Tasty Heart Healthy Cinnamon Waffles (No Cardboard Allowed)

Don’t you just love a delicious Belgium waffle for breakfast? Rich, crispy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, then slathered with butter, maple syrup and,  if you are feeling special, some whipped cream and fruit? Dusted with powered sugar, of course. Oh, and a side of salty applewood bacon on the side. Yeah, I like that too.

These are not those waffles. But they are still delicious.

Let’s be realistic. We can’t eat like that every day. It’s horrible for our heart and waistline. It doesn’t mean we can’t have waffles every day, nor must we resort to those cardboard frozen “waffles” that so many of us grew up on. We can still have delicious waffles that are good for us and not have to spend much time making them.

I personally have eggs almost every day for breakfast. I love a good scrambled egg and a piece of toast. It fills me up and keeps me going. My dear hubby likes eggs, but he doesn’t love them. Using a King Arthur Flour recipe as a base, I made this heart healthy and filling waffle to keep him going. This makes me an Awesome Wife, don’t you think?

It make 3 to 6 waffles depending on the size of your waffle iron. We throw these babies in the freezer and then just put them in the microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds. If you have a toaster oven, that would work better. Ours started on fire a few years ago (no damage done) and we decided not to replace it! But I digress…

Serious Stuff: These are full of flax seed, oats, and a good bit of cinnamon. Flax and oats are known to be heart healthy. Cinnamon is an anti-inflammatory which is good for your heart and your aches and pains!  (Please note, I am not a dietician. I just read a lot.) And the whole wheat fiber will help keep you full , as well as provide a nice nutty taste. I switched out the granulated sugar for honey because I think it tastes better and I use grape seed oil because I think it also tastes better.  I’ve never tried adding nuts but I think that would be a great addition, just make sure you chop them well. And there’s always bacon….

I had a couple of curious little noses while I was photographing the waffles. This table was just their height, so of course they though it was their breakfast!

Cinnamon Wheat Waffles

Adapted slightly from KAF

One year ago: Lavender Cookies

Yield: 3 to 6 Waffles, depending on your waffle iron

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 10 minutes or less to prepare batter; time to cook waffles will depend on your iron

Special Equipment: Waffle Iron*

*Note: We’re on our third waffle iron. The first one was super cheap, with melting plastic and kinda flimsy, but we had it for about 6 years because we loved the waffles it made! Unfortunately, they no longer make this model. We bought another one a couple years ago that just died for no apparent reason right in the middle of our waffle making. So we used the rest of the batter for pancakes. They were good but dense. Now we are on our third iron and it makes smaller waffles but still quite tasty. I don’t want to recommend a specific waffle iron because everyone has different needs and price points. I’d recommend going to Amazon and just checking out all the reviews and different irons to find one that works for you! Many great ones are fairly inexpensive and small.

Ingredients

• 6.5 oz (1 1/2 cups) white wheat or whole wheat flour
• 3 oz (1 cup) rolled oats
• 1 oz (1/4 cup) ground flax seed
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 oz  (about 2 TB) honey
• 2 oz (about 1/4 cup) oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) milk

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron according to the instruction manual.

2. In a large bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: flour, oats, flax seed, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together your wet ingredients: honey (helps to warm slightly), oil, vanilla, egg, and milk. As you can see, there is very little sugar in this recipe. We like it that way but if you like yours sweeter, feel free to up the honey. Or just add more maple syrup to the finished product.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until barely combined. Lumps are just fine here. This is a thick batter and it will not spread much in your iron so you may want to use more than what you are accustomed to for the first one. Cook according your waffle iron manual. If you are freezing, let cool and then put into a freezer bag. Reheat to your liking.

Enjoy!

Seedy Crisps (Crackers)

Our July 2012 Daring Bakers’ Host was Dana McFarland and she challenged us to make homemade crackers! Dana showed us some techniques for making crackers and encouraged to use our creativity to make each cracker our own by using ingredients we love.

I know I just did  Parm Herb Crackers, but can you really have too many cracker options? Nope, I didn’t think so either. This dough is very easy to roll out nice and thin with very little muscle involved. That makes me happy. These are also crackers that you can just break into random pieces. Fun, right? Oh, and they go great with cheese, which is a requirement for a good cracker. If a cracker can’t hold a piece of cheese and taste good, that cracker is failing in its cracker duties. What’s that? I’m not making sense? Well, blame that on too much coffee and not enough wine. Oh, look, a cracker!

I used White Wheat flour again but otherwise didn’t change the recipe at all. These come together in no time at all. You’ll definitely spend more time standing around the oven waiting for them to cook. Or maybe don’t stand around the oven. It’s hot out, after all. Go hang out by the freezer.

On a side note, I do not like taking pictures of crackers. I don’t think they are photogenic. Good thing they are tasty.

Here’s what they look like before baking:

In the time I spent writing this post, I could have made another batch of crackers. So, what are you waiting for?

Seedy Crisps

One year ago: Homemade Oreos

Yield: A lot of crackers

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 10 minutes to prep and roll; 15 minutes to rest;  30 minutes to bake

• Ingredients
• 2 cups (280 grams) White Wheat Flour (or split half wheat and half AP)
• 1/3 cup (50 grams) poppy seeds
• 1/3 cup (50 grams) sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 TB olive oil
• 3/4 cup + 1 TB (6 1/2 oz) water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450F. Line four sheet pans (or just work in batches) with silpat or parchment. Note: My oven takes forever to preheat, but if yours doesn’t, you can wait until the dough is finished before you turn on the inferno.

2. Mix together flour, seeds, salt, and baking powder. Stir in the olive oil. Then stir in the water slowly until a dough forms. You may not need it all, you may need more. I needed all the water, but not more. Knead a few times on the counter to form a smooth ball. Should come together fairly quickly. Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

3. After resting, diving into four pieces. Roll each piece thin. It should be about the length of the sheet pan. Don’t worry about the shape – you will just be breaking it into pieces later.

4. Bake each pan for about 7 minutes, flip, then 7 minutes more. At this point, break into pieces and bake for another five minutes if needed. These crackers are supposed to be crispy.

5. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Eat and enjoy!