Oat-Prune Waffles

I have found some pretty good waffle recipes that have no wheat, eggs, or dairy. Here is one of my favorites so far:

Oat Waffle

from "Freedom from Allergy Cookbook," Ronald Greenberg MD and Angela Nori, 1996.

1 1/4 cups oat flour
1/4 cup prune spread
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. oil
3/4 cup water

To make the prune spread: blend 8 oz prunes and enough water together in blender to get desired consistency. In the recipe, the authors instruct to cover the prunes with water and let them soak or simmer until soft, then to blend. I didn't need to let the prunes soak, but then I have a VitaMix. Maybe that's the difference. This prune spread is great combined with blended strawberries, as a topping for the waffles. I sweetened the spread by using apple juice for some of the water as I blended the prunes. The prune blend is designed to be used as a spread(which I enjoy instead of jam, sweetened with a little apple juice), or in place of sweeteners in recipes. I like prune spread in oatmeal instead of sugar, or even sometimes with chicken instead of barbeque sauce.

To make the waffles: Mix the dry ingredients. Blend together the prune spread, oil, and water, then stir them into the dry mix. Pour into heated, oiled waffle iron. You can add 1/4 cup soft tofu to the wet mixture to make the waffles lighter(I think they're great without tofu. I haven't actually tried adding tofu). This recipe makes two double waffles. You definitely can make more at a time. I freeze waffles, then pop them in the toaster just before eating, so they're available daily! Waffles are so satisfying to me if they have fruit toppings instead of syrups.

Note: I enjoy Garbanzo-Oat Waffles even more. See mrbreakfast.com, or my next post. This waffle is delicious when eaten with fruit toppings or syrup. Even just plain applesauce on top is good. It has an amazingly good texture, as if eggs had been used in the recipe. It has no eggs, no wheat, and is sweetened with honey. The bean flour and oat combination in the recipe offers a good mix of protein and complex carbohydrates. This recipe can be adapted to use lentil flour instead of garbanzo. I've tried yellow split peas, red lentils, and green lentils each in separate recipes, in place of the garbanzo flour. Each produced a waffle with good texture, and slightly different mild flavor for each flour. Each were satisfactory with a topping to go with the waffle. I recommend these recipes with the lentils especially, because the legumes can easily be ground into flour at home in your own blender. Simply use dry legumes and mix or pulse until the consistency of flour. Try at first small amounts, like a 1/2 cup, at a time to see how your blender performs.