Whole Wheat Waffles
I have been making these waffles since my 16 year old was a toddler. The recipe is based off of a Cooking Light recipe Waffles with Two-Berry Syrup. I don’t eat syrup, so I have always left that part out. My kids have always eaten these with a little butter and fresh fruit spread on top of it. I think people eat whatever they are used to, so I think if you introduce waffles at an early age with fruit instead of maple syrup, then that is what the person equates with waffles. Healthy habits begin young!
Regarding the flavor of the waffle, I always add fruit, depending on what I have handy and the time of the year. I made these last weekend with mashed banana and frozen blueberries as shown. Yesterday I made them again with some leftover pumpkin I had from the pumpkin banana bread I made earlier in the week. So yummy on a cool fall morning! So any fruit will work, be creative and use what you have. I hope you enjoy these as much as my family has over the years.
Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed
• ¼ cup of toasted wheat germ
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (I use non-fat)
• 1 cup fat free milk (or whatever type of milk you prefer)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a whisk
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (with the yogurt in there you can leave this out)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
• Cooking spray
Procedure:
- Pre-heat waffle iron
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl — flour, flaxseed, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Stir with a whisk. If using honey, add it to the wet ingredients instead.
3. Combine all the wet ingredients in a small bowl — yogurt, milk, eggs, banana, canola oil, vanilla, stirring with a whisk. Add blueberries and stir with a spoon. — note: If they are frozen they will turn everything purple, which actually lends a fun touch to the waffles. If the color bothers you, you can thaw the blueberries if frozen and lightly dust them with flour before you fold them in the batter. Fresh blueberries shouldn’t be a problem.
4. Gently fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring with a spoon just until moist, don’t over-stir.
5. Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray. Cook waffles according to your waffle iron instructions.
6. Top waffles with butter if desired and fresh banana slices and/or fresh blueberries, strawberries or whatever you have handy. Enjoy!
Notes:
• Freeze leftover waffles for a quick breakfast during the week. I always like to have a stash of frozen waffles and pancakes so I can make my kids a quick and healthy school day breakfast. I just stick the frozen waffle in the oven on a low temperature and make my son’s lunch and my coffee and when he comes down to eat it is ready with very little effort. Add some fresh fruit and healthy breakfast is created.
• To make pumpkin waffles, substitute 1 cup of canned 100% pumpkin (no added sugar) for the banana and add more cinnamon and nutmeg or use 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. I also like to add fruit-juice sweetened dried cranberries in place of the blueberries to the pumpkin version.
