Gluten Free Spiced Peach Buckwheat Waffles, Sans Xanthan Gum

Light, fluffy, flavorful and without gluten and xanthan gum!
Our family's favorite waffle recipe

Many gluten free recipes call for xanthan gum...at least the ones that are mimicking their evil gluten-containing twins, like cakes, cookies and breads. Since xanthan gum is derived from corn, that can be an issue for people with corn allergy. I'm considering exploring that possibility here, but just haven't been able to bring myself to that point yet. Going gluten free is challenging as it is, and to eliminate another food that is so helpful in gluten free cooking (cornstarch and tortilla chips!!) is ratcheting it up a notch too high at this moment.

As I rediscovered my love of buckwheat, I began to notice most bread-like things made with it contain xanthan gum. I have a lot on hand, thanks to a friend and a good deal at a local "dented can" grocery store, but if I don't have to use it then I'd rather not. And, since we are Waffle Lovers over here (thanks to my awesome stepson Andrew who got me a waffle maker for a gift) I was trying to find a buckwheat waffle recipe that didn't require the use of xanthan gum.

My mother in law had shared her waffle recipe with me when I got the waffle iron and I thought why not just substitute the all-purpose flour with buckwheat? It has whipped egg whites in it and baking powder so that will make them rise and be fluffy. I tried it and they turned out great, and honestly, I like them better than their evil wheat twins. Like I said, I love buckwheat!

They are a bit more labor intensive since you have to beat the egg whites until moderately stiff, but that only takes a minute or two, and the result is amazing so it's worth it. I also add vanilla, because we love vanilla too, and the aroma while they are cooking is amazing. We also like to have these any time of day, really. I'm planning on experimenting with a "savory" type of waffle for supper time, although we frequently have these waffles and scrambled eggs for "brupper". Breakfast for supper...

Best Ever Waffles (foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 c buckwheat flour (any type)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sucanat (or sugar of your choice)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 c melted butter, coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 3/4 c milk
• 2 tsp vanilla, more or less (;

Method:

Plug in your waffle iron to preheat it. Whisk together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk together egg yolks, milk and vanilla. Beat egg whites until moderately stiff. Combine milk mixture and flour mixture and blend well (I just use a whisk), mix in melted butter, then fold in egg whites. Cook on well greased waffle iron until done, top as desired. 

We usually use butter and real, yummy maple syrup. We also like fresh blueberries and whipped cream...well, any kind of fruit and whipped cream. Today, I made spiced peaches to put on top, which would have been good with whipped cream...had I thought of it in time to make the whipped cream. I'm not a morning person. I'm also not a DST person. The combination has been especially brutal this year. 

Anyway...the "spiced peaches" was not made as ideally as I'd prefer (fresh peaches and juice) but I do the best I can with what I have. Here's my "recipe"....

Spiced Peaches and Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 large can sliced peaches in heavy syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• splash of vanilla

Method:

Drain some of the heavy syrup off the peaches and whisk in the spices until well combined. Add the rest of the peaches and juice and mix well. 

If I had fresh peaches, I would have sliced them and put a little sugar on them to draw out the juice, then proceeded as above. Makes my mouth water to think about it...I absolutely ADORE fresh peaches.

Lightly spiced, no HFCS. Delicious on our waffles!

Allergy-Free* Spice Cake...FINALLY!

Thankfully, we don't have nut or egg allergies here, but I know many do so I'm sharing this recipe I found...and modified to suit our gluten-free needs. We love spice cake, and cake in general, so it's great to be able to have our cake and eat it too even though we're gluten-free. I made this for a family gathering today, and eaters of gluten loved it too.

I found this recipe on All Recipes, it's called Wacky Buckwheat Spice Cake. It's egg and nut free, and with some small modifications also gluten free. The title to my post is Allergy-Free*...but if you have a corn allergy you'll need to substitute for the cornstarch. I know there are people out there that are allergic to virtually everything, but I think this seems like a recipe that would suit many with egg, wheat, gluten and nut allergies. I was so happy to find this, because all the recipes I'd found for buckwheat cake always included almond meal...which I never have because it's kind of pricey. I'd wondered if ground flax would be a suitable substitute and decided that a family gathering was the perfect place to test out a new recipe.

The batter is thin, and seems like it would be too runny but it bakes up nicely. It fills the house with a delicious spicy aroma. And it tastes fantastic. The texture is different than regular spice cake, ground flax is not as fine as regular flour. It also calls for a couple pinches of black pepper, which did not sound good at all to me so I left it out. I topped it off with a creamy cream cheese frosting (add a couple spoonfuls of sour cream and wow is it yummy!), but it would be good by itself or topped with fresh whipped cream or a sprinkle of vanilla sugar, maybe even some fruit. 

I doubled the original recipe and baked it in a 9" x 13" pan. Click on the link to go to the original recipe, what follows is how I made it...

WACKY BUCKWHEAT SPICE CAKE

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flax meal
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sucanat
• 1 cup white sugar (next time I will use all sucanat)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• 2 Tb molasses
• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 2 Tb white vinegar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups cold water

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Mix until just blended. Pour the batter into a 9" x 13" baking dish (the original recipe says ungreased, but I missed that and greased the pan with no ill effects). 

Bake in the preheated oven until it passes the toothpick test, 30-40 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.