VegNews’ most recent newsletter includes two excellent resources for this year’s Global Vegan Waffle Party: The Guide to Vegan Chocolate, and The Guide to Vegan Cheese. They list a lot of options, so now you have no excuses. Only thing I’d add is Love Street Living Foods, a producer of delicious raw organic vegan chocolate from our area.

Makes 2 cups

If you’ve been craving a vegan waffle topping recipe that’s a cross between fudge and chocolate cheesecake, dark and moderately sweet with a slightly fermented and savory edge, I can totally relate.

That’s exactly how I came up with this waffle spread recipe, building upon Russell James’ basic cashew nut cheese recipe from his Raw Nut Cheese Recipes ebook. You can spread it on waffles, or after it’s thickened and ripened a bit more in the fridge for a few days, slice it into bite-sized pieces and eat it alone as a dessert.

• 2 cups raw cashews
• 1 cup water (for a slightly more fermented flavor, you can also use rejuvelac as described at Sunny Raw Kitchen)
• 1 teaspoon probiotic powder*
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar**
• 2 tablespoons molasses (preferably blackstrap)
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Soak the cashews in room-temperature water for 20 minutes. Drain the cashews and place in a blender with the 1 cup of water (or rejuvelac prepared in advance) and probiotic powder, mixing at high speed until smooth. Stop to scrape down the sides of the blender pitcher as necessary.

Put the mixture in a sieve or colander lined with cheesecloth (I used extra-fine cheesecloth and doubled it), placed over a bowl to catch any water. Then put a weight on top to help push out water. I use a jar filled with water as James suggests, with one addition: I then place the jar atop a flat-bottomed plastic bowl with a diameter just slightly smaller than that of the sieve. The bowl helps to distribute the weight for more even pressing. Don’t worry if that much water doesn’t drip out, as the cheesecloth itself will absorb some of the water.

Allow to culture at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours. I chose the midpoint of James’ recommendation, allowing it to sit between 36 and 40 hours. Then remove the cultured mixture from the sieve or colander, and place in a medium bowl. Add the cocoa powder, brown sugar, molasses, nutritional yeast, and salt. Stir until well blended and smooth.

If you simply can’t resist, enjoy at this step, spread atop your favorite vegan waffle, alongside a glass of pinot noir. (Some wine recommendations at Barnivore or Veg News.) Otherwise, place the remainder in a small bowl in the warmest part of your refrigerator (usually the veggie crisper) for 1-2 days, where it will thicken just a bit more and the tartness from the culturing will become slightly more pronounced. We finished it within a week, so we didn’t get a chance to experiment with any serious aging.

Jo Stepaniak’s now-classic Uncheese Cookbook originally got me interested in homemade dairy-free cheese possibilities–including desserts similar to cheesecake. While some of her great recipes utilize miso to add a bit of that fermented flavor, the actual culturing of the nuts with probiotics takes things in another direction. (This is how Dr. Cow vegan cheeses does it, but with a bit more practice and know-how.)

I am curious to try a variation on this recipe as well: vegan chipotle chocolate cheese. I do have a bit of raw smoked chipotle cashew cheese aging in my new “cheese cave”–a re-purposed wine refrigerator that I got a good deal on–and may try a cocoa + chipotle hybrid spread in the near future. If you try something like this and it turns out well, please let me know!

*Note: You’ll need to check each brand of probiotic to confirm whether it comes from a non-dairy source. I can’t comment on the different results that different probiotic strains/blends may produce–sources I’ve read so far suggest that most probiotic powders will do the trick. I used New Chapter All Flora, a non-dairy-derived blend of several strains that James includes in his examples. If you buy capsules instead of powder, you’ll need to break open enough capsules to get a teaspoon of the powder, and then discard the shells of the capsules.

**Note: If you’re not a big fan of dark chocolate (i.e., with a cocoa content of above 50%) you may wish to experiment with adding a bit more brown sugar.

This is it: The recipe from The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook that tastes like cheesy pizza. And it happens to be one of my favorite waffle recipes.

The great photo is from friend and very cool Pittsburgh Vegan Meetup Member Lisa Tirmenstein, who captured the colorful array of some of the ingredients prior to mixing. Add savory Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and yeast-raised aroma. Enjoy!

Makes 4 (7-inch) round Belgian vegan waffles

Because the dough needs time to rise, begin at least 3 hours in advance of baking the waffles or 1 1/2 hours in advance if you are using quick-rise yeast.

• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup pitted and finely chopped Kalamata olives
• 1/3 cup finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes, preserved in olive oil or rehydrated
• 1 cup soymilk or other nondairy milk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon light or chickpea miso
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 medium cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne

Dissolve the yeast in the water in a large non-metal bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt until well blended. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm location until the flour mixture has almost doubled. (You can use your oven for this. Make sure the oven rack is low enough for the bowl to fit. Turn the oven on for one to two minutes at 200 degrees F. Turn off the oven, place the covered bowl on the rack, and close the oven door. If you wish to let the batter stand overnight, covering the bowl and leaving it at room temperature will work fine.)

After the flour mixture has risen, chop the olives and sun-dried tomatoes, and set aside. Combine the soymilk, oil, nutritional yeast, miso, flaxseed, sugar, garlic, baking powder, basil, onion powder, oregano, and cayenne in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly, breaking up any clumps of miso. Pour into the raised flour mixture and stir until well blended. Fold in the olives and sun-dried tomatoes, and let stand for 15 minutes.

Preheat the waffle iron for 3 to 5 minutes while the batter is standing. Spray both grids of the waffle iron with oil. 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 4 to 6 minutes, or until it can be removed easily.

The 2012 suggested Global Vegan Waffle Party theme is Chocolate ‘n’ Cheeze! Chocolate, of course, can include any sweet or savory waffle topping incorporating cocoa, ranging from fudge sauce to cocoa-infused chili or mole sauce. As for vegan cheese or cheeze, a range of commercial vegan cheese options are available, including a few that are quite meltable or spreadable. Homemade cheeze also presents an opportunity for creativity.

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.Why chocolate and cheeze? First, I really enjoy these two food categories, having started to explore them in more depth over the last year. Secondly, they’re relatively popular in general, but many people are hesitant to try vegan versions of their favorites.

If you’re in need of ideas for yourself or guests, a few sources immediately come to mind. Chocolate Covered Katie, to my knowledge, is the go-to site for vegan chocolate recipes. Not to mention great photos that will make you want to start each meal with dessert. There are also a few noteworthy topping recipes in both the Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook and my recent Vegan Chocolate Seduction, alongside recipes inspired by Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and Liz Lovely’s Chocolate Moose Dragons.

As for cheeze-related topping recipes, Jo Stepaniak’s Uncheese Cookbook remains one of my favorites, especially as her spice combinations inspired a few of the savory waffle recipes in the GVWC. Alisa Fleming’s comprehensive Go Dairy Free
also includes recipes created from several bases.

I’d also like to experiment with some cultured (strong and sharp if possible) homemade vegan cheeses that would spread nicely on vegan waffles, and I’m hoping we can entice some creative guests of our local party to do the same. The Sunny Raw Kitchen has a basic cashew cheeze recipe that looks promising, along with several delicious-looking variations. I have yet to try some of the recipes from the Raw Nut Cheese ebook I recently purchased.

I look forward to hearing about your event, and your own vegan chocolate and cheeze waffle topping adventures!

Imagine if you took cheese crackers and made them vegan, and then puffed them up into a fluffy, crispy waffle. That’s about the best description I can come up with for these! This recipe was inspired by Jo Stepaniak’s “crock cheez” recipe from her Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, which I highly recommend. These could make a great snack served in quarters for a Super Bowl party or other gathering; if you’re planning on using them for a meal you may wish to decrease the salt from 3/4 t to 1/2 t, as they are relatively salty (just like cheese crackers).

I was trying to come up with a catchy name blending the words “cheese” and “waffle,” but that yielded things like “weesle,” “chaffle” and “wacheese.” These, of course, sound like a sneaky animal, a painful injury, and a reaction to airborne irritants. Not very appetizing! So, they’re just “cheddar cheesy vegan waffles” for now.

Along with being pretty tasty on their own, they’re great served with additional applesauce on top, and you might also try them smothered with a generous portion of vegan chili.

Ingredients

• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C rolled oats
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 3T nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 1/2 T miso (light or chickpea)
• 1 t onion powder
• 3/4 t salt (if you don’t want them as salty as cheese crackers, reduce this to 1/2 t)
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/4 t dry mustard powder
• 2 C soymilk
• 2 T fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 C canola oil
• optional: 1 T prepared horseradish

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk together the wet ingredients in a separate medium bowl. Be sure to break up the clumps of miso very well, as it has a strong flavor. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix just until blended. Allow the batter to sit for 3 to 5 minutes. Cook on a generously oiled waffle iron, generously sparying both grills with oil before each waffle.