brownie or chocolate cake.If flipping the waffle machine over is not a good option for you, cook the waffles on the Lightest setting, open the waffle maker when it beeps done and leave in the machine to cool down for at least 5 minutes before carefully removing the waffles with a pair flexible spatulas.
Repeat cooking steps for second half of the mixture.
We served with lightly-sweetened whipped double cream, sliced bananas and blueberries.
Notes
If you cannot find mini dark chocolate chips, finely chop a bar of dark chocolate instead. The small size allows little bits of chocolate to distribute evenly within the batter.