Spiced Gingerbread Waffles

Strange how different things can be in less than a week. On Saturday evening a week ago I stirred together a batter for the next morning. We were having our neighbors over for breakfast on Sunday and I wanted to try out a recipe that I had cobbled together for a seasonal waffle. Somehow gingerbread always seems like a fall treat to me, with the richness of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves and the added heft of dark molasses. A long time ago I took those flavors and made donuts, filled with lemon curd. They were sooo good.

This time I wanted to take my favorite overnight waffle recipe and turn it into a gingerbread waffle recipe. I had made some great gingerbread that included all those signature ingredients, plus stout, so I decided to use them all in the batter. Well, it turns out that putting both the molasses and the stout into the overnight yeast mixture was a mistake. The mixture rose pretty high in the bowl, then subsided, so by the time I was making the batter, the yeast wasn't helping things rise, plus the batter was sort of flabby once cooked. Not my idea of a good waffle for sure. We still had them for Sunday breakfast and they had good flavor, but I was determined to try again and see if I could get a better waffle. I do enjoy a good waffle!

In the meantime, we had strong winds Sunday night, which blew a firestorm our way, wiped out the homes of friends and acquaintances, and sent us smoke and unease through last night. This morning the smoke was far less and we heard that the fires were being contained, although there is still some danger. Last night I knew that strong winds were called for that could have started things up again, but I wanted to be hopeful, not fearful.

So last night I whisked together the flour, yeast, spices, salt and milk, covered the bowl and let it all sit overnight so that we could have Overnight Gingerbread Waffles. In the morning the dough looked fluffy, just as I hoped it would.

To the melted, cooled margarine (cuz I can't do butter) I added the molasses and stirred it together well. I beat the egg a bit to break it up and loosen the white, then added it and the butter mixture to the overnight mixture. No stout was used this time.

These made really great waffles, even better in flavor than the Sunday ones. I think that the stout had intensified the spices, so the waffles did taste spicier, but also somewhat bitter. Maybe one day I'll figure out a way to include just a small amount of stout. In the meantime, these are delightful, seasonal waffles if you like gingerbread. You can decrease the amount of ginger a bit, too, if you want it blander, but I'm quite happy with these spicy waffles!

Spicy Amazing Overnight Gingerbread Waffles
based on a recipe from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe' Cookbook

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk (I used soy milk)
1/4 cup dark molasses
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg (I used ¼ cup egg substitute)
Nonstick spray
Butter for the waffle iron
Lemon curd – optional, but nice
OR Applesauce - especially home made - wonderful
OR Pure maple syrup – hard to resist on waffles
whipped cream - hard to resist on anything

Combine the flour, spices, yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bow. l Stir the milk  into the flour mixture until blended. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature (or put in the fridge if room temp. is over 70 degrees F.)

The next morning, preheat the waffle iron. Melt the 6 tablespoons butter and let cool a bit, then stir in the molasses. Beat the egg in a small bowl (unnecessary if using egg substitute) then beat it into the batter along with the melted butter. The batter may be a bit thin.

Lightly spray the hot waffle iron with non stick spray, top and bottom plates, and then butter a piece of bread and use that to rub some butter on top and bottom plates. Make sure that indicator light/gauge shows iron is still hot enough. If not, let it heat a little more.

Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface…this varies by waffle iron…about 2/3 cup. Lower the top and cook until dark golden brown…it’s OK to check now and then. It takes about 2-3 minutes. The steam usually almost stops rising when it is done.
Serve hot, right away, with lemon curd, applesauce or maple syrup, whipped cream, or toppings of your choice.

Note; If you have too many waffles for the number of people you are feeding, bake the leftover batter a little less than the ones you are eating, let cool on a baking rack, then freeze and store in the freezer tightly wrapped. Re-heat in the toaster.