Do you know how much I love waffles? I loooooove waffles. I should really make them way more often. I think I have a mental block about the (perceived) hassle, when in reality, the cooking process is way less labor intensive than pancakes (you just pour on the batter and forget about them – no flipping required and you get multiple per pour as opposed to pancakes which you have to make individually). Plus, the clean up really isn’t that bad.
My waffle affair started when I was young. My dad would make them every once in a while on the weekends. The infrequency of the event is what made them extra special. More often than not I was busy at a soccer tournament, at a swim meet, at a softball game, at church, refereeing youth soccer games, or working at Jamba Juice.
Basically, when I wasn’t at a tournament in Morgan Hill or Sacramento (or worst of all, Lemoore), I was crossing my fingers that it would be a waffle weekend.
It wasn’t until I “studied” abroad in Barcelona that I developed a full fledged obsession with waffles. Or gofres, as they are called in Espana. They were my drunk food of choice as I was walking back from the discotecas along Las Ramblas. I can practically smell the aroma now. Once I learned where the best spots were I started going in the daytime too. A gofre a day keeps the doctor away…
Anyway.
Waffles.
I’ve been meaning to make them for a while now, but every morning I talk myself out of it (and into something quicker, like toast).
Then it occurred to me that if I made the batter at night, I wouldn’t have to do anything the next morning. So that’s what I did. On Saturday night.
Batter made. Waffle maker, non-stick spray, and spatula out. Ready to go!
Holiday Waffles [makes 8-10 waffles]
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix (you can make your own by combining cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cup milk (I used vanilla unsweetened almond milk)
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp molasses
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together (flour through salt). Add in wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Heat waffle iron, spray with (a lot of) non stick, pour on batter, and wait until light indicates waffles are done (~5 minutes per waffle depending on your appliance – the later waffles cook a bit faster).
I was slightly concerned about how the consistency of the batter might change overnight, but it worked perfectly. I just took it out of the fridge, removed the saran wrap, and it was good to go.
I gave the waffle iron a few minutes to heat up. Then poured on the batter, leaving some room for it to spread on the edges.
Eventually the light went from red (above), to green (below), indicating it was ready.
Waffle perfection.
We have this 4 slice waffle maker by Cuisinart. I love it. It yields four waffles each time, so Kyle and I can share the first batch and eat hot-off-the-griddle waffles together.
Notes:
The vanilla, molasses, and spices are all optional ingredients that you can omit without worrying about substituting. They are very subtle in this recipe, so if you want a noticeable spiced flavor, increase the pumpkin pie seasoning to 1 tsp total.
To make them basic waffles, omit the pumpkin puree and replace with an additional 2 tbsp of oil instead. You could also try swapping the pumpkin puree with mashed banana or silken tofu, but I can’t say how it’ll turn out because I haven’t tried it.
I also haven’t tried veganizing this recipe, but if you want to try omitting the eggs, feel free to try and let me know how it goes (you could swap for chia or flax seeds or a powder egg replacer).
I am working on a gluten free recipe next, so stay tuned.
Toppings:
- maple syrup
- vegan butter (ie Earth Balance)
- fresh fruit (bananas, berries, etc.)
- sautéed apples
- nut butters (peanut, almond, coconut, sunflower, etc.)
- vegan cream cheese (ie Follow Your Heart)
- jam
My favorite is the simple combination of Earth Balance and maple syrup.
The more butter, the better.
They look fantastic! I had the most amazing buckwheat waffles not too long ago and have been on the search for a reasonably priced waffle maker since!
Hahaha–When I saw the title of this post, I thought maybe “Gofres” was a baby name contender or something…like a variation of Geoffrey, lol. Yes, I am really dumb 🙂 I took French, not Spanish!
Courtney
I have a waffle maker that makes Penguin-shaped waffles. Maybe I need to make these for Misty – it’s his birthday on Monday 🙂 I don’t think I’ve actually ever made a waffle (and why do I have a waffle machine!?!)
I am really not one for having kitchen gadgets with only 1 use, but now I feel the NEED for a waffle maker. I have been making a lot of ww pancakes lately, and this would just been even better.
I have the same love affair with waffles. My Dad used to make them at Christmas and the odd long weekend, so having them was special to me. <3
I have some "eggo" style vegan waffles that I trow into the toaster, but they are just not as good as home-made. I just haven't made the effort into looking for a vegan waffle recipe. That, and I don't have a waffle maker 🙂
i have a go-to waffle recipe (vegan) which uses either
bananas (my fav) or pumpkin…and chia seeds…and EB or brummel & brown yogurt spread. spelt/amaranth/soy/buckwheat flours…or just plain jane flour. you can use use any combination
of flours…or just one! I really love kefir in my recipe, but lemon juice in an alternative milk would work. email me if you’d like the
complete recipe. it’s simply d’lish and a double batch freezes beautifully! ;^)
Do you find following a low FODMAPS diet that your symptoms are 100% gone? Or is it that you still have a little bit of symptoms but more relief following the diet? My symptoms are greatly reduced, but I still have some.
hahaha..well its not a terrible thought. but we are keeping his name a secret until hes born 🙂
make them! its such a fun different thing, im sure hell be intrigued 🙂
there are some good deals out there…or you could ask for one for christmas 🙂
i have a fabulous vegan and gluten free recipe that ill email you.
definitely not 100% gone, but hugely reduced. i havent been keeping my diet quite as low as i used to in recent months and i do notice a difference from when i was being very fodmaps conscious. that said, its hard to tell whats IBS and whats pregnancy at the moment. see this post i just wrote for more details:
http://fodmapsdiet.com/2012/11/12/my-definition-of-low/
Please don’t name your baby Gofres, lol! If you do I will of course say it is a beautiful name, but… 🙂
Courtney
Sounds good!
I feel like these are something you’d enjoy: http://www.dramaticpancake.com/2012/07/lynn-savory-hummus-waffles/
especially with a gluten-free conversion!
um, hells yeah.
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