Because such a project takes much more time and energy than occasional blog postings, I’m trying to determine how much demand there may be for such a resource.

If you’re interested enough in vegan waffles and waffle parties to consider purchasing such a product, please let me know by signing up for the WaffleParty.com Update List at the upper right hand side of this site. Be sure to check the “book plans and release” box. I’d appreciate your passing this along to any friends who might be interested, and asking them to take a few seconds to sign up as well. If I get several hundred signups in the weeks ahead, then I’ll know it may be worth bringing into the world. And you’ll be among the first to know if this happens. Many thanks!

Ingredients

• 1/3 C raw pecans, finely chopped
• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 1 C all-purpose wheat flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1 t salt
• 1 1/2 C apple cider
• 1/2 C soymilk
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/2 C canola oil
• 1 t vanilla

Directions

Chop the pecans and set them aside. In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, mix the apple cider, soymilk, sugar, canola oil, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until the dry ingredients are saturated. Fold in the chopped pecans. Because these waffles are exceptionally moist and cake-like, spray the waffle iron especially generously with oil, and cook for about a minute longer than normal cooking time. Drizzle with hot maple syrup or sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar.

However, when we get into gluten-free waffle making, and start substituting flours like rice flours/tapioca flour mixtures or pre-mixed gluten free blends, there may not be enough binding. This is where xanthan gum can be a life saver. A chain of sugars produced by bacteria found on certain plants, it has thickening and binding properties, and is sold as a powder. While an 8 oz. bag runs over $10, it lasts for a very long time because it is used in very small quantities.

For a mix making roughly 4 waffles, I find that 1 teaspoon or less of xanthan gum generally does the trick, unless the waffle also includes a lot of non-flour add-ins that impede binding. Do be aware that greater quantities of xanthan gum will also make your waffles a little crustier and denser, and not quite as light and fluffy, so it may take a little experimenting to find your perfect balance.

In the worlds of politics and democracy, waffling can be a great thing! We’re still waffle-ironing out the details, but on Oct. 5,  we’re hosting a second 2008 waffle party here in the ‘Burgh. This is just after World Vegetarian Day on October 1, one month before the U.S. national elections, and one day before voter registration deadlines in Pennsylvania and a number of other states. This will be a fundraiser in collaboration with the Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania grassroots endeavor Everybody EAT, which supports voter engagement activities of Everybody VOTE and Pennsylvania Voice. The result: Everybody EAT Vegan Waffles! Half the proceeds will go directly to the Sierra Student Coalition, because we’d hope to see even more dialogue and collaboration between vegans/vegetarians and environmental advocates in the future.

So if you’re looking to promote a better world in multiple ways at once, this is a great time for a vegan waffle party!

If you live in Pennsylvania and want to host a waffle party fundraiser to support these civic participation endeavors sometime before November 4, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with the appropriate people. I’d also love to include some info about your event on this site, and am happy to provide logistical suggestions if you need any.

If you live in another state, and take the initiative to support one of your local voter engagement endeavors with a waffle party (or even if you do it just in honor of World Vegetarian Day!), please let me know so we can mention your efforts on this site!

Coincidentally, one of our neighbors is hosting a potluck this weekend, so I plan to bake some vegan waffles in honor of Cornelius. (If only they had known that eggs and dairy aren’t necessary for waffles back in 1869…) Regardless of where you live, I’d love to hear if you do the same! And should they come out exceptionally well, express your excitement with the “Woot!” of the waffle world: “Wout!”

You can read more about Mr. Swartwout’s important contribution at the Swarthout Family pages. (From what I can tell, the spelling of the last name has taken on different versions over the years.)

If you live in a country with a much longer waffle maker heritage, and have any information on the history, feel free to comment and share with us what you know!

• 1 C rice flour
• 3/4 C buckwheat flour
• 1/4 C tapioca flour
• 1 t salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t xanthan gum
• 2 C + 2 T soymilk, plain unsweetened
• 1/4 C applesauce
• 3 T canola oil (decrease salt to 3/4 t if using a salted vegan margarine)
• 2 T molasses

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum. In a medium bowl, mix together the soymilk, applesauce, oil and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until blended - you don’t want chunks of dry flour, but it should still be a bit lumpy. Cook on a waffle iron generously sprayed with oil. Makes roughly 4 Belgian-style vegan waffles.

By the way, I did try it without the applesauce and tapioca flour, and found the waffles to be a bit too dense.

While waffles themselves aren’t generally good when they’re cold, they can go very well with cold toppings. Here are a few easy suggestions for making your vegan waffles a cool and refreshing dairy-free summer treat.

• When making waffles in the summer, make them in larger batches and freeze them. Next time you’re craving a waffle, you don’t have to spend much time in the kitchen near the hot iron. Just pop them into the toaster. If your iron makes round waffles, just don’t forget to break them into quarters before freezing so they fit into the toaster.
• If you’re craving a waffle with fruit, don’t bake the fruit into the waffle or cook it into the syrup. Keep it cool and fresh. Make a big bowl of fruit salad, and chill it to make a delicious waffle topping. This is particularly great to do this time of year, when fresh fruit is in abundance in many more locations–and local usually means fresher and tastier. The fresh blueberries from our local CSA farm share have been excellent this year!
• Use soy ice cream or sorbet, if you want it to be a little healthier, cold soy yogurt on top of the waffles. What I really enjoy is a “waffle ice cream sandwich”–two waffle quarters with some vegan ice cream in between. This is particularly good with some of the dessert waffles on this site.
• If you like chilled avocado, guacamole, or hummus, those can also add a cool twist to a waffle.
• The other day I even had the crazy idea of making waffle-shaped ice cubes or frozen orange juice-sicles! Yeah, I know I think about waffles a bit too much sometimes. However, none of our waffle makers have removable grids, and we don’t have one of those old-fashioned waffle makers that you use over a gas flame or campfire. The latter probably wouldn’t fit into our freezer with the long handle anyway. Oh, well… If you’re feeling adventurous and give this a try, let me know!

In some cases, our ceremonies take on an even more sinister tone, e.g., in the case of “animal roasts” where an entire animal will we brought out before a celebrating crowd. Is the violence-driven bonding and silent proclamation of power over another formerly living being really so different than that of say, a mob of racist people watching in delight as another human being of a different color hangs to their death, or a group of homophobic men tying another person to a fence and beating them due to their sexual orientation? Or is it simply that the recipient of violence is different? These are certainly not comfortable things for any of us to think about, let alone admit to ourselves. It may not be a coincidence that many of these celebrations also involve heavy drinking; perhaps it helps us to detach ourselves from the face that is suddenly clearer to us.  And such detachment and denial leaves us at risk of the same violence through which people may turn on one another. If such concepts are entirely new to you, resources such as this clip from the documentary “Earthlings” may help to make such connections.

Fourth of July picnics are a huge economic driver, and it is one of the busiest days of the year for many food retailers. Unfortunately, many of the products picnickers and grillers purchase are far from vegan or vegetarian.

If the weather’s nice, you’ll probably want to be outside grilling some kabobs with tofu, onion and other veggies, or perhaps some seasoned portabellas or homemade bean burgers. However, should rain be expected where you live (it is here in the ‘Burgh!), break out the waffle iron, pull out a few good vegan waffle recipes, and invite a few friends over. You can even throw one the morning after the big barbecue. Just keep the firecrackers away from the hot waffle iron…