Adventures in Waffles

It’s been a busy week…hence the no blogging since last Sunday.  I hope to have a few updates for you throughout the week with kitchen updates!

This morning I decided to make waffles, vegan waffles.  It might sound weird, but I promise that turning waffles vegan does not take away from their deliciousness! 

Breakfast is most definitely my favorite meal of the day.  I’m one of those people that orders breakfast for dinner whenever given the opportunity.  Last year, before my conversion, I was considering starting a breakfast blog if that gives you any indication of my love for this meal.  

Once going vegan, my breakfast options were drastically limited…or so I thought.  This is one of the first vegan recipes I found for my beloved breakfast items.  I liked this recipe because of the simple ingredients, no crazy vegan foods here!

http://www.vegan-heartland.com/2011/10/classic-belgian-waffles-low-fat-refined.html

I had made this recipe a few times in recent months, and it was good.  But it still had that “health food” taste to it.  They were fluffy and tasty, but they weren’t the golden, crispy Belgian waffles that I was longing for.  I read somewhere recently that chickpea flour or gram flour helps your baked goods to turn out crispier.  I know, I know…no one has chickpea flour in their kitchen.  But good news, it’s easy to find at your local Asian or Indian food mart! 

If you haven’t been there yet, check out the Asian Food Mart on 76^th between Cass and Dodge.  It has the “fishy” smell, but the aisles are wide and clean, the lighting is good, and the prices are clearly marked.  They also offer a huge variety of every Asian ingredient you could ever dream of, and a lot of cheap vegetables.  It’s a great place to find the more unique ingredients for your recipes.

So I knew I wanted to use chickpea flour, but I also had an urge to add some almond butter to give it a nuttier flavor.  Really, I didn’t know what the almond butter would do to the recipe, but I thought I’d give it a try.  I also added a little oil to the mix, my last batch of waffles stuck horribly to the waffle iron even after using nonstick cooking spray.   Again, I didn’t know how this would affect the recipe, but I figured I’d throw it in.

This is my altered vegan waffle recipe that I ended up with:

Almond Butter Waffles

2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup chickpea flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup apple sauce

2 tablespoons almond butter

1 tablespoon maple syrup

¾ cup almond milk

1 tablespoon canola oil

Ingredients I Forgot but Meant to Add

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. 

Microwave almond butter for 30 seconds to soften.  Add applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract to almond butter, mix well.

Mix almond butter mixture, almond milk and oil with dry ingredients.  Add mixture to waffle iron and cook as directed.  We have the waffle plates for our Griddler, which makes the perfect amount for Jason and I.  This recipe is just the right amount to fill our Griddler without any leftover.

The result…a golden, crispy, Belgian waffle!

I topped my waffle with vegan butter, raspberry syrup and reheated frozen berries (Triple Berry Blend from Costco).  The verdict…Mmmmmm!  Worth a repeat.