• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ripe, medium banana
• 1 1/2 cups canned coconut milk (see note)
• 2 tablespoons molasses (preferably blackstrap)

Whisk the ground flaxseed into the warm water in a medium bowl, set aside, and allow to sit for 2 to 3 minutes. In the meantime, sift or whisk together the almond meal, rice flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Mash the banana in a small bowl. Whisk the mashed banana, coconut milk, and molasses into the water and flaxseed mixture.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well blended. The batter should be only slightly lumpy, with lumps smaller than peas. Preheat the waffle iron for 3 to 5 minutes while allowing the batter to stand. Stir the batter another 5 to 10 strokes, breaking up any clumps of rice flour that haven’t absorbed moisture.

Spray both grids of the waffle iron generously with oil. This is important even with “no stick” irons, as waffles that are both vegan and gluten-free can have a higher tendency to stick. Pour or ladle the batter into the center of the iron, covering no more than two-thirds of the iron’s surface for the first waffle. Adjust the amount as needed for subsequent waffles. Bake each waffle for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it reaches the desired level of brownness and can be easily removed. Makes 6 (7-inch) round Belgian waffles.

Note: Use full-strength coconut milk, not a “light” version that’s more watered down. Lately I’ve had more difficulty finding canned coconut milk that doesn’t have any water and guar gum added, and find that even “non-light” versions of different brands can differ in thickness slightly. Because of this, you may get better results by increasing the coconut milk by 2 tablespoons or so while decreasing the water by an equal amount, if you’re not satisfied with the initial results. You may also wish to whisk the coconut milk to break up larger clumps before adding to the other ingredients.

After the first 10 hosts are signed up (not including me), we’ll choose five lucky winners to receive a two-pack of Surprisingly Vegan’s new vegan and gluten-free waffle mix, courtesy of Surprisingly Vegan. (See my recent review of this product.) According to Isaac at SV, this is enough to make roughly 20 waffles in a traditional 9-inch round waffle maker, plenty for a waffle party. Thanks, Isaac! And the goodies don’t end there…

After the first 15 hosts are signed up, we’ll do a second drawing for 3 lucky winners of The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook. And yes, even if you already won a box of delicious waffle mix, you’re eligible to win again.

Just be sure to include a valid email address when you sign up to host, so that we can contact you.

Check back here and on the Vegan Waffles Facebook page for updates–but we’ll email you if and when you win!

Also, if you prefer just to buy a few boxes of gluten-free vegan waffle mix, Surprisingly Vegan is running a $1.50 off promotion on Amazon through 5/31/13. To get the discount, just enter coupon code WAFFLEME at checkout.

*Unfortunately, due to distribution and shipping costs, we are unable to extend shipping outside the US for these two contests. However, if you aren’t in the US but have friends or family here, you can elect to have your prize shipped to them. If you win a copy of the Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook and live outside the US, you can also opt for a Kindle or pdf version rather than hard copy.

Surprisingly Vegan’s just-add-water vegan waffle mix is also gluten-free, and is made with an interesting blend of delicious ingredients: oats, English walnuts, flaxseed, coconut palm nectar, salt, and vanilla bean. I really appreciate the relatively uncommon use of nutmeal in the mix, especially as I’ve had some success using almond meal in baked goods, including pancakes and microwave mug cakes.

Both gluten-free and vegan baked goods aren’t always the easiest thing to pull off, especially with waffles. Given this, I was impressed overall with how the waffles came out in my Waring Pro WMK300 waffle maker. The flavor was very nice, as was the outside texture.

The only complaints I have was that they could have been slightly fluffier, and that the inside still seemed a bit too moist after a good 6 minutes or so on relatively high heat. But they were still very tasty and edible, and the time-saving just-add-water preparation makes up for the longer cook time.

I know that with some of my own waffle recipes, a bit of fluffliness is sacrificed when using somewhat denser and wholesome ingredients. Actually, I was surprised that they got as fluffy as they did, given that neither baking powder nor baking soda was listed in the ingredients.

I also tinkered a bit and tried the mix as vegan pancakes, adding a bit of water to achieve the desired thinness, and using a dab of vegan margarine in the iron skillet for each pancake. I was pretty happy with them; they had a nice wholesome–but not too wholesome–taste. They were a bit less gritty than vegan and gluten-free pancakes I’ve made with rice flour, had a more neutral flavor than ones I’ve done with bean-based flours, and were a bit chewier than what I’m accustomed to, with the exception of yeast-raised waffles–probably due to a relatively high flaxseed content. But the high flaxseed content is good for binding; just remember to spray your iron grids with a thin coat of oil prior to each waffle.

I didn’t have time to experiment systematically, but I had a bit of success adding small amounts of baking powder, baking soda, and blackstrap molasses, to increase fluffiness, sweetness, and crispiness slightly. Not essential, though; I’m quite a waffle and pancake snob, so you may be perfectly happy with the results without any modifications. I’d recommend trying it yourself to see what you think!

Overall, Surprisingly Vegan Waffle Mix offers a decently tasty and nutritious alternative to entirely homemade vegan waffle recipes, whether you’re planning to host a vegan waffle party or otherwise. Many thanks to Isaac and others for developing this product.

As always, there’s no requirement to follow the theme, or you can modify as you prefer. Please sign up to host and share/like/tell your friends. While May 25 will be the peak, please feel free to throw a party anytime in May or June!

The “Connection” theme offers many creative possibilities for incorporating playful and fun activities. For example, to inspire reflection upon how humans can connect with one another through eating, you might incorporate a sensual feast. This involves each guest filling their plate with waffle pieces and several toppings they like, and then allowing other guests to feed them the items on their plate. To make it a bit more intense, you can request that guests communicate without talking for the first 15 to 20 minutes. If you choose to do something like this, just be sure to let guests know beforehand, and let them know they’re always at choice, as some people may not be comfortable with this sort of thing. You can set an appropriate-for-all-ages tone, or a more flirtatious just-for-grownups tone, depending upon your own preferences and audience.

Perhaps you wish to emphasize how our food and eating choices connect us to the well-being of other animals, to the environment, and so on. For this, you might choose to include informational materials at your event. Your favorite non-profit likely has brochures and pamphlets they’d be happy to share.

You might even use your party to catalyze further connections through future events. For example, you might have a signup sheet at your party for individuals who would be willing to host other social gatherings in upcoming weeks and months.

These are just a few examples as to how you can use a waffle party to illustrate and celebrate connection. Let your creativity run wild, and I look forward to  hearing about your event!

Vegan Textured Rice Waffles, Sorbet, & Fresh Fruit

International Waffle Day, March 25, stems from Våffeldagen, as the holiday is called in Sweden. It hasn’t yet caught on enough to motivate employers to give days off from work, airlines to offer discount Waffle Day travel, and the like, but it’s still a great excuse to break out one of your favorite vegan waffle recipes and concoct some deliciousness.

Speaking of Sweden, I just saw some Swedish pearled sugar in Ikea the other day, and that night I had tasty dreams of baking Belgian Liege-style yeast raised waffles.

Umami Mama Vegan Waffles with Savory Cashew-Mushroom Sauce. Photo by Melissa at Food and Loathing. Yummers!

Most recently, Melissa at Foodandloathing.com threw a mini vegan waffle party, and posted a wonderful photo of the Umami Mama Waffles (with the Savory Cashew-Mushroom Sauce) from The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook. I’ve reposted it with her kind permission here. I am excited that she’s giving away a copy of the GVWC as part of a fun competition at her blog. So go check that out before the competition ends this weekend! Even if you don’t enter the competition, check out the rest of her groovy site with lots of great tongue-teasing food photos, useful ideas, and candid opinions.

In November, the talented Isa Chandra Moskowitz hosted a vegan waffle party with an educational component as part of the Omaha, NE Culinary Conference. She also posted a  Blueberry Oatmeal Waffles recipe with a delicious photo on her well-known PPK blog. Some of her books that include vegan waffle recipes are listed on my “Other Books Relevant to Vegan Waffle Parties” page.

In early December, Kristen at the Houston, TX Vegan Society of PEACE (People for the Earth, Animals, Compassion, and Enlightenment) informed me that they were hosting a vegan waffle party as part of their monthly potluck. Very cool to hear about, especially as they’ve been vegan waffle party hosts in the past.

As always, happy vegan waffling!

Although the book has been far from approaching the New York Times Bestsellers list, at a few points it has briefly been near the top of certain categories on Amazon, and it won a Living Now Book Award. I think it’s done reasonably well for an independently published title from a little-known author in a niche market. Not to mention a niche market where somewhat grey philosophical viewpoints like mine defy the relatively neat labels and categories that some prefer.

The whole book and party project, consuming hundreds of hours over several years, has been a labor of love. Much of the book’s revenue went back into spreading the word about waffle parties and their message, purchasing internet ads, donating free copies to special events, and so on. With your help, countless people have been reached, and that’s hard to place a value on. Of the monetary portion remaining as “profit,” 20% equals about $300. That might not seem like a huge amount, but it still makes a difference.

I’ve decided to split the $300 equally among three charities: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, and PETA. I appreciate different aspects of each of these organizations, and am grateful for the support they have provided to this project.

Please continue to spread the word about the cookbook and waffle parties, as I’m convinced that both remain valuable and fun resources. Several people have told me they make wonderful gifts, and I put a decent amount of time into creating the electronic and gluten-free only editions as well.

Many thanks again, and happy vegan waffling!

(Pause to go shout from the rooftops, and to imagine a day filled with waffle party greeting cards, waffle gift baskets, songs about waffles on the radio, sensual waffle-scented gift fragrances, and so on.)

We’ve come a long and impressive way since then, with flip waffle irons, grids shaped like everything from hearts to farm animals, waffle makers with temperature adjustments and built-in timers, and so on. But whatever the technology, the same basic deliciousness and topping-worthy design of our beloved dish remains the same. So thanks again, revered C-Swart, for helping to make it all possible.

Among the cities joining us this year, including several returning veterans, were Fort Ashby, WV, US; Seattle, WA, US; Berkeley, CA, US; Tempe, AZ, US; Guelph, Ontario, Canada; Tavares, FL, US; Miami, FL, US; Boston, MA, US, Minneapolis/Twin Cities, MN, US; Staten Island, NY, US; Stoke-on-Kent, UK; Nottingham, UK; Herndon, VA, US. (Edit after original post: Washington, DC, US and a third (!) Seattle, WA, US host also joined us this year.)

The Minneapolis Animal Rights Coalition shared some great Meetup photos from their vegan waffle event, which had a broad range of people and many delicious toppings. The Big Strawberry in the UK posted delicious pics on their event’s Facebook page–some great closeups of topping-rich waffles. Mike R. shared on Facebook a tasty photo of a Dark Chocolate Cake Waffle from their party in Ontario, Canada.

One host reported, “We had a great time. Even better was talking about the event to people unfamiliar, but not able to make the party. We ended up talking about pet rescue organizations, log cabins and goats (not very good pets for vegans!)”

Our vegan waffle party in Pittsburgh, PA, US attracted 45 to 50 people, including friends from several settings, local Vegan Meetup members, and both old and new neighbors. They arrived in a variety of ways. While several guests biked, one actually secured the final ingredient of his topping–honeysuckle blooms–while walking through a park en route to the party. Talk about fresh and local! I’ve posted a few photos from our event.

As always, I enjoyed some great conversations between baking batches of waffles, and our foster daughter seemed to have a great time as well.

We were glad that we didn’t have any major logistical issues, as this was the first time hosting the event in our new house. Those who stayed a bit later got to see some post-ballgame fireworks over the downtown skyline, and to make some gelatin-free s’mores while sitting around the glow of the chimenea.

Toppings, ranging from simple to creatively complex, but all delicious, included: Kanga Roobarb (love the pun!) Compote with Strawberries; raw mango salsa; a “kitchen experiment” featuring avocado, Raspberry-Lime-Hot Pepper-Almond-Honeysuckle Flower Topping, mounds of fresh blueberries and strawberries, nut mixes, Red Pepper and Pine Nut Sauce, Pureed Mixed Berries with Banana and Spinach, salsa, Coconut Ecstasy, vegan pizza waffle toppings (organic pizza sauce and Daiya), spreadable vegan nut cheeses (cashew and macadamia nut), Sally’s Secret Flavor (rose!) Ice Cream, Anne’s Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, cherry chocolate chip ice cream, organic raspberry spread, Iris’s Vegan Cheesy Nutty Log, Strawberry Coulis, cherry topping, Raspberry Rhubarb Sauce, vegan caramel topping, Justin’s Maple Almond Nut Butter, pumpkin flax granola, and several tasty varieties of chocolate sauces and spreads.

And, somehow, our stomachs did not explode.

Best wishes to those who still have upcoming events for this season!

Makes 1 cup

• 1/2 cup coconut manna or coconut butter at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons vegan margarine at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Soften the coconut manna by placing the jar in a bowl of hot or warm water if necessary, to make it stirrable. Soften the margarine in the microwave if necessary, just until it’s stirrable.

Mix the coconut manna, margarine, and agave nectar in a small bowl until well blended. Fold in all but a tablespoon of the chocolate chips, and all but a tablespoon of cranberries. Stir until evenly distributed. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips and cranberries on top.

Spread onto your favorite waffle, or just eat huge globs off of a spoon when nobody’s looking.