Lemon, Almond and Poppy Seed Belgian Waffles

This recipe was inspired by a menu item, to which I adapted my regular gluten-free Belgian waffle recipe. I was always taught to use a flavor combination from a magazine, cookbook or television show and adapt one of your recipes that you know works. These waffles are great to cook for Mother’s Day or anytime. They also reheat well in the toaster.

Many appliances are labeled as Belgian Waffle makers, but only make the thinner regular waffles. These tend to cook unevenly and burn in places, and they don’t cook the waffle to the perfect light crispiness of my old waffle maker. If you have the right machine, you will be very happy. I did buy a Krups four waffle iron, but it is only on/off, so you can’t adjust temperature and have to watch the cooking time.

Makes 6×4” gluten-free Belgian waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs OR 1 large egg and ¼ cup (2 fl. oz., 60 ml.) egg substitute.  Check that the egg substitute is gluten-free, because eggs come under USDA and don’t have to follow FDA allergen guidelines. Also make sure to buy plain egg substitute, as many have onion and other spices and flavorings that taste horrible in waffles.
• ½ cup (4 fl. oz., 120 ml.) milk. I used almond milk as a milk substitute.
• 1 Tbsp. (15 ml.)  gluten-free baking powder
• ¼ tsp. (2 ml.) xanthan gum
• ¾ cup (3 oz., 84g.) my gluten-free mix (at bottom of recipe) or about ⅔ cup King Arthur Flour/Authentic Foods rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch blend. This is a stronger flour so that you use less of it.
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 Tbsp. (15 ml.) poppy seeds
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml.) chopped almonds or other nut, chopped not ground. You want the texture, but not huge pieces.
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. (5 ml.) gluten-free vanilla extract. Or try rum extract, orange extract or zest.
• ¼ cup (60 ml., 2 fl. oz.) oil. I use olive oil. Please do not use canola oil.
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Turn waffle iron on to heat.
2. Beat egg and egg substitute with electric mixer until fluffy, 1-2 minutes. It fluffs up more with the egg substitute than with 2 eggs.
3. Beat in remaining ingredients until blended and leave to sit for 2-3 minutes until baking powder and xanthan gum have thickened mix a bit.  Don’t stir down the batter, leave it fluffy.
4. Lightly spray both plates of waffle machine with gluten-free food spray. Depending on waffle machine, pour ¼ to ⅔ cup of batter onto center of base of hot waffle iron. Depending on waffle machine, after first waffle you might need to increase or decrease amount of batter, or help batter to spread to cover the base plate. If batter oozes out of the machine, decrease amount.  If you don’t have complete circle/square of waffle, increase the amount. You can see in the photo that mine aren’t perfect squares, and I think they look pretty.  You will also need to watch the temperature and timings for first waffles until you know how long your machine needs to cook the waffle. Mine needs about 3 minutes per waffle. These waffles are light and crispy, but unpleasant if they are dark brown.
5. Repeat with rest of batter.  I find I need to spray both plates of waffle iron for each waffle or they stick. Don’t spray heavily, as waffle doesn’t cook as crispy.
6. To serve, top waffles with my homemade lemon curd mixed 50/50 with whipped cream or top with fresh cubes of strawberry, mango, pineapple or whatever fruit is ripe and sweet.

My gluten-free flour mix:

• ½ cup potato starch
• ¼ cup tapioca starch
• 2 Tbsp. gluten-free millet flour
• 2 Tbsp. gluten-free sorghum flour