dessert for breakfast thursday | Belgian Brownie Waffles
/Okay. So, maybe this isn’t technically breakfast. It’s also not Friday, when I typicallypostaboutbreakfast. What can I say? I’m a rule-breaker [that is a lie].
Honestly, I just couldn’t wait one more day to share this recipe with all of you. The inspiration came from the book, The Family Flavor, written by Whitney Ingram and photographed by Sheena Jibson. You may know Sheena’s blog—it’s been a favorite of mine for years!—so I was thrilled when I heard she was going to be photographing a cookbook for Whitney. I was certain it would be filled with stunningly, delicious food, and I was right. What a team these two make!
I bought a copy the second it was available and stalked the FedEx trucks as they drove by each day. Finally, it came! I devoured the entire book—with my eyes, haha—the second I got my hands on it. The book is filled with comforting, whole-food recipes, written in a very approachable way. There is an incredible amount of inspiration I can pull from each and every page. The vegetarian + dessert chapters are my favorites! Duh.
[fyi – I was not asked to review this book but just felt like sharing my opinion!]
A recipe I’ve had on my mind for sometime now has been for brownie waffles. I don’t just mean chocolate waffles with cocoa powder thrown in. I mean making real brownie batter and pouring it in a waffle iron. I did it with doughnut batter, so why not try out brownies?
Truth be told I’ve been completely scared and intimidated to try my hand at gluten-free brownies. I had the same fear for gluten-free cookies. So silly.
I used the brownie recipe in The Family Flavor as a guide and adapted it with some of my favorite gluten-free flours, coconut oil, and muscovado sugar—my most recent sugar obsession.
After a few trials working on the texture, I was completely sold. These are just as you’d expect. A thick, fudgy brownie, cooked in a deep-pocketed, Belgian waffle iron. You even get a bit of that crispy edge goodness you find in the corner piece when baked in a pan. My favorite.
I know there will be the question, “Can I bake these in a pan in the oven?” And to that, I really cannot say. But, what I can say is that I no longer fear the brownie and will have an oven-baked recipe coming soon.
For now, you only get brownie waffles. That doesn’t sound so bad, though, right?
Maybe for your birthday breakfast.
Maybe for a weekend treat.
Maybe part of brunch dessert.
I don’t think it really matters the occasion, just so long as you make them. Pronto.
inspired by: The Family Flavor “Brownies”
Brownie Waffles
gluten-free, dairy-free // yields 8 mini waffles or 2, 6-inch Belgian waffles
- 1/3 cup gluten-free oat flour
- 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons almond meal
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
- 3oz high-quality dark chocolate, or bittersweet
- 1/3 cup muscovado sugar, or sucanat/coconut sugar/brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Whisk the oat flour, sweet rice flour, cocoa powder, almond meal, baking powder, and salt together until well combined.
- Simmer water in a double boiler [or with a heat-safe bowl placed in a pot of simmering water—water should not touch the bowl] and melt the coconut oil and chocolate in the bowl until smooth. Stir occasionally.
- Remove bowl from the simmering water and stir the sugar into the chocolate/oil mixture until well combined.
- Turn your waffle iron on to medium head and grease if needed.
- Stir applesauce and vanilla into the chocolate mixture and then stir the eggs in one at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Empty the flour mixture into chocolate mixture and stir until fully combined. Avoid over-stirring. Batter will be thick but pourable.
- Spoon small amounts of batter into your waffle iron to make mini-sized waffles, or spoon in the standard amount per your waffle maker’s specifications.
- Cook for 1 – 1 1/2 cycles and remove. You may want to do a test with 1 mini waffle to see the desired cook time and temperature.
- Eat hot or let cool and dust with powdered sugar.
notes/substitutions: If desired, use butter instead of coconut oil. If you cannot tolerate oat flour substitute your favorite gluten-free all-purpose blend. If you like things on the sweeter side add another 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
The crusty texture around the edges is best on the first day but the waffles are still delicious on day two…and three!
I’ve been without a kitchen all week [and off + on since the beginning of August], so thanks for hanging in there with me! I’m off to Wisconsin early this morning to photograph my cousin’s wedding over the weekend and when I return the kitchen should usable and almost finished.
Get ready for a delicious dose of fall. I cannot freaking wait.
