Gluten-free Vegan Pumpkin Waffles with Blueberry Syrup(ish)

I’ve been playing around with some gluten-free flours lately, which doesn’t always end happily ever after for me.  Today, however, the flour gods were on my side.

About 6:36 this morning I awoke, laid there for a second, thought to myself, “I should make waffles,” and proceeded to hop out of bed and into the kitchen.  What resulted from my early morning breakfast epiphany was this yummy, gluten-free, low fat, blueberry smothered goodness in the form of waffles.

This is basically a gluten-free version of these waffles, but I couldn’t really taste the pumpkin for all the blueberries – which isn’t really a big deal.   I only made a half order but to make matters easier I’ll give it to you in full.

Gluten free pumpkin waffles with blueberry-maple syrup/ compote

For the waffles:

First whisk 2 tsp apple cider vinegar into 1 & ½ C non-dairy milk (I used hemp, soy or rice should work too).  Let it sit and curdle.

Mix the dry ingredients together (I like to use a fork) in a large bowl:

• ¾ C buckwheat flour
• ¾ C sorghum flour
• 3/8 C millet flour
• 3/8 C potato starch
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients:

• 1 C canned pumpkin
• ¼ C brown sugar
• ¼ C applesauce
• Milk mixture from above
• 2 T ground flaxseed pre-whisked with 6 T hot water (or Ener-G replacer for 2 eggs)

Add the wet to the dry and mix with a fork until not many lumps remain (if any).  Pour batter onto a preheated, greased (as in non-stick spray) waffle iron and cook as directed.

For the blueberry topping:

• 2 overflowing cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• ½ – 2/3 C or so of maple syrup
• ¼ C water
• 2 T corn starch
• 2-3 T brown sugar
• ¼ – 1/3 C sugar

Mix the above in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir frequently until it thickens.  Serve immediately or warm it back up a little when you’re ready for it.

I also crumbled up some cinnamon graham crackers (which are NOT gluten-free btw) for a finishing touch because I like their texture.

Read Full Post »

One cupcake to rule them all.

Coffee. Kaluha. Cream cheese icing. Chocolate chips. And cake.

Is there really any other cupcake that can compare?

I’m not so sure there is.

But if there was, it would probably be in this book.

We should all thank Isa and Terry.

Read Full Post »

All I need now are some beads and corn bread

Don’t you just love New Orleans?  Well I like it fair enough, though it’s been quite awhile since I’ve been there… =(  It wouldn’t be the same now anyway I guess.  I’m fairly sure the beignets at Cafe Du Monde are not vegan.  But I can still fight my way through the crowds and powdered sugar for some coffee.

Anywho, I made jamabalaya for dinner tonight.  I added some okra this time (such a superb idea).  It was AWESOME!  Perhaps I was just really hungry, but then I’m always really hungry so that could mean that my food never actually tastes good.  Hmmm… so I’m gonna stick with the original statement of its irrefutable awesomeness.  In case you’ve still yet to visit the FatFree Vegan blog, get your fingers on over there and check out her jamabalaya recipe, and all the other deliciousness on her site.

Read Full Post »

It’s Thanksgiving! Wait a minute…

Obviously it’s April, so I’m a few holidays off.

In the corner of my kitchen is currently a bomb shelter size stock pile of assorted canned foods.  No, I don’t think the apocolypse is about to happen; they were given to me.  Given may be the wrong word actually.  Somebody was moving and had a years worth of canned food in their pantry that wouldn’t fit in the trailer so now it sits in my kitchen.  Well in this vast array of canned items was a can of pumpkin.  I like to make banana waffles a lot but sometimes you get tired of bananas so I thought that I should give pumpkin a whirl.  Bananas are used a lot in vegan baking as a binding agent since eggs are a big no no.  Canned pumpkin is fairly similar in texture to bananas so I thought it might just work.  Turns out I was right (of course, ha ha, I’m not really arogant).  I wonder what I sound like to people who don’t know me….

Anyway, I actually based my waffles on a recipe in Veganomicon, so I don’t claim that I wholly created these scrumptious waffles, but I did make several changes.  Veganomicon is a stupendous cookbook if you’re looking for one by the way; I highly recommend it.  Isa and Terry (the authors) also have a website call the Post Punk Kitchen that contains some other various waffle recipes so check it out too.

So here’s how it all went down:

Combine 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar with a 1/8 C of H2O and 7/8 C (just under 1 cup) of soy milk and let curdle for 5 minutes or so.  In another bowl mix about half a can of pumpkin (cans are typically 15 oz), 2 T brown sugar, 2 T applesauce, and the milk mixture.  Next add the flour (I used 5/8 C of whole wheat and 1/2 C of unbleached AP flour), 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  Isa says mix with a fork and don’t over mix it.  I believe it you over mix baking powder or soda they lose some of their rising ability.  If you haven’t done so by now you should probably turn on your waffle iron so it can heat up.  Let it get all the way warmed up before plopping these bad boys in there.  I also recommend some PAM, or whatever generic spray you use as I don’t have PAM in my kitchen either, as they may stick to the iron.  Cook them as directed by your waffle iron, throw some mapley goodness on them, and enjoy!!  If you don’t have an iron I’m sure they’d work just fine as pancakers.

This yielded 5 waffles.  A full recipe is typically double what I describe here (hence the odd measurements) but there’s only 2 of us so 10 waffles is a bit much.

If you’re feeling a sweet tooth these would likely be superb with chocolate chips in them!!

And I just realized how much of a pain in the ass it might be to see all the ingredients so here’s a list:

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 7/8 C soy milk (3/4 & 1/8 C)
• 1/8 C water
• 1/2 a can of pumpkin (15 oz can)
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 T applesauce
• 5/8 C whole wheat flour (1/2 & 1/8 C)
• 1/2 unbleached AP flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Read Full Post »

We’ll start with the cheesecake

So we were going to go visit my boyfriend’s Grandma last weekend. She knows I’m vegan but it’s always a battle of getting around eating enormous quantities of butter and cheese every time we’re there.  This time we brought pizza, one sans the cheese of course.  But what about dessert???  I’m quite fond of vegan cheesecake but don’t make it very often as I will most definitely eat the whole damn thing.  Well, I used this recipe (http://www.noveleats.com/vegan-peanut-butter-chocolate-cheesecake) and switched out the peanut butter for oreos!  The result:  a very awesome, chocolaty, oreo-heaven cheesecake!  It’s all gone unfortunately but it was good while it lasted.

Read Full Post »