Recipe: Whole Wheat Waffles & Roasted Strawberries

Make time for waffles. You deserve it. This batter can be made the night before and kept in the refrigerator to speed up the process. The smell of roasting strawberries will get almost anyone out of bed and also doubles as a great ice cream topping. So make extra.

Roasted Strawberries:

1 quart Strawberries

¼ cup Maple Syrup

¼ Vanilla bean, scraped (use the seeds in the recipe and place the spent pod in a jar of granulated sugar. In a few days you have vanilla sugar to sweeten your iced tea or sprinkle on oatmeal)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash strawberries, pat dry, slice in half and place in a glass pie pan.
Stir scraped vanilla bean into maple syrup. Pour over the berries.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Stir and continue to roast until strawberries start to caramelize and the liquid begins to bubble.
Turn off the oven and open to vent, keep the berries warm in the oven while you prepare the waffles.

Waffles:

2 Eggs

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 lemon, zested

¼ cup Oil (canola, safflower or sunflower)

½ stick (2 ounces) Butter, melted

1 ¾ cup Milk

½ teaspoon Vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Salt

2 cups Whole wheat pastry flour or sifted whole wheat flour (or substitute for 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour)

Directions:

Preheat waffle maker.
Using a stand mixer or hand beater, beat together eggs, sugar and lemon zest until frothy.
Beat in oil and melted butter until smooth.
Add half of the dry ingredients, followed immediately by half of the wet ingredients. Mix together.
Repeat until everything is mixed together, do not over mix.
Grease your waffle maker with pan spray or brush on melted butter.
Spoon ⅓ cup of batter into the center of the waffle maker, close and cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on your equipment. Place waffles on a baking pan in the warm oven until all the waffles are ready.
Serve with roasted strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup.