Pumpkin Gingerbread (misshapen) Waffles
If I had to pick my arch-nemesis of kitchen appliances, it would definitely be the waffle iron. Honestly, who thought it would be a good idea to get something really hot (to the point of smoking) and then try to evenly spread batter over its entire surface, even as parts of the batter are already starting to cook? And, assuming you are able to do this well, you have to guess the correct amount of batter to make 4 equally sized waffles, which I still haven't been able to do. If you've managed to both evenly spread and use the precise amount of batter over the grid, your next feat will be to cook the waffles so that they are 1.) nicely (and evenly) browned on the outside and 2.) done all the way through. At this point, all you can do is hope that they taste good after all that work.
Luckily, despite the fact that these gingerbread waffles weren't very aesthetically pleasing, they did taste good. Plus, my waffles were cooked through and nicely browned (though they were not evenly shaped by any stretch of the imagination). But, I'll take 2 out of 3. As an added bonus, I ended up freezing about 7 waffles so we can have them for breakfast and I don't need to mess around with the dreaded waffle iron again for a while.
I looked at a few recipes for gingerbread waffles, including this one and this one, and ended up making my own up. It wasn't quite as unhealthy as the first recipe, not quite as healthy as the latter. They had a really great flavor.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Waffles
1.25 cups whole wheat flour
1.75 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground ginger
2.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1.25 cups pumpkin puree
1/4 cup molasses
1.25 cups low fat buttermilk
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1.5 tsp. vanilla
Sift together the whole and all purpose flours, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and egg whites with the brown sugar until fluffy. Add the pumpkin, molasses, buttermilk, butter and vanilla and beat until just incorporated. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients--don't overmix.
Add the batter in batches to your waffle iron, cross your fingers, and hope for the best.
This is certainly not the best of pictures, but given my many waffle-woes, I'll take what I can get.
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