I never thought I could have a guilt free waffle.  I usually think of them as a treat that I get when I stay at a hotel and go for the complimentary breakfast.  You know, they have the big waffle machines.  You pour your batter into a plastic cup then pour it on the waffle machine.  You have to do this weird thing where you flip the waffle maker over.  And then in a few minutes you have a nice looking waffle.  We didn’t have a waffle maker growing up and so I had to wait for those special times.  Oh, another place to get waffles is at Chinese Food buffets!  Yum.

So my family celebrated Christmas early (in November) because I will be away during Christmas.  One of my presents was a waffle iron.  I totally wasn’t expecting it at all but thought it was a fun gift to get.  This morning while I was thinking about what to have for breakfast I decided to search for a whole wheat waffle recipe.  I found one.  Made some substitutions.  And I ate a yummy waffle!

Usually I think of waffles as fattening or unhealthy – white flour – sugar – and whatever else they put into waffles to make them so scrumptious – or maybe it’s just the toppings you put on it that makes it so delicious.  With this recipe I do not feel guilty about eating it.  And waffles are quite big so I only really need one.  What I need to watch, is what I put on top!  That’s the deal breaker of guilt free.  Saying this, I think it is ok to have a little syrup.  I prefer real maple syrup since it is natural.  It’s still full of sugar, but it’s natural sugar unlike the store brands that are full of the white stuff and who knows what else.  I had some maple syrup and peanut butter on my waffle.  I would have loved to have some fruit on top… but I don’t have any right now.

Here’s the recipe (I would highly recommend it!):

Whole Wheat Waffles

• 3 egg whites
• 1 3/4 C Skim milk
• 1/4 C apple sauce
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 C whole wheat flour
• 1/4 C Splenda
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Beat egg whites in a medium bowl (I used a hand blender)
3. Add in remaining wet ingredients plus sugar and mix together (again I used a hand blender)
4. In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients.
5. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until smooth (just use a fork to mix)
6. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour mix onto the centre of hot waffle iron (be sure it spread over bottom).  Close and cook until golden brown.  Really until the light turns green.

Notes: You can probably get away with only using 2 tbsp of Splenda or sugar (even more guilt free)

It is a really easy recipe.  It will probably make 4 waffles.  I made 3 but, I did make them thick.  You can put them in the fridge or freezer and toast them later (if you have any left!).  The original recipe is from allrecipes.com

This recipe will definitely be going into my little “fav” recipe book.

How do you like to top your waffles?