Ho, ho, ho. Happy, November? Wow, how did that happen? 2012 is practically gone. Time to get (holiday) baking.
One of the quintessential flavors of the holidays is gingerbread. I’ve made ginger cookies and a small army of gingerbread men before, but never waffles. However, this recipe has been brewing in my mind for a while now and I was so pleased that it only took one try to get it right! I honestly half expected to see a crumbly mess upon opening up the waffle iron since the batter is vegan. But alas, it wasn’t so! Experimentation success.
This batter really is very simple to throw together. You likely already have all the essentials in your pantry right now: Pumpkin puree, molasses, whole wheat pastry flour, brown sugar, ground ginger and cinnamon. Basic stuff, plus a little flaxseed and non-dairy milk to help keep this dish vegan. Buckle up kids – we’re quickly entering into vegan holiday foodie heaven.
Have I ever told you that John does all of the pouring for the photos? The pictures really wouldn’t be the same without him. I mean, how awkward would it look if my outstretched forearm was lurking in on the side of all the images, struggling to get that perfect pour down? Awkward, trust me. I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work out. So much praise to the photo assistant, who, in this instance, happens to be my adoring, charming and incredibly well groomed husband.
These waffles turned out as delectable as they look. Tender, spicy, not too sweet and hearty enough to be a stand alone breakfast. Plus, during the cooking process I found a way to help the waffles remain crispy once out of the iron. Simply lay them on a cooling rack so air circulates around them.
I’ve noticed that when I stack my waffles on a plate they get steamy and make each other a bit soggy. But when you lay them on the cooling rack for just a minute or two before digging in, it’s perfect! You could also make them even crispier by warming them in the toaster for a bit after cooling.
Vegan Gingerbread Waffles
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal (to make flax egg)
- 2 ½ Tbsp water (to make flax egg)
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1/3 scant cup brown sugar
- 1 scant cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour*
- 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
Instructions
- Preheat waffle iron. Prepare flax egg by combining flaxseed meal and water in a large bowl and letting rest for 5 minutes.
- Add molasses, pumpkin puree, oil, brown sugar and whisk. Add almond milk and stir once more.
- Add flour, baking powder and spices to a sifter and sift over wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Ideally, let batter rest for 5 minutes before cooking.
- Once preheated, generously spray the waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray and spoon about 1/2 cup of the batter onto the center of the iron and cook according to your machine’s instructions. I like to set mine to the darkest setting so it gets extra crispy.
- Once done, remove and place on cooling rack to let steam roll of and crisp up a bit. Serve warm with vegan butter (such as Earth Balance) and maple syrup, or whatever toppings you desire.
Notes
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.
Amanda H. says
For the flour, could I use the Namaste Gluten Free “Perfect Flour Blend” rather than the whole-wheat pastry flour? (at a 1:1 ratio)
Hi Amanda, we haven’t tested this one with a gluten-free blend, but it could work! You may need to play around with the amount of flour (it will likely need more) and it might do better with a GF blend + almond flour. Another reader did report success with Jovial whole grain gluten-free pastry flour. Let us know if you do some experimenting!
Nora says
I just love these vegan waffles! I made them a few times now and they always turn out great. They have a very rich flavour and I like mine especially crispy but they also just taste great when still a bit one the softer side (what my husband prefers). Since I usually don’t have molasses in my pantry I just sub it with some maple syrup and I also use a bit less sugar.
Thank you so much for the recipe!
We’re so glad you enjoy the waffles, Nora! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications! xo
Sam says
Do you think sorghum flour would work for a gluten free version?
Hi Sam, we think sorghum flour on its own would be too crumbly. Another reader mentioned success using Jovial whole grain gluten-free pastry flour, which is a blend of sorghum flour, rice flour (probably brown?), teff flour, millet flour (which can be bitter, so we’d probably swap for more brown rice flour), and corn flour. Plus, xanthan and tara gums. Another simplified route would be to use sorghum, brown rice, and a GF blend such as ours or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1. Hope that helps! Let us know if you do some experimenting.
Mary says
I have a little pumpkin but want to increase the quantity of waffles, can I sub some applesauce for the pumpkin?
Hi Mary, we haven’t tested it that way, but think it would be fine! Let us know if you try it!
Jen says
Great recipe! I often have trouble with waffles sticking to my iron, but not this recipe. I added a little nutmeg and cloves, replaced the sugar with stevia, and served with applesauce rather than syrup. Yum!
Yay! Thanks so much for the review, Jen! So glad they worked for you!
kumalavula says
i took this recipe and used it to make a dairy friendly variation. it worked great. i followed most of the measurements and ingredients, although subbed in rye flour for wheat since that’s all i had, butter for the oil and an egg. they came out great! i might up the molasses and ginger quantities next time because the flavor is subtle but generally, this is a great recipe as is or to tinker with! perfect for the holidays!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing, Kumalavula!
Mohini Sakhadeo says
Hello Dana! Thanks for the recipe! What can I use in place of molasses ?
Thanks
Mohini
Hi Mohini, molasses is a pretty key flavor for gingerbread. But perhaps another liquid sweetener?
Jeanne miller says
Delicious! I hate to say but i ate 3 waffles! Surprised they are so high in calories, though
haha thanks, Jeanne!
carissa says
These were delicious…I even mixed them up wrong (added the almond milk last instead of with the wet stuff…oops!) And they still turned out well and my boys (4 yrs and 8 yrs) loved them. I don’t have a sifter so I just mixed the dry ingredients separately. All the ingredients are typical vegan kitchen ingredients…nothing fancy. I added a dash of ground cloves just to up the Christmas factor.
Maki says
Thank you! My family gobbled them up this morning. My only substitution was jovial whole-grain gluten free pastry flour.
Nicki says
Five stars, as always! Hubs made them exactly as written. Thank you!
christine says
Ahhhhh soooo yummy. I made my family this + breakfast potatoes + tofu scramble for christmas breakfast today. They loved it. I loved the hint of molasses flavor… tasty and high in iron!
Erna says
Can I use applesauce instead of pumpkin puree?
Katherine says
These came out great! I used majority spelt and a little bit of ap flour. I also decreased ginger by half since the kiddos find it a tad spicy! My waffle maker produces a deeper pocketed waffle so they came out on the soft side, nothing a quick toasting in the toaster wouldn’t fix!! Thank you for recipe!
Julie says
I love your recipes. I would really appreciate seeing you work with natural sweetnesrs such as birch xylitol and stevia. I sub them in but sometimes things seem a little off…
Here’s to some sugar free experimenation!!
Looking forward to it!
Kim says
I just ran across this recipe, and would like to ask how you’d modify it, if you (1) needed to use a flour substitute, like almond flour, and (2) needed to sub out the brown sugar for agave or stevia.
I’d love to make these for my sister, who is a cancer survivor and consequently eats an “anti-cancer” (vegan, anti-inflammatory) diet. She misses breakfast food – this sounds like a good way for her to still enjoy it! :-)
Kim, I haven’t tried this recipe g-free, but would suspect that a GF blend would work best here rather than almond flour. Have you checked out my GF V waffles? Try modifying that to a gingerbread flavor – I’d say that’d be your best bet. Hope that helps!
Ethel says
Delicious! I made these this morning and they are just fabulous. Thank you!
K says
I made these tonight and they were AMAZING! I had no idea you could make waffles that were vegan and have them be so delicious!
Julie says
These sound yummy and are on the To Do list for next weekend… In the meantime… Using a cooling rack to prevent stacked, steamy, and soggy? GENIUS!!! I’m almost embarrassed that I didn’t think of that before this ;)
Veggie says
Beautiful pouring pictures, thank you John. .-) This recipe sounds amazing!!!
Randi says
These look SO GOOD!!!! My family loves making waffles, def going to try this out:)
Stephanie says
These were sooo yummy! I used a real egg instead of a flax one and halved the amount of brown sugar because I knew we’d be dousing them later with maple syrup ;)
They really do taste like gingerbread and came out nice and thick, with crispy outsides and chewy centers. I also had no problem with them sticking to my waffle maker — no oil needed! Thank you for this great holiday recipe!
Danette says
I made these this morning …. delicious!! I loved the hint of molasses flavor…. though I had to make sure to oil the iron each time because they like to stick. Oh and the store was out of pumpkin (go figure) and so I used left over sweet potato…. seemed to work out just fine. Thank you for the inspiration. Yummy.
Lan | angry asian says
thank you for this recipe, i loved how our waffles turned out!
Chelsea@Ahintofhealthy says
Wow, these look incredible!!!
Kelli H (Made in Sonoma) says
I just made these for breakfast, except not vegan and cut the brown sugar to 1/4 cup. They were delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Tanja @ Playful and hungry says
What a great idea! I’d love to have those for breakfast today… would be perfect for a cold sunday morning!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
Gingerbread waffles? YES PLEASE! I don’t have a waffle iron yet but I totally need to get one to make these!
Sherry in Chicago says
I don’t have a waffle iron, do you think these would work as pancakes? They look so yummy and would be perfect for weekend mornings.
I think they would! Although, I might try and thin out the batter a bit if I were you perhaps by adding a bit more almond or soy milk : )
Deb says
Our current favorite waffle recipe is Marion Cunningham’s yeasted version. But vegan gingerbread is very enticing! The pairing of pumpkin and fall spices is luscious!
jane says
Those waffles look delicious! May I ask what waffle maker you use?
It’s just a cuisinart basic waffle maker : )
Blog is the New Black says
I love the idea of gingerbread waffles!