Cinnamon Quinoa Belgian Waffle

Note:   If  this recipe inspired you to use as a guide to make your own, please be considerate and credit annascuisine.wordpress.com.  Thank you!

Fall, apples, pumpkins, and soup.  These are favorites during this time of year.  Speaking of apples made me thought of a breakfast favorite when I was still living in Hawaii, the Belgian waffle.   It was served at a local restaurant called “Yum Yum Tree”.  The thing that I like about this breakfast dish is the topping; spiced apples and Macademia nuts then drizzled with maple syrup.   It was so delicious.  I just love the combination.   A friend of mine would always order it every time we went there to eat.

Yum Yum Tree Restaurant
Photo courtesy of Honolulu Advertiser

However, I am saddened by my discovery that this local restaurant that served this awesome breakfast dish closed in 2005 because the center owner wanted to make way for a new tenant just because they had a month-to-month lease.  It just makes me sad losing a favorite local restaurant.   This restaurant had 42 employees and had been in business in 1982.   It was a favorite breakfast restaurant that most locals went to.

Living away from Hawaii and wanting to go back to visit restaurants I’d come to love and to find out that they no longer in business really makes me emotional.   Besides the Belgian waffle, Yum Yum Tree had an exceptional cornbread you can’t find anywhere.  This was when I’ve come to love cornbread.  I used to go there just to buy cornbread.   They also sold homemade pies.  Oh, the memory!

Anyway, this prompted me to make my very own Belgian waffle using the quinoa flour so my children can enjoy it without having allergic reactions.

Here it is!  The fluffiest, lightest, moist, and most delicious Belgian waffle I’ve ever had.  My children each had two of these waffles.  🙂

Yields:  5 waffles

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 (6 oz.) vanilla yogurt
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup organic milk (2% fat), plus 1/8 cup
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• Macademia nuts, chopped
• Lucky Leaf Apple pie filling (available at your local grocery store)

Preparation Methods:

• Chop the Macademia nuts and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.   Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs.  Add the buttermilk, milk, butter, yogurt, and vanilla extract; mix well.
• Add half of the flour mixture into the egg mixture and stir until just combined.  Add the remaining flour mixture and whisk until you have a very smooth batter.
• Cook in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions until golden brown.  Serve with cinnamon apples and sprinkled with Macademia nuts then drizzled with maple syrup.

Topping variations:

• strawberries and whipped cream
• banana with toasted coconut
• peaches and whipped cream
• pumpkin or cinnamon butter

Note:  You can make the waffles ahead of time and freeze them.   You don’t need to thaw them.  You can cut them in quarters and toast them right away.

Enjoy!

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