Thursday 19 January 2012

Healthy Wholemeal Waffles with Bananas, Pecans and Maple Syrup

Wholemeal or Wholewheat Vegan Waffles
Ok, if these don't get you up and going in the morning nothing will!

Wholemeal or Wholewheat Vegan Waffles

Well, as you know I got a waffle maker for Christmas and have been loving it, I've been making loads of plain waffles and freezing them, great for my son in the mornings as they can just be popped in the toaster for a quick and yummy breakfast. However, as mentioned at the start of the year I have also been aiming at eating healthier this year, mostly with less sugar but also really cutting back on the white flour and white sugar.

So I thought I would have a go at making my standard waffle recipe healthier and it turned out fantastic. These contain all wholemeal or whole wheat flour, are sweetened only with maple syrup (in the batter as well) and I have replaced the vegetable oil with extra virgin coconut oil. I'm sure there are healthy fat free waffle recipes out there but I'm not part of the fat free brigade, although that's probably a blog post on it's own so I'll leave it at that!

The waffles are delicious. They are sweet enough and although I thought the wholemeal flour would be weird here it's not at all. They don't taste of coconut either from the oil but simply have a wonderful flavour and texture. To up the nutrition I always serve these ones with slices of banana and some chopped pecans or walnuts and a minimum amount of maple syrup on top, less than you see in the picture here - more poured out while I was trying to get that classic "syrup pouring over top of waffles action shot" ;-)



Healthy Wholemeal Waffles: makes 4 rounds from a 6" waffle maker

280g wholemeal or wholewheat flour, that's 2 cups
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
300ml dairy free milk, I used soy here
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, in solid state
1 tsp vanilla extract
120ml sparkling water

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan add the milk and coconut oil and heat gently together until the coconut oil just melts then stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract and remove from heat. Pour this and the sparkling water over the dry ingredients and whisk until it all just comes together. Do not over mix, little lumps are ok - overmixing will yield tough, rubbery waffles.

Using a scoop pour onto your pre-heated and lightly greased waffle iron and cook according to your waffle makers instructions. The batter here is quite thick so don't be worried you've done something wrong. Once cooked remove and then you can spread them with a little vegan margarine or solid coconut oil, top with slices of banana, chopped toasted pecans or walnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup and you'll be more than set up for the day!

Healthy Wholemeal Vegan Waffles


Nutritional Information: based on a serving of half a round, just waffles.
Calories: 219
Fat: 8.2g
Sat Fat: 6.1g
Fibre: 4.4g
Protein: 5.3g
Carbs: 32.8g
Sugar: 7.4g
Sodium: 301mg
Calcium: 180mg - depending on brand of milk used, mine is fortified.

12 comments:

  1. This one I am definately going to try this weekend. Haven't got a waffle pan but Jamie Oliver makes his waffles in a griddle pan, so I am going to try that method. See what happens!

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  2. Cool! Let me know how that works out. I should say as well that this is also just a healthy variation on my standard pancake recipe so it *should* work as pancakes too :-)

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  3. hello. i've tried several vegan waffle recipes but none of them worked. usually, the waffles just stick to the waffle iron and are ripped apart. well, my question is, did you have that kind of problem too? or did it work just fine? i was thinking of using a little soymeal.

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  4. Hi! I've not had any such problems whatsoever with either this or my standard waffle recipe. They don't stick anywhere and hold together perfectly (as you can see from the photos) and I've made loads, not one has that happened to.

    My waffle iron is non-stick and I do lightly grease it before using. Hope you get to try them and find they work for you...if not it may be your waffle iron causing problems and not the recipes, from what I've been reading a good waffle iron can make a huge difference :-)

    Good luck!

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  5. Kathy - also, just a thought but my waffle instruction booklet says if you lift the waffle iron lid to early, say to check on them, sticking and ripping apart can happen. My iron has an indicator light when they are cooked and I don't lift it until then, or when the steaming from the iron has almost stopped, then you know they are done. They need to be fully cooked and slightly crisp on the outside first, then they shouldn't stick or come apart at all.

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  6. hi debbie,
    i'll definitely try your recipe. i've got a non-stich waffle iron too and i use baking oil to grease it lightely. maybe i've opened it too earliy but i don't like the waffles too crispy. i'll try to be more patient! ;) thank you for your advice, i'll let you know what happened!

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  7. oh my, so many typos in one comment. :/ well, i just made the waffles and they came out perfect!!! my son loved them as well. so, thank you very much!

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  8. Yay!! So glad they worked out for you and were liked, thanks for letting me know. My son loves them too :-)

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  9. Gowd. At this moment, I am not sure I could think of anything tastier.

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  10. I had a wonderful breakfast today! Thank you for the recipe!

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  11. Glad you liked them Katharina!

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  12. Wow these look so good. I think that these Waffles could get me up in the morning.

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