Vegan Waffles

This is the nesting season. Once fall and the holidays are gone, this part of winter starts to feel like it's about hunkering down, staying warm, and getting by until spring. (Luckily for me, my birthday is next week, so there's another winter celebration to break up the short days. Not everyone gets this advantage)

So if you have a hard time in the mornings, aren't a morning person, hate waking up when it's dark, or don't really function for an hour after waking, making these waffles ahead and freezing them may be a good option for you. You can make a batch during your best time and have breakfast prepared for the week.

Basic Vegan Waffles
1 3/4 C soy milk
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1 C flour
1/2 C rolled oats
3/4 C whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp canola oil, butter, vegan butter, or another vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp Ener-g egg replacer
4 Tbsp water

Combine the soy milk and vinegar (or lemon juice) in a small non-reactive bowl and let stand. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the oil and vanilla, if using, and whisk to combine.

Brush the waffle iron with oil or use cooking spray and turn it on so it's heating. Add the soy milk and vinegar mixture your bowl and mix together lightly. Finally, whisk together the egg replacer and water until it's foamy and fold into the waffle batter.

Spread a bit of batter onto your waffle iron (it's going to depend on size. use your judgement. I trust it.); bake until the waffle is done (usually when the waffle iron stops steaming). Serve immediately or keep warm briefly in the oven (set at 200 degrees F).

You can also let your waffles cool completely on a wire rack (the wire rack it critical, otherwise they get soggy), freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and then transfer to zip top plastic bags and store in the freezer. To eat, simply pop them in the toaster and top as you like. I like mine with raspberry jam. Better tasting and better for you than the grocery store version! My iron made about a dozen waffles with this amount of batter.

Notes:
Next time, I'll use regular whole wheat flour rather than white whole wheat and brown sugar instead of white. I think overall, the flavors will be nuttier and richer.

Instead of the egg replacer and water, use 2 eggs, and add them when you add the milk.

Any kind of vinegar or lemon juice will work to turn milk or non-dairy milk into butter milk. You can also just use 1 3/4 C butter milk and omit 1/4 C of flour.

You can also use all-purpose flour to make up the entire volume of flours and oats. Play around with substituting flours, but aim to keep about half the total as regular, all-purpose flour.  Also cinnamon and other spices, chopped or ground nuts, cheese, dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc etc etc!

I need to re-spray my waffle iron between every batch, but I'm not sure if that holds true for all models. Mine is White-Westinghouse that came from the thrift store years ago.

I'm not sure if fresh fruit works in waffle makers. Does anyone know? To me, it seems like either a) it works beautifully a la pancakes or b) it makes a huge mess that takes for.ev.er. to clean.