Halloween Foodage: Pumpkin Waffles

For about two years or so, I've been wanting to buy a waffle maker. I had one a long time ago and I loved it. Not quite sure what happened to that, it may have died. When I started taking an interest in vegan cooking, I picked up my first Isa Chandra Moskowitz book, 'Appetite for Reduction' in 2011. Most of the dishes I made were very good, so I ended up ordering two more of her books, 'Vegan Brunch' and 'Veganomicon' with co-writer Terry Hope Romero. In 'Vegan Brunch', there are several waffle recipes that I have just been dying to try out, so I finally broke down and bought a new waffle maker. I haven't made any of the waffles from 'Vegan Brunch' yet, but I will in time. So far I've only made two different kinds of waffles, Pumpkin Waffles and Cinnamon Walnut Fig Waffles (also appropriate for fall). Here is the pumpkin waffle recipe I used, and it comes from Isa's website 'The Post Punk Kitchen'.

Pumpkin Waffles

by IsaChandra

Makes 16 waffles

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purp flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 Tablespoons soy yogurt
2 cups soymilk
15 oz pureed pumpkin, fresh or canned
1/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Sift together dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl, vigorously wisk together wet ingredients until well emulsified. Pour wet into dry and combine. Prepare waffles according to manufacturers instructions.

It's pretty straight forward. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, mix wet ingredients in second bowl, then add wet to dry. These waffles were pretty tasty, and oh what a wonderful smell! Along with the waffles, I also made a Cinnamon Cream 'Drizzle' from 'Vegan Brunch'. This 'cream' is made using cashews, soaked in water overnight and then blended with almond milk (or other non-dairy milk). Next time I think I will blend the cashews, before I add the almond milk. I blended the two at the same time, and I think that's why my cream ended up kind of 'gritty'. Here's another thing: I don't know if it's my cheap waffle maker or what, but it seems like no matter how long I leave the waffles in the maker, they never seem to be crispy enough for my taste. So once these were done, I popped them in the oven, directly on the rack (no pan or cookie sheet) at about 350˚ until the outside seemed pretty firm. I also put some chopped pecans on a piece of foil and popped them in the oven for about 5 min. Lightly toasted nuts have a really nice flavor.

The Post Punk Kitchen also offers these pumpkin recipes if you'd like to try out some of them. I made the Pumpkin Pie Brownie, which didn't turn out too well for me the one time I made it, but was thinking about having another go at it. I've made the Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf a few times and it's really good.

Here's another one of my attempts to take a classy food photo. Some day I'd like to get good at taking foodie pics.