Joy of Cooking Waffles, Veganized

Growing up, The Joy of Cooking was my family's go-to cookbook. My mother gave me a brand-new copy when I moved into my first apartment. I haven't used it much in recent years, as it's not terribly vegan-friendly, but I still refer to it occasionally for "standard" recipes that I can modify.

I love waffles, and I never was quite satisfied with the vegan ones I was making. Worse, it is a family tradition to eat waffles on Christmas morning, and mine are always shunned in favor of the egg-and-butter variety my brother makes. When I splurged on a new waffle maker this year, I decided to figure out the secret to the perfect waffle. So I turned to the Joy of Cooking.

The Joy of Cooking recipe calls for egg whites, whipped into stiff peaks, folded into the batter. Aha, I said, I can do that with aquafaba! And thus the veganizing began. I used flax eggs in place of the egg yolks and also used vegan buttermilk (soy milk + vinegar) to give it more height. I played with the proportions a bit, for example, reducing the butter down as much as possible without losing the flavor and texture it brings. This is the result of that process, and I think they turned out pretty nicely.

Ingredients

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
¼ tsp baking soda
1-½ tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp ground flax + 2 Tbsp water)
1-¾ cups soy milk
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp vanilla extract (optional)
1-½ Tbsp vegan butter, melted

4 Tbsp aquafaba (shown in the bottom left of the photo as frozen cubes)

Mix flax egg and set aside. 

Add apple cider vinegar to soy milk, stir, and set aside. (Note: Soy milk is the best option here; if you have a soy allergy, then use the highest protein alternative to produce the reaction for the rising effect.)

Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt), set aside.

Whip aquafaba until soft peaks appear, set aside. 

Stir flax egg (and optional vanilla) into soy milk mixture. Stir wet ingredients (flax egg/soy milk, melted butter) into dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.

Fold in whipped aquafaba. Stir as little as possible to combine (bubbles are good).

Pour batter into prepared waffle iron and cook according to its directions.

Serve warm in whatever way you like your waffles. I like them with pecans and maple syrup, but I also like to freeze the extras and use them for peanut butter and jelly breakfast sandwiches.

Nutrition per 4.5" square: 215 calories, 40g carbs (7.4g fiber, 1.7g sugar), 3.7g fat, 6.9g protein.