Chocolate Waffles – Gluten Free!
In my unrelenting quest to revamp otherwise unhealthy foods, my children are my lab rats. They are quite vocal about how much they enjoy (or don’t) my creations. On one hand it’s constructive to have a brutally honest opinion. Sometimes it’s helpful, and sometimes I disregard it because honestly, brussel sprouts are an acquired taste they may come to appreciate later in life. On the other hand, it’s annoying to hear that the last hour of your life was an exercise in futility. It’s kind of like that saying, “The nice thing about using your slow cooker is that your kids let you know at 8 a.m. that they will not enjoy dinner.” One of my girls has even started leaving me written reviews. No matter how much she praises me, or condemns an effort, she signs it “you’re welcome.” Because she’s got my warped wit.
Rejection is soooooo much fun.
Waffles aren’t something I have to talk them into, however. Today I decided to go for a double whammy change to my gluten free breakfast recipe – chocolate waffles with the addition of Kfibre.
The problems with gluten free flours are numerous. Just off the top, and one of my biggest concerns for people everywhere, is they’re often extremely high in starches from grains, and I seriously doubt these have the phytic acid removed, or have been sprouted so that the body can access the nutrients they may possess. Just because something is gluten free doesn’t mean it’s healthy. You’re doing yourself no favors by consuming things which will cause your insulin to soar. Far beyond diabetes, this causes a cascade effect to your entire system. And I’ll leave it at that or I’ll nerd out and start talking about gut dysbiosis and your microbiome. There’s also a lot of data these days about the arsenic level in rices, which often constitute the bulk of gluten free flour mixtures. That’s just the beginning, and honestly sometimes a little of these flours is fine and isn’t likely to have a huge impact on your health, but if I can mitigate these effects by using nut or seed flours, or things like Kfibre, I will.
In regards to practical application, common GF mixes often produce a gritty, unpleasant, inconsistent texture, and the products made with these fall somewhere under “dried out cardboard that once lived under a highway overpass” and “it’s fine.” It’s not fine. “Fine” should not be the bar. If you’re gluten free and dying for a sandwich or pizza, it’s “fine” to some. It’s not good. It’s not amazing. It’s lackluster, but maybe acceptable if you’re desperate. That’s not good enough, and that’s where the Kfibre comes in.
As I’ve been working with this as an adjunct to my gluten free recipes in order to improve the outcome, I’ve been experimenting with different flours and mixtures. To give you some very basic background, Kfibre is the product derived from organic, non-GMO sugar cane, with 95% of the sugar removed, involving no chemicals in the extraction process. It is densely packed with nutrients, but it’s also VERY high in fiber (which we all need). As an added bonus, it’s a prebiotic – that means it feeds all the good bacteria in your gut. That’s a very good thing, and that’s just the beginning. Take a look here and here at some of the other vast benefits. In culinary application however, it does something magical with my gluten free recipes.
The textures are smoother and hold together much better. There’s no aftertaste. This is a win, all the way around. If you don’t have this product, order it and try it. You won’t be sorry. For the purposes of this recipe, if you don’t have it on hand yet, just substitute the same amount for your gluten free flour. The texture won’t be as binding, but it’ll work. But remember that this is in fact high in fiber. If your diet is typically low in fiber, you may want to work your way up to higher amounts because it will impact your digestive system.
About the gluten free flour…
To save myself time in looking into how I can incorporate more of the Kfibre into my recipes, I’ve looked to others who’ve already dedicated an enormous amount of effort to figuring out which ratios, grains, starches and common adjuncts deliver the best results for specific applications. So for instance, an artisan bread would yield the best results with a particular blend, whereas a crepe, which doesn’t need to rise like the bread, would be best suited to another, like cassava. For this recipe I (mostly) used the Mock Better Batter mixture developed by Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free On A Shoestring. (I used arrowroot instead of potato starch, and guar gum instead of xanthan.) You can find that mixture here.
But on to the recipe…
First of all, if you’d like a standard, unadulterated waffle, just leave out the cocoa or cacao, spices, and sugar. I won’t judge you, they’re your waffles. Whisk all of your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. It’ll be light in color, not to worry. If you don’t have coconut sugar, you can use something else, just use less. Coconut sugar is not as sweet as others, but it has an incredible nutrient profile and it’s low on the GI. You can leave the cayenne and cinnamon out of the chocolate version, but a small amount of these actually intensifies the profile of chocolate, leaving the end result with more depth of flavor. And when I say a dash of cayenne, I mean tap a small amount out of the bottle, not a literal dash which has a measurement of ⅛ tsp.
Add the milk, oil and yolks, and whisk to combine – it’ll be thicker than typical waffle batters. Use any milk you’d like. Nut milks are great, dairy is fine. If you don’t have coconut oil, a lighter avocado oil works, just be aware of the smoke point of the oil you’re using, knowing that these irons are hot – you don’t want your oil to go toxic on you. Set aside your egg whites. Let’s talk about those for a minute…
Tips on egg whites…
When you are called to beat egg whites separately, there are things you need to know. Even a speck of yolk in your egg whites is enough to prevent them from whipping up properly, so make sure your yolks stay intact. A handy thing I teach my girls is that you can always pour the egg into your hand and let the whites fall between your fingers. If you’re not comfortable passing the yolk from one shell to another in order to separate them, this method is fine.
Using utensils that are not clean (oil residue, reusing a whisk) will also prevent a proper whip. You also want to whip egg whites when they’re room temp, not cold – they’ll whip up to a greater volume. That said, it’s easier to separate them when they’re cold. So you can separate them straight from the fridge, but then let them sit on your counter and allow them to warm up a bit while you’re preparing all your other ingredients, waiting for your waffle iron to warm up. We add cream of tartar to these because as an acid, it helps stabilize them once they’re whipped. It’s not necessary, but it does prevent them from breaking down. If you don’t have that on hand, you can use ¼ tsp of lemon juice per egg white.
Folding these into the batter carefully in this instance isn’t necessary. Whisk your eggs into the rest of the batter until the consistency is smooth, then scoop this out onto your iron.
Top the cooked waffles with whipped cream, whipped coconut cream, fruit, powdered sugar, syrups, nuts, orrrrr as my daughter insisted, place mini chocolate chips into every single crevice – because she’s 9. I wanted to get a pretty photo of the whipped coconut cream with powdered cocoa, but then my children happened. There was nothing left for me to photograph so I suppose that’s a good endorsement. If you have any leftovers, these freeze perfectly. Just pop the frozen deliciousness in the toaster whilst your children sing your praises for giving them chocolate waffles (that are healthy).
| Prep Time | 15 |
| Cook Time | 3-4 minutes |
| Servings |
large round waffles, 12 squares
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- 1 1/4 c gluten free flour mixture * see notes
- 1/2 c Kfibre if you don't have this just use 1 3/4 c GF flour
- 1/2 tsp salt real salt - Celtic, Himalayan, Redmond's, etc.
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 4 Tbsp raw cacao dutch is fine
- 6 Tbsp coconut sugar
- dash cayenne * see notes
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 c coconut milk * see notes
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 c coconut oil cool, but liquid
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar * see notes
Ingredients
Dry ingrediets
Liquids
Egg whites
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Preheat your waffle iron.
Add all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate container, incorporate the yolks into the milk, add this and the oil to the dry ingredients and stir to combine completely. Using a clean bowl and utensils/beaters, whip egg whites into stiff peaks. Add cream of tarter and beat to combine. Add egg whites to the batter and whisk until smooth.
Scoop the batter onto the preheated waffle iron just avoiding the edges. Follow the manufacturer's directions for time for your appliance.
Top with whipped creams, syrups, nuts, or fruit, and serve.
2 thoughts on “Chocolate Waffles – Gluten Free!”
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Yeeeeesssss I’m trying this over the weekend. I don’t have a waffle maker but pancakes will do. Keep em coming
Yes they will! If you have a good iron skillet, you can also cook them that way and serve like a Dutch baby!