Sweet Potato Waffles with Walnuts

Image courtesy of myrecipes.com

I had some leftover baked sweet potatoes last week so I peeled the skin off and popped them into a zip top bag. This week I decided to make some waffles to put in the freezer. The boys spied them and I am happy to report that only half of the waffles made it to the freezer.



Why am I happy about this? Because last year when I made these The Thinker wouldn't touch them and even my usually extraordinary eater The Reader stopped eating them when he spied an orange speck identified as a sweet potato. Maybe it was the fact that they neither one ate much of a lunch and declined to eat what was served for dinner and were absolutely ravished. Or maybe, just maybe, these were the best waffles they had ever eaten in their lives.

Don't let this recipe overwhelm you. If you don't have wheat germ on hand, just add back in the 2 T. of white flour. If you don't have ground flax seed meal, use 1 T. unsweetened applesauce instead. And you can always use white sugar in place of the raw sugar. Next time you bake sweet potatoes, just bake a few extra and save them back for this recipe.

Sweet Potato Waffles

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. MINUS 2 T. white flour
• 2 T. wheat germ
• 4 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. ground cloves
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1 c. pureed cooked sweet potato
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 T. unsweetened applesauce
• 2 T. ground flax seed meal
• 1 T. Sugar in the Raw
• 1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts

• In a large bowl, mix flours, baking powder, wheat germ, and spices.
• In a separate bowl, mix eggs yolks, sweet potato, milk, oil, flax, and applesauce.
• Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix only until moistened.
• In an electric mixer beat egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form.
• Fold egg whites and walnuts into batter.
• Pour batter onto a heated, nonstick lightly greased waffle iron.
• Cook until golden brown or until iron stops steaming. This will depend on your iron but the flax will make these brown quicker than not, my iron takes about 3 1/2 minutes.
• These freeze well, lay in a single layer on a cookie sheet to flash freeze. When ready to eat microwave for 30 seconds then toast on a light setting.

The original recipe yields 12 servings but my waffle iron allowed 20 waffles. According to SparkRecipes and based on 20 waffles this is about 100 calories and less than 4 grams of fat per serving.

My new favorite pancake/waffle topping is a spoonful of unsweetened applesauce and sliced banana. Try it!