Gluten Free Vanilla Pomegranate Waffles made with one of my favorite fruits of winter. These waffles are so good and I want to eat them for breakfast every day.
I have had a lifelong love affair with the pomegranate. It all started as a kid when I would go to the grocery store with my mom and I would get so excited to see the giant red orbs on display in the front of the store every winter. " Mom can I get a pomegranate pleeaaassseee???" And if I was good at the store I would get one. Sometimes I would sneak another one in to the cart. I remember my mom always telling me that I cost her an extra $60 every time she took me to the store. But it was always because I wanted out of season mangoes, pineapples or giant pomegranates. At least I always asked for healthy foods, right?
Its no secret that waffles are a favorite in our house. I make them often, and I have adapted most of my waffle recipes to be gluten free, some made with my gluten free AP mix I came up with, and some are made with just the certain amounts of flours and starches needed just for that particular recipe. I am learning more about baking and cooking gluten free and I am thrilled with how great these came out. We aren't gluten intolerant but I have many friends that are so I am adapting my recipes to share with them as well as all of you! I have had issues in the past with my GF waffles sticking to my waffle iron, but these ones didn't, they came out perfect!!
I have never made pomegranate waffles before, but after my husband came home with a GIANT box of pomegranates from Costco, I figured I had better find a ton of recipes to make with them, besides just eating them as is, so none would go bad before we got to them. So naturally my first thought was waffles.
I always feel like I have committed a murder every time I cut open a pomegranate. CSI: Produce Bin. I know, I am a dork. There really aren't many ways to open a pomegranate without making any sort of mess, I have found that cutting in in half through the middle ( not from stem to stem) makes the least mess, at least for me it does. There are many ways to de-seeding a pomegrante from the underwater method ( which I use) to beating with a spoon to the seed-out gadget or just sitting down and popping out seeds one at a time.
I cut in half, and place in a bowl in the sink under cold water. I love the way the pomegranate looks cut in half. I work with one half at a time and I gently pull the pomegranate apart. Pomegranates float in water - pretty cool huh?
I like this method because the white parts all float and the seeds or arils sink. I use a small strainer to skim out the white parts, like skimming a pool for leaves ha ha, and then I gently rub the arils under water to loosen any that might be stuck to them. Sort of like rubbing rice when I rinse it, but a lot more gentle. Then I pour into a bigger strainer to drain.
Of course my 4 year old is always standing next to me waiting for her bowl of pomegranate whenever I am de-seeding one. It seems that she has inherited my love of this fruit. I hate to tell her that they aren't available year round, so I will spare her that information, its hard enough explaining that we couldn't keep our beyond dead Christmas tree in the house in case Santa might come back any day now, according to her. I just wish his elves would come help clean up the mess....
I love how light and crispy these waffles are and they smelled amazing when cooking. Or is it baking? Maybe its waffling? Not sure exactly how to describe their cooking method description. I am also not shy when it comes to using vanilla in baked goods. Its the one ingredient I never measure. *gasp* I know right? I POUR. In my opinion, recipes that only call for ½ teaspoon of vanilla and make a gazillion of whatever the recipe yields, I never really get the feeling that vanilla was even used. I love vanilla so I use it and not sparingly. Also for an extra added punch of vanilla I scraped some vanilla beans into the flour mixture as well as using the extract.
Gluten Free Vanilla Pomegranate Waffles
Ingredients
- ¾ c millet flour
- ¾ c sweet white or glutinous rice flour, finely ground
- ½ c potato starch
- ⅓ c tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoon organic sugar
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out, pod reserved
- 2 cups well shaken buttermilk, room temp (can also use almond or coconut milk)
- ⅓ c melted and slightly cooled coconut oil
- 3 eggs separated, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ - 2 c pomegranate arils
- Optional: pure maple syrup and Greek yogurt
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients and whisk to thoroughly combine. Add in the vanilla bean seeds and rub with your fingers into some of the flour mix to break it up and distribute evenly into the mixture.
- In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla, add in the buttermilk (or other milk of choice) and whisk. Add in the coconut oil and whisk again to try to incorporate it as best you can, there will be some that doesn’t mix in, that’s ok. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix well until there are almost no lumps left and all the dry ingredients are well moistened. Whip the egg whites until medium-stiff peaks form then gently fold into the rest of the batter. Fold in the pomegranate arils and let rest for 5 min.
- Heat up a waffle iron and spray with sunflower or safflower oil, spoon or ladle in batter (amount varies depends on waffle iron size and brand) and cook according to directions. Serve hot with pure maple syrup, Greek yogurt and more pomegranate arils
Notes
These are so good with a dollop of Greek yogurt, maple syrup or even eaten plain with extra pomegranate arils sprinkled on top.
The only crime I committed here was making insanely good pomegranate waffles.
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