Today I needed to bake something, and the only thing I had for inspiration was a can of pumpkin puree left over from Thanksgiving. I was in need of some real baking therapy, and was not in the mood to check any websites for recipes, or paw through my collection of cookbooks.
I am using a small toaster oven at the moment, as hubby and I are living in our garage apartment while the main house is on the market, so a regular muffin pan would not work (too big for my little oven).
I grabbed our waffle maker off the shelf (now that the kids are grown, we hardly use it), and I was so impressed with the result that I had to share it right away!
Sometimes the best ideas come from a pure unadulterated need for comfort food. Today I made a huge decision to quit my job, and once I had hit send on the email, I knew that the only way I could settle down was to pull out my bowls and baking supplies and lose myself in the process of creating something delicious yet somewhat healthy. Now, this recipe can easily be adapted to gluten-free by using an appropriate flour (keep it light though, nothing too full of grains), and substituting the two eggs for 1 TB. of apple cider vinegar, and vegan yogurt. The dark brown sugar could be swapped out with coconut sugar.
I hope you take the time to try out this recipe, and if you do, let me know what you think! I just made it up as I went along, purely instinct and nothing more.
Just like quitting my job….pure instinct. Gotta love those ‘listen to your gut’ kind of days 🙂
Pumpkin Waffles
2 c. flour
¾ c. dark brown sugar
2/3 c. plain yogurt
1 15oz. (425ml) can pumpkin puree
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
1/3 c. oil
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
½ cup toasted pumpkin seeds
Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together pumpkin, beaten eggs, sugar and yogurt until smooth. Add dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture and swiftly stir/fold (about 20 strokes with a fork) until just combined. Do not overmix. Gently stir in toasted seeds with same fork.
This batter can be made into waffles, pancakes or muffins.
Waffles – medium heat setting on waffle maker.
Pancakes – cook on medium heat in a greased pan.
Muffins – bake for 20 minutes at 350F in greased tins.
zen of vacuuming© 