Hi, all!

Whether you’re serving vegan waffles to a few dozen people in a cafe or just a good friend or two in your home, I wish you all happy vegan waffling this Saturday! If you’re not already on the waffle party host weblink list, let me know and I’ll put you on there. Thanks to those of you who recently provided updates.

We’re expecting a decent turnout here, even though the Pittsburgh Penguins will be playing the first game of a hockey finals series during our party. The waffles, however, will certainly not resemble pucks! Toppings to be brought range from vegan ambrosia to “swimming nuts” (nuts in syrup). We’re very excited, especially given that several of you in other cities will also be celebrating the same day!

Following your parties, I’d love to hear some of your highlights, such as what waffle recipes you used (I won’t be offended if it’s not from this site!), what your favorite/most popular toppings were, what the most bizarre toppings were, etc. Did you do anything really creative like vote on the best tasting/looking/smelling/most wearable toppings? What’s the oddest combination of toppings a guest tried on the same waffle?

After the festivities, if you’d like to send me one or two highlight photos from your party, I’ll pick and handful and post them here. Outside of that, I’m happy to put up links to your blog or photo album site for other Waffleparty.com visitors to check out. Of course, I’ll assume that you got permission from any guests whose faces appear in the photos. I usually take a few pics of the toppings people bring, and will probably put up a few of those.

Have fun!

Dave

Vegan waffle parties are off the grid! It is time to get the word out to the world. This will happen only with your action and creativity–and your willingness to join us in having a great time.

We’re hosting Waffle Party 10 here in Pittsburgh on the afternoon/evening of Saturday, May 24, 2008. We think it would be ultra-ultra-cool if adventurous people in several other cities around the globe also threw vegan waffle parties on 5/24. This would promote more sustainable, healthier, compassionate eating in a fun way! Please comment on this post if you’re interested in hosting one, so we have an idea of how many others will be waffle-partying that day. Whether you’re hosting 50 people for a big evening party or five people for a small brunch, we’d love to know.

This also happens to fall right at the end of the UK’s National Vegetarian Week, and according to some organizations/sites, World Vegetarian Week.

I’ve set up a blogroll category for sites of those who are also planning to host waffle parties on 5/24, and may look into something like having info/pics from the parties posted afterwards–I don’t know if this latter piece will happen, but I’ll let you know if it looks like a possibility. (Privacy of guests is always a consideration for us.) If it’s not okay to contact you with any relevant updates using the email you submit with your comment, just let me know. I anticipate only a few, with most major ones being through site postings.

A few tips, in case you don’t get that perfect waffle on the first try:

If your waffle comes out too tough or “rubbery” (THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST COMMON ERROR) , you may have mixed the batter too well–you want it to still be fairly “lumpy” before you pour it into the waffle iron.

If your waffle sticks to the iron, you have several options. If possible, let it cook a little longer before opening the iron. In general, vegan waffles seem to need a little longer to cook than non-vegan waffles. Try adding more oil to the grids–or add at least some oil if you didn’t before, even with a nonstick coating. If you’re going for a particularly light and fluffy waffle, or one that’s very moist on the inside, there’s a greater tendency it will pull apart when you open the iron–you may want to add some Ener-G egg replacer to provide a little additional “binding.” If these all fail, and you have consistent sticking problems, you may need a higher-power waffle iron. If your waffle iron is very old, it’s possible that the coating has pits and scratches in it, especially if you’ve used abrasive or metal items on the grills. To preserve the waffle grid’s surface, use wooden utensils like chopsticks to clean out “stuck” waffle pieces–don’t use metal forks or butter knives.

If your waffle isn’t quite as crispy on the outside as you’d like it to be, try adding some sweetner such as sugar if the recipe doesn’t already call for it, or turn up your iron’s heat (if it has such an adjustment).

If the waffle comes out too soft in the middle, you may just need to set the iron’s heat on a lower setting (again, if it has such an adjustment) and cook it a little longer, or add less of the “mushy” substance–yogurt, banana, applesauce, etc.

If your waffle comes out too dry, experiment with adding a little more of any of the liquid or liquid-containing ingredients: soymilk, applesauce, banana, and/or oil, depending upon what type of flavor you want.

This recipe for chocolate vegan waffles is probably about as close as you can get to making brownies in a waffle iron. I was craving chocolate one evening, but didn’t feel like spending the time making brownies in the oven. I did a little experimenting, and this is what I came up with! Note that this recipe makes only two waffles–I haven’t tried doubling it yet because they are pretty rich, and these don’t seem to freeze as well as non-dessert waffles. Feel free to experiment, though, if you wish to make a larger number for company or kids! Also note that these truly are dark chocolate, i.e., we don’t like them overly sweet–you can adjust the cocoa/sugar ratios to your preference.If your waffle iron has a heat adjustment, you’ll want to set it a little lower than you would for waffles with a crispy exterior (I set our Waring Pro at a “4,” and left each waffle in for just under a minute past the wafflemaker’s automatic “done” alarm).

• 3 T cocoa powder
• 3/4 C spelt flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 t Ener-G egg replacer powder
• 1/2 t cinnamon (optional–if you wanted a Mexican chocolate “kick,” you could also add a dash of cayenne pepper)
• 1/4 t salt
• 3 T sugar
• 3 T canola oil
• 1/2 C plain soy creamer
• 1/4 C unsweetened plain soymilk
• 1/2 t vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl (try to break up any cocoa clumps as much as possible) and the wet ingredients in another. Pour the wet into the dry and mix just until the dry ingredients are saturated. Cook on a waffle iron sprayed generously with oil (we generally use canola). Enjoy!