Red Velvet Waffles w/ Cream Cheese Maple Sauce and Toasted Coconut 4/5 Spoons

OK, so it is not the weekend anymore, but here I am!

I have this insane idea to make pancakes/waffles out of all of my favorite desserts and luckily people around this beautiful world have the same idea as well. I've made Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes and now Red Velvet Waffles (next will be Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes!) I served this with my standard tofu scramble (Thanks Kris Anne!) and some MorningStar Farms Veggie Bacon.

(My picture of my 2nd waffle.... I was too hungry to take a picture of the 1st one! That is the cream cheese maple sauce and toasted coconut on top.)

Here are my notes:

-- I was astounded that someone would use 1 1/4 cups of sugar in these waffles. These made 6 big waffles for me, so that's like a little less of 1/4 c. of sugar in EACH WAFFLE. Sick. I used 1/2 c. and I think it was plenty. I wanted the cocoa flavor to shine through and I was putting sweet syrup on top, so I recommend you don't go above 1/2 c. unless you love really sweet things.
-- Make sure to have your buttermilk at room temperature. Even though my butter was melted and cooled, my buttermilk was cold so it kind of turned the fat in the butter into a weird flaky mess. I could whisk most of it out but you don't want to over-whisk waffles so just a note for y'all.
-- For my cream cheese maple sauce, I didn't use their recipe. I left 4 ounces of cream cheese out at room temp most of the day. I warmed up the cheese in the microwave for about 40 seconds and added about 2 T. confectioner's sugar, 3-4 T. pure maple syrup and a dash of milk to combine. Just mix with a fork until it is smooth and you are able to drizzle it on your waffles.
-- As for the coconut, it was kind of an after thought. I put about 1/2 c. of coconut in a pan and toasted it on low-medium heat and stirred it frequently. It takes about 10 minutes, just keep an eye on it, because it can burn quickly.

(Photo courtesy of The Spellbound Cafe)

These were really delicious. I wouldn't say they were perfect because I think they could use some tweaks. Not sure what but I'll mull it over and let you all know. They had a great cake like texture but didn't necessarily crisp up the way I wanted them to in the waffle iron. It might have something to do with my really old iron and not with the recipe though. Even though they were a bit floppy they had a really nice cocoa flavor and worked SO WELL with the cream cheese maple topping and toasted coconut. I will make this again with some minor adjustments. If you have fantastic waffle and pancake recipes you think I should try, please let me know!

Next up.... Spinach and Artichoke Spaghetti Bake! (My own recipe.... ooh la la.)

JACKIE'S TOP 5

So, I know I was going to review Red Velvet Waffles with Coconut Cream Cheese Topping first but I just wanted to come here and throw out some of the recipes I can't wait to make. I always have a long list of things I'm dying to make, but these are my top 5 as of right now. My stomach is just not as big as my desire to make all this food! Here we go (and these aren't any order, I'm just listing them off):

#1: Sweet Corn Arepa Pancakes

(Photo courtesy of roboppy's Flickr page)

I've never had an arepa.... until this morning. Well let me say that I had an arepa style pancakes at Tweet (my favorite brunch spot in Chicago) and they were dynamite. They were covered with creme fraiche, soy chorizo, over easy eggs, avocado, some sort of amazing hot sauce and black beans. Every bite was a dream. I want to re-create some of those same flavors at home with this recipe. It calls for some orange juice which I think is a great compliment to the strong corn flavor. This is an easy meal with a ton of flavor and my favorite thing of all: a vehicle for a million condiments piled on top.

#2: Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownie

(Photo courtesy of BBC)

Not gonna lie, I have a huge crush on Lorraine Pascale.

(Photo courtesy of Tory Burch)

Sigh.....

Anyway, she has a show on Cooking Channel called Simply Baking. She made these on her last show and they looked so fudge-y and decadent, they are totally going to be made for like Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert. They are not everyday brownies but I bet they are just what I'm looking for.

#3: Vegan Nanaimo Bars

(Photo courtesy of One Green Planet, which is an awesome website BTW)

I had no idea what Nanaimo Bars were until like last week. I had heard of them but literally my mind always went blank when people talked about them. For some reason the name alone evoked feelings of numbness. Don't ask me why, I don't question my motives anymore.

I don't know what I was so scared of.... these are veganized bars filled with chocolate, graham cracker crumbs, nuts and a creamy pudding filling. WHAT HAVE I BEEN MISSING ALL THESE YEARS???? I can't wait to make these and review the hell out of them here. Then we can all share in the joy.

#4: Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk (Vegan and Gluten Free!)

(Photo courtesy of Gluten-Free Goddess)

I love pumpkin anything. Pumpkin soups are amazing. The last time I made pumpkin soup I had told my roommates that I was making it and to not eat dinner after work because there would be delicious food waiting for them. I felt like a jilted wife when they both came home at 10 pm having had dinner and ready to go to bed. Don't I sound sad here? I don't want to equate fall soup with depressing dinners! Anyhow, I divided up the soup into portions and ate it for a week and it was just as good on the 7th day as the 1st. This one is vegan and gluten-free and sounds amazing.

#5: Fettucine NoFredo with Roasted Butternut Squash (Vegan)

(Photo courtesy of Kreeli)

This is my friend Christa's dish (she used to run VeganMania in Vancouver, she is pretty amazing and you can find awesome recipes there). Vegan alfredo sauce? You are joking. But that picture is no damn joke. I plan on making this on a really cold day which will be coming sooner rather than later.

Thank you for indulging in my food fantasies. There will be a waffle recipe review this weekend. Until then, take care of yourself and eat some great food!

Full Breakfast! 3 Items Reviewed!

Wow, totally missing in action ONCE AGAIN. I find it hard to focus sometimes even when it comes to food which I realize sounds insane. I have been cooking and baking a lot but I've been trying to keep myself busy. When you are looking for work, it is important to keep busy otherwise you will go totally batty. So anyhow, this is one of the best recipes from the last 2 weeks or so.

(Photo courtesy of Post Punk Kitchen)

So, of course I love sweet things for dinner as much as I like them any other time of the day. I try not to make this a habit but sometimes a girl needs a buttery, crispy waffle oozing with warm maple syrup to finish off her day. Usually I go the waffle route because I like any reason to use my grandma's old iron. My friend Ethan pointed me in the direction of these sinfully decadent Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes. These were made non-vegan with the addition of a Maple Cream Cheese Sauce but I thought it was necessary to go full tilt with the whole carrot cake idea. And to make this a full breakfast, I made my own vegan version of this Sausage and Potato Hash.

My notes and substitutions:

Pancakes

-- Instead of maple syrup as the sweetener, I just used granulated sugar.
-- Allspice isn't something I typically use, so I just added a dash more cinnamon to the mix.

Maple Cream Cheese Sauce

-- All I can say is make sure the cream cheese is FULLY at room temperature. I'm usually super anal about that but I let it slide this time and the sauce was lumpy. It was still good but would be more presentable for guests at room temp.

Sausage and Potato Hash

(Photo courtesy of Never Enough Thyme)

-- Instead of meat (of course), I used Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage. This is my favorite sausage substitute and use it for meatballs, hash and put it on my pizza among other things.
-- I cut this recipe in half since it was only for two people but I could have easily demolished this all! It was so good and easy customizable.
-- If you are like me and love a good dark crust on your potatoes, crank up the heat. Once the heat is cranked, place a dish on top of the hash and weigh it down with a full tea kettle or a couple of cans to really get a crispy crust. Make sure to stir a few times and replace the weights again until it is to your desired crispiness. I believe this is essential to this meal, but if you are into limp potatoes, more power to you my loves.

Breakfast for dinner is like a pile of a thousand puppies playing. Basically what I'm trying to say it's awesome. Once I made the pancakes, I put them on a pan in a very low but warm oven (200 F) to maintain their heat but not continue to cook. And because it just makes me happy, I decided to toast some almonds to sprinkle on top. The pancakes had a really nice carrot cake flavor without being too sweet (unless you add the sauce, which just made them AMAZING). The salty crispiness of the hash and sweet warmth of the pancakes and sauce made this a perfect balanced meal. Well maybe not healthily balanced but certainly made my soul sing.

I give all the recipes:

5/5 Spoons!

I might not review another recipe for a little while again, but trust me I have notes and will be back. Take care all!