Spelt Almond Beer Waffles
by Crystal Luxmore, Advanced Cicerone®, Award-Winning Beer Writer; Co-Founder, Beer Sisters Inc. & Cicerone Certification Program Canadian Rep
“Waffles are my ultimate comfort food. They’re a regular at my family’s breakfast table most weekends — and as a mediocre cook and baker — they give me room to experiment a little without screwing things up too much.
I grew up in Terrace Bay, a tiny pulp and paper mill town on the shores of Lake Superior in Northern Ontario. Our dinner table was one of mashed potatoes and sausages, and when my Dad picked my sisters and up at school daily for lunch, my mom prepped simple lunches prepared for our family of six, like Campbell’s Tomato Soup served with canned salmon mashed up with mayo and relish and baked on English Muffins.
I love to eat. But I never really learned to appreciate the intricacies of food and discern different aromas and flavours until I started writing about beer, and then studying to become a Certified Cicerone®, and suddenly wanted to be able to describe its varied culinary flavours.
That drive hasn’t translated into me becoming a gourmand in my kitchen though. Instead, just like my own Mom did, I stick to the basics, although I cook more from scratch than from cans or packages, as most middle-class, North American families are doing these days.
I also try to keep things healthy for my kids and my gut, which became bloated from a decade of reporting on and studying beer. So, these spelt almond waffles come from Amy Chaplin’s at home in the whole food kitchen.
I diverge on Chaplin’s recipe a bit, which calls for orange juice and zest, since my kids (and I) don’t dig orange zest in baking, and I never have orange juice on hand. But the waffles need some bitterness, so I substitute an equal amount of a helles or pilsner instead (which I always have on hand – any low to moderately-hopped lager will do), the bonus being it provides extra fluffiness thanks to its bubbles.
I love these waffles, and soldier on making them, despite my kids, between mouthfuls, stating that these “taste weird,” and they still prefer Aunt Jemima’s.”
INGREDIENTS
Makes 8 medium waffles
1¼ cup spelt flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup almond meal
2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
¼ cup olive oil or melted coconut oil
¾ cup almond, soy or oat milk
½ cup lager
3 tablespoons honey or brown rice syrup
Melted butter for brushing waffle iron.
RECIPE
Preheat waffle iron. Mix spelt flour and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl. Add almond meal.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, oil and almond milk until combined. Stire into dry mixture, drizzle honey or rice syrup over batter and stir again. Fold beer into mixture. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold into batter. Brush waffle iron with melted butter. Cook until golden brown.
Leftover waffles can be frozen for up to three months and reheated in a toaster oven.
Adapted from Amy Chaplin’s My Mother’s Spelt Almond Waffles recipe in At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen
Crystal Luxmore is one of 14 Advanced Cicerones® in Canada. She runs Beer Sisters Inc., a tastings and consulting company, with her sister and Certified Cicerone®, Tara Luxmore. They program tap lists for some of the busiest beer venues in the country, teach sensory evaluation and host private beer tastings for corporate clients. Crystal has won three North American Guild of Beer Writers Awards and is a nationally-ranked beer judge. Her beer and cider stories have been published in The Globe & Mail, Chatelaine, Toronto Life and more. She is the editor of The Growler Ontario Craft Beer Guide. Find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
