Healthier Chocolate Banana Waffles

Yesterday I took a trip to London to attend the first ever Best Of PinterestUK awards as several (five!) of my recipes had been shortlisted; I didn't win in the end but my spiralized vegetable noodle bowls did come runner up in the best healthy recipe category (beaten by a recipe by Fearne Cotton) for which I won a whole kilo of chocolate. Even better than the chocolate though was actually getting to meet a load of my fellow food bloggers, most of whom I had thus far only known online and who were all even lovelier in real life.

This morning I made a special breakfast to celebrate - healthier chocolate banana waffles. HealthIER rather than totally healthy because they still need to be drenched in maple syrup and a drizzle of chocolate (well not necessarily need, but it is definitely recommended!). The waffles themselves are a bit better for you though as they are made with a mixture of white spelt flour and buckwheat flour, swap vegetable oil for olive oil, have banana in the batter and have added yoghurt for protein. Topped with an abundance of fresh fruit and a dollop of yoghurt (along with the maple syrup and chocolate) they make for a very delicious but not too unhealthy breakfast or brunch.

I used my new Cuisinart waffle maker from Steamer Trading (my absolute favourite cookshop) to make the waffles. It makes lovely big waffles, is super easy to use and clean, has a handy rim to catch any run-over should you overfill it so it doesn't drip all over the worktop and it even tells you when the waffles are cooked through so you don't need to guess! It has become my new favourite kitchen toy and is going to be getting a lot of use! A common problem with making waffles is that they stick to the pan, I found that the best way to stop this from happening is to make sure that there is enough oil in the batter, get the waffle iron really hot before pouring in the batter, make sure that it is well greased and don't open it until the waffles are cooked! For extra crisp waffles, place them on a baking tray in a low oven once they are cooked while you make the rest, this will help crisp up the outside.

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Healthier Chocolate Banana Waffles

Servings 6 waffles

Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

Waffles:

• 1 large ripe banana chopped
• 1 large egg
• 100 g plain yoghurt
• 100 ml milk
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g white spelt flour
• 50 g buckwheat flour
• 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ tsp salt

To Serve:

• maple syrup or honey
• sliced banana
• fresh blueberries
• yoghurt
• melted dark chocolate

Instructions

• Place the banana, egg, yogurt, milk, olive oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract in a blender and blitz until smooth.
  
• Stir together the spelt flour, buckwheat flour, cornflour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl.
  
• Gradually whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until the batter is smooth, do not over-mix.
  
• Allow the batter to rest for five minutes while you heat up your waffle maker and preheat the oven to 140C/275F/gas mark 1; place a baking tray in the oven.
  
• Brush the waffle iron with vegetable oil then cook your waffles according to the manufacturers instructions. Once cooked, carefully lift the waffles onto the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm and crisp up a bit more.
  
• Continue to cook the rest of the waffles, placing them in the oven as you go. Serve topped with plenty of maple syrup, sliced banana, blueberries, a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of dark chocolate.
  
• Un-topped waffles can be frozen once cooled and re-heated in a low oven when needed.
  

I was sent a free waffle maker but I was not paid to write this post and all opinions are my own

I am sharing these with Saucy Saturdays hosted by The Flavour Bender, Take Two Tapas, La Petit Chef and Mid-Life Croissant,