The first thing I craved when I woke up, the other morning, was my favourite waffle recipe. I didn’t want to have to think about concocting up a new recipe or adapting a new recipe from online. But as soon as I finished that thought, my wife came up the stairs and had a brilliant idea. How about we make the best pumpkin waffles ever today?! How could I turn that down? Did I just hear, THE BEST???

So instead of making my already delicious waffles, I decided to take on the challenge and create a new kind of waffle.  It just so happened that these pumpkin waffles turned out so well, that there was no way I was not going to share them with you! Imagine your kitchen having the aromas of freshly pureed pumpkin, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon…it was like pumpkin pie for breakfast! Follow the recipe closely and you could be walking onto a pureed pumpkin waffle cloud, full of autumn scents and winter tastes. Come along for the ride!

Makes around 16 square waffles and feeds around 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup                      Light brown sugar
• 3 tbsp                        Cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cup                   All-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp                      Baking powder
• ½ tsp                         Salt
• 2 ½ tsp                      Cinnamon
• 2 tsp                          Ginger
• 1/4 tsp                       Cloves
• 1/2 tsp                       Ground nutmeg
• 2                                Large eggs
• 1 cup                         Whole milk or regular 2% milk
• 1 ½ cup                     Pureed pumpkin (make sure to drain all the water out of the pumpkin before using for the waffles. If you don’t, the waffles will be too runny).
• 4 tbsp                        Unsalted butter, melted and warm

Method:

1. Spray some vegetable oil onto the waffle iron and plug it in to warm up. Spread the oil around with a paper towel.

2. Whisk together the brown sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg and whisk together.

3. Separate the eggs. Put the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl or mixer (such as a Kitchen Aid) and put the whites in a smaller bowl.

4. Whip egg whites with a mixer (or Kitchen Aid) on high until you have stiff peaks (if the egg whites stand on their own they are ready to use). About 2 minutes then set aside.

5. Add pumpkin and milk to the egg yolks. Pulse the mixer to blend and set aside.

6. Pour melted butter into the pumpkin mixture. Whisk to combine.

7. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture in two additions, and mix them together until just combined.

8. Fold in the egg whites until combined.

9. Now put enough batter into your hot waffle iron and let the aromas begin! Serve with hot berries, pure Canadian maple syrup, and freshly whipped cream!