Spiced Pumpkin Waffles

These waffles are supposed to feature a bit of chipotle chile powder to give them a mild heat and smokiness. I didn't have any dried chipotles on hand (just chipotles in adobo), so I ground up an ancho chile and used 1/2 tsp. of that instead. I hoped that also being a relatively mild, smoked pepper, it would do the same job as the chipotle. It may have been a bit too mild though, because I didn't really find any detectable heat coming through in the finished waffles. They were still tasty though! So maybe I just need to make sure to use actual chiptoles next time... Or bump up the quantity of ancho chile powder... Or give up on the spicy angle and just add a bit of extra mixed spice or ginger instead.

I also found the batter a bit thick for my liking. Perhaps this was because my eggs were a bit on the small side. But I think, even with an extra egg, it still would have been quite thick. That said, maybe I'll try adding an extra egg next time and see how it goes... And if the batter still seems unreasonably stiff, I'll probably just add a bit more milk to thin it out.

And, while I'm making adjustments anyway... I think these would be quite nice as whole wheat waffles. Although the inclusion of the wheat bran would probably make the batter even thicker, so I'd definitely plan on adding an extra few tablespoons of milk in that case.

Photo goes here.

Spiced Pumpking Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 250g flour¹
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. (or more) chipotle chile powder²
• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 2 large eggs (or 3 small), separated
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 c. milk³
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Sift the baking powder into the flour.
3. Add the salt, mixed spice, ginger, and chipotle powder and mix well.
4. In a large measuring cup, beat the egg yolks with the milk and pumpkin and mix in the sugar.
5. Slowly whisk the butter into the wet ingredients.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until just combined.
7. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
8. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
9. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. If you'd like your waffles a bit crisper, leave them in for an extra 20-30 seconds. Repeat until all batter has been used.
10. Serve with apple butter, maple syrup, maple cream cheese, and/or whipped cream.

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¹ I used all-purpose flour for this batch, but I'd like to try it with whole wheat flour next time. ^Back
2 I used ancho chile powder for this batch, but I think chipotle would have given them a bit more kick. ^Back
3 The original recipe only called for 1 1/4 c. milk, but the batter seemed a little too stiff to me, so I think I'd put a bit more milk next time. ^Back