I woke up this morning craving waffles, but not just any waffles. Waffles, after all, are really not a substantial meal. Then I had a thought: What would happen if I ground up almonds and put that in the batter? At first I thought I'd just add it to a waffle recipe in one of my cookbooks. Except, I don't have eggs, buttermilk or vegetable oil. So, I decided to substitute and experiment. I already knew how to make a buttermilk substitute (at least 1 tablespoon of lemon per 1 cup of milk-lemon is better than vinegar, trust me) and thanks to my mom, there's egg substitute in the fridge. Oh, and I used butter instead of oil. So here's what I came up with:
Squeeze the juice out of 1 lemon into a large measuring cup, then add enough milk (I used whole milk) to measure 2 1/2 cups of liquid. Stir and let stand while measuring other ingredients, or at least 5 minutes.
1 1/2 cups of finely ground raw unsalted almonds (I pulverized about 2 cups of raw almonds in my food processor-it should look like bread crumbs)
2 1/2 cups flour (begin with 2 cups and add a little more if batter isn't thick enough)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup butter, mostly melted (1 minute in the microwave-it's ok if there's still pieces of butter left)
1/2 cup egg substitute (make sure you've shaken the carton before you pour so the egg stuff is frothy)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix dry ingredients and ground almonds together, then add all other ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Batter should be thick, not runny. Add a little bit more flour if necessary. Measure and poor onto belgian waffle iron, bake and enjoy!
I ate them plain and they were simply luscious! Ethan put syrup on his and even he couldn't eat enough! I also think these waffles would be good with a butter that has a bit of honey whipped into it.
The great thing about this blog: I can edit this later if I decide to try real eggs and buttermilk-stay tuned!
