pumpkin gingerbread waffles

​The Boy had braces fitted to his teeth this week. We are working through the settling in period where soft food seems to be the way to go. This has led to a bit of experimentation with what he can and can’t eat – and the discovery of these amazing pumpkin and gingerbread waffles.

This morning started grey and wet. Having had a full teaching day yesterday I was in the mood for something indulgent by way of Sunday brunch. Pumpkin waffles popped up on my Instagram feed and I decided that was the way to go.  A quick google and I had a few potential recipes but all seemed to involve sugar or maple syrup in the batter. These take the best bits of those recipes but are gluten and added sugar fee. They sit somewhere between a waffle and a gingerbread biscuit (waffle texture but gingerbread flavours). I served them up with apples picked straight from the garden and stewed in a little cinnamon. My kitchen still smells divine.
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Don’t worry that the list of ingredients looks long – if you have a decent blender you can just put everything in together and blitz.

​Ingredients:
½ cup oats
½ cup buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup almond milk
¼ cup kefir (or yoghurt, buttermilk or just more almond milk)
2 tbsp butter or coconut oil
½ cup chopped squash (flesh of about ¼ a medium squash)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch of nutmeg
¼ tsp sea salt flakes

Method:
Measure all ingredients and place straight in blender. Blitz until smooth batter is formed.

I use a silicon mould to bake waffles in the oven. To give a gingerbread feel I thinly poured batter into each mould until about half full. If you want thicker waffles then fill to the top. Bake on 200°C for about 18 minutes until golden brown.

If you are using a traditional waffle iron then follow your manufacturer’s instructions and cook until golden.

Notes:
I had pre-prepped, frozen squash cubes. These went into my blender raw and frozen and worked fine. If you don’t have a powerful blender then you may need to cook the squash to soften.

I used butter and kefir but coconut and almond milk should give a similar consistency for a dairy free batter.
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My gluten free buckwheat flour is quite heavy and definitely needed three eggs to get an airy consistency to the waffles. Not sure replacing with a flax egg would work for vegans but would be interested to see whether folding in whisked aquafaba gave a similar result.