The other day my father had the waffle iron out to make waffles for brunch, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and try out a new vegan waffle recipe. I don't have my own waffle maker, so I don't get too make waffles very often. I usually make pancakes - as the batters are very similar. But waffles just have a slightly different texture - one that can't be duplicated - and this waffle doesn't skimp on flavor nor texture.
Cinnamon Raisin Waffle
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon smooth nut butter of choice
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2-4 Tablespoons raisins
Whisk the first six liquid ingredients together until smooth. Add in the remaining dry ingredients and stir to form a batter. It is fine if it is slightly lumpy and it should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to be scooped up with a spoon.
Preheat a large (Belgian) waffle iron and grease lightly with oil. Pour the batter in and cook for a few minutes until waffle is done.
I served my waffle with a some leftover peanut butter caramel sauce I had, hot chocolate sauce, more raisins, and a drizzle of maple syrup. Delicious! It makes a very filling breakfast, lunch, or healthier dessert option.
Pizelle are Italian waffle cookies. They are made with a special type of waffle iron called a pizzelle maker. Pizzelle makers differ from waffle irons simply by pattern, as pizzelle cookies usually have a pretty pattern and indentation pressed into them. The second major difference is pizzelle makers are much thinner than waffle irons, because pizzelle cookies are much thinner than waffles. The taste is also slightly different, because pizzelle are always thin and crispy and waffles can either be crispy or thick and fluffy.
Pizzelle are made with a simple batter - more like a waffle batter than a cookie batter, but slightly thinner. They usually get their rich flavor from the butter, sugar, eggs, and splash of vanilla, though they can be flavored differently, such as a small addition of unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolate pizzelle.
Some pizzelle makers are automatic, which means it'll let you know when they are cooked. Others, like the one I have, are not automatic, leaving a little more guesswork. I actually had a little trouble with my cookies this time - even though I oiled the maker, they were sticking a bit, or I was checking them to early before they were cooked, or they were a little over cooked. Also a major problem was they kept breaking when I tried to remove them. They still taste delicious, but they do not present as well. Actually I love the little pieces. Pizzelle are very delicate, so if they are not transported properly, they will break as well. One more tricky thing about pizzelle is finding the perfect amount of batter to put in the pizzelle maker to make one cookie. Too little, and you won't get a full cookie, too much and the batter will ooze out of the maker.
I learned how to make pizzelle from my grandmother, who always had them around when I cam to visit, so I grew up enjoying them. They are good plain, or with a little dusting of icing sugar, but they also make nice garnishes for ice cream, cake, and mousses - just like waffle cookies!
Recently we got a new waffle maker. Actually it's not new, but a gently used one given to us by a friend. Our waffles maker cooks two rectangular waffles simultaneously. This waffle maker cooks either one large round waffle, or four small triangular waffles simultaneously, depending on how you look at it. With this new waffle maker, my father (the waffle maker in this family) decided to try making Belgian waffles. The difference between Belgian waffles and regular waffles, are that Belgian waffles tend to be larger, thicker, lighter, and with larger squares in the grid pattern. Compared to our regular waffles, this is definitely true, so this was the perfect waffle maker for the job. Most of the differences lie within the waffle maker itself, therefore the recipe isn't much different. However, Belgian waffle recipes often call for slightly more sugar, perhaps the addition of vanilla extract, and often require beating the egg whites and yolks separately, which is what makes the batter lighter.
I did not notice a huge different, but if I had to choose, I think I prefer these waffles. I like the thicker, almost cake-like texture compared to the thin and crispy texture. X marks the spot on these waffles!
Here is another one of my grandmother's delicious treats: waffles. These waffles are quite a bit different from typical breakfast, dinner, or even dessert waffles. These waffles are miniature- bite-sized, almost as small as a cookie. They are not meant to be crispy waffles, instead they are soft and fluffy. They are perfect for snacks, easy to transport and hold. They are good plain, or with butter, jam, peanut butter, yogurt, honey, or sliced fruit. My grandmother usually makes a few heart shaped waffles too. I really like these waffles for snacks, but I like my father's big crispy waffles with ham and eggs for supper or breakfast.
Just like we sometimes have pancakes for supper, we occasionally have waffles for supper (or lunch) as well. My mother seems to hold the title of pancake master while my father owns the title of waffle master. My father doesn't make waffles too often, maybe once or twice a month if we are lucky, but when he does, he really seems to take a lot of pride in making them. He carefully measures out the ingredients and gently mixes up the batter. Then he cooks the waffles - two at a time - in our standard waffle maker. It's just a simple one that makes two square waffles at once - not a fancy shape or Belgian waffle maker or anything. He also tailors the waffles to suit our own personal tastes - whether we like them extra crispy, or slightly soft, or fresh from the maker, or from the oven. And we all put whatever topping we like on our waffles - butter, syrup, yogurt, applesauce, peanut butter, honey, fresh fruit, cinnamon, etc. We like to enjoy these waffles with pan-fried ham and scrambled eggs, or sometimes a bowl of cereal, or sometimes just waffles alone!
Remember all of that extra sauce I had from the Maple Pudding Cake I made on Sunday? The cake was excellent, but the sauce was a bit too liquidy, and there was a lot more of it than there was to serve with the cake. Well, I couldn't let that sauce go to waste, so I used it to serve a maple-glazed ham. To do this, it is really simple, just buy a whole or half ham, pierce the skin all over, and drizzle the maple sauce over top, allowing it to go into the ham. Bake the ham as usual, and serve extra sauce over individual slices. Even with the maple glazed ham, there was still some leftover sauce, which we poured on our homemade waffles we served with the ham. Luckily, the sauce had thickened a bit compared to when it was first baked, as a result of being refrigerated. Some of the cake broke down into the sauce, so you got a few cake crumbs in with your sauce, but it wasn't very noticeable on the waffles. Since the sauce was composed of only sugar, water, maple syrup, and a spoonful of flour, it kept well in the fridge, and would probably be good for another week or two. It is very similar to using just plain maple syrup.
