More Waffles from Healthy Happy Life

Vegan MoFo 2013 – Post #1

It’s Vegan Month of Food time again! This is my second year participating and I’ve decided to focus this year on posting reviews and photos of other peoples’ recipes that I’ve tried (from both cookbooks and online). Here it goes. 1 down, only 19 more to go!

Previously I wrote a post about some delicious Pumpkin Spice Waffles from Kathy over at Healthy Happy Life. I haven’t made those ones again since, but I have tried two of her other waffle recipes: Apple Cinnamon Ginger Waffles and Blueberry Citrus Whole Wheat Waffles (which I actually turned into chocolate chip waffles). Yum!

I’m a sucker for anything that involves cooked apples and these Apple Cinnamon Ginger Waffles are no exception. They certainly did not disappoint! The combination of apples and cinnamon is always great, but the addition of ginger and candied ginger in these waffles make them something really special!

What I Did:
I doubled the recipe.
I substituted half of the spelt flour for oat flour. Just because.
I only like and buy green Granny Smith apples, so thats what I used. I used half of a large one, diced small.
I did include the optional chia seeds, but left out the optional almond butter and orange zest.
I substituted the mashed banana with apple sauce: 1/2 cup for the doubled recipe.

Another morning I used the Blueberry Citrus Whole Wheat Waffles to make a special breakfast for my nephew and I: chocolate chip waffles. I followed the recipe, except that I left out the citrus zest, diced oranges, and blueberries. I also left out all of the optional ingredients. We ate our chocolate chip whole wheat waffles with a quick berry sauce similar to my Instant Cranberry Sauce and Blueberry Sauce.

Instant Mixed Berry Sauce
2/3 cup frozen blueberries
2/3 cup frozen blackberries
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp ground chia seed

Place berries in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup and defrost in microwave until berries break apart when you stir them. Stir and break up the berries with a fork, until mostly broken up. Stir in maple syrup and ground chia seeds.
Enjoy on your favourite waffles, pancakes, french toast, or oatmeal.

I really liked these whole wheat waffles and can definitely see using them as a base for all kinds of add-in combinations!

You should definitely head on over to Healthy Happy Life and make some waffles!

Veganomicon’s Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jem and I whipped up a batch of these Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies recently for a last-minute evening treat and they were fantastic! This recipe is another one from Veganomicon that I’ve just tried for the first time. I love Veganomicon, and I love the fact that after almost a year and a half on my shelf, I still keep discovering new things within it’s pages.

As it says in the book, “these cookies couldn’t be any easier to make, unless you had someone else make them for you” (Veganomicon, Moskowitz and Romero, p. 237). Even with the extra step of processing some oats into oat flour, this recipe was very quick and easy to throw together. I will say that, while the tip included in the recipe suggests using a blender or food processor for making oat flour, I wouldn’t attempt it with a blender unless you have a very high-powered one. I used my blender and it was not very successful. I will be using my food processor next time.

The only change that we made to the original recipe was with the sugar. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Since I prefer my chocolate chip cookies not very sweet (I find the chocolate chips provide more than enough sugar) and I only had sucanat on hand, we just used 1/2 cup of sucanat. Personally, I could lower this even more  next time, perhaps to 1/3 cup.

I also wanted to mention that I was surprised that this recipe actually made the exact amount (18) of cookies stated. Maybe I’m just not good at following recipes, but always find that cookie recipes almost always make far less cookies than the states yield suggests.

Anyway, Jem and I had some of these Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies with our evening tea and they were delicious! The oat flour gave them a really great taste and texture. Also, they are chocolate chip cookies. Hard to go wrong there.

If you are going to make this recipe (and you really should) I wouldn’t suggest doubling it unless you are making them for a crowd. These cookies were still good the next day, but absolutely at their best fresh from the oven! And, they are so easy that you’ll have no problem making them all the time if that’s what you need to do!

Lucky you, in addition to Veganomicon, this recipe can also be found at the Post Punk Kitchen. Happy baking!

You May Also Enjoy:
Lower-Fat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (Veganomicon)

Ginger Chocolate-Chunk Scones (Post Punk Kitchen)

Almond Joy Cookie Bars