Two Kickass Waffle Recipes by Susan Jane White

I’m done with quinoa. Christ, what a diva. I can’t wait for oats to subsume the number one spot as Godfather of Superfoods again. At least I can pronounce this one, without having to refer to my iPhone notes or my Legumes That Are Seeds Pretending to be Grains app.

This week, we’re helping Irish oats knock quinoa (pronounced so-pass-say) off its pedestal. Oats contain two types of groovy fibre that excites nurses and health scientists. This grain’s platoon of soluble and insoluble fibre serve our pipes in more ways than one.

Firstly, this type of fibre will help keep you regular. Bye-bye haemorrhoids and constipation. Hello light-footed daffodil.

Secondly, oat’s cargo of fibre will help sat-nav your pipes for excess cholesterol, like a tenacious traffic warden. Take that, queen-wahh!

Roz likes oats for its slow-release mojo. Have you ever noticed that your body chugs for longer on a bowl of porridge, than a plate of toast? That’s because oats break down slowly in our system. This makes oats an excellent food for athletes and extreme sports (like motherhood), but also good for chronically hungry teens and anxious cabinet ministers.

More importantly, oats won’t give you the highs and lows associated with sugar-coated breakfast cereals, responsible for many code-red situations in classrooms and in Leinster House.

You must meet these breakfast waffles. The first is sweet. The second, savory. A happy waffle will have a moist interior. An unhappy waffle will taste of soggy Kleenex. There’s an art to a good waffle. Simply providing one on your café menu does not make you cool. Nailing a waffle recipe, however, will earn you pilgrims.

Cinnamon, Oat and Banana Waffles 

Ingredients

• 1 & ½ cups oat flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 banana, mashed
• Squeeze of lemon
• 1 cup almond milk, buttermilk or regular milk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup coconut oil or ghee, melted
• Pinch of sea salt

Method

1. Blend all the ingredients together, and leave for 20 minutes or overnight if possible (soaking flours makes them easier to digest for delicate systems).
2. Pour ½ cup’s worth (around 125ml) in the centre of your preheated waffle maker. Cook according to your manufactures guidelines, but preferably on the low side. This is usually 2-3 minutes, until the machine beeps.
3. Serve hot, with thick clouds of Greek yoghurt and a smattering of blueberries. Left overs can be popped into lunchboxes, or used as currency around the house. You can make a fancy pants kapow sauce by whisking together 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 1-2 tablespoons raw cacao powder. It will blow your dimples off.

Plant-Powered, Gluten Free Waffles 

For all those veganistas and plant-powered athletes out there. We’re with you.

Ingredients

• 1 cup chickpea / garbanzo flour
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt (or 1/2 teaspoon Herbamare)
• 1 tablespoon arrow root (optional)
• 2 cups plant-powered milk (I used almond)
• 1/2 cup apple puree
• 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract (not vanilla essence)
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, melted
• Squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Combine all the dry ingredients into one bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients into a separate bowl. Now add the first to the second, belting out any lumps from the mixture. Leave overnight in the fridge. Alternatively, you can fire ahead straight away but the flours do benefit from a little settling.
2. Pour ½ cup’s worth (around 125ml) in the centre of your preheated waffle maker. Cook according to your manufacturers guidelines, but preferably on the low side. This is usually 2 minutes on my Sage waffle maker, until the machine beeps.
3. These waffles are amazing with a poached egg, or sandwiched together with almond butter. Check out an Irish brand of nut butters called Keen. They have been responsible for much of my serotonin of late.