Egg-less Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce

Chocolate waffles are a tradition in my family. When I was younger, we would have them every Christmas morning at my grandparents house.... smothered in whip cream and strawberries. Yum! I didn't realize until a few years ago that they weren't something my grandpa had just made up but that other people ate them too.

My grandpa used to make them by mixing some dry chocolate milk mix in with prepared waffle batter. As a kid, I didn't care, but as an adult, I wanted something a little more... sophisticated (not to mention made from scratch). I have found a winner! Waffles are notoriously hard to do without eggs, but these waffles taste equally as yummy as their counterparts with eggs.

Obviously it isn't Christmas (when I ate these growing up) but the rest of my family prefers another Christmas breakfast. Since I have to eat these at least once a year, Valentine's is another perfect time for this scrumptious breakfast (although I may or may not eat these more than just once a year).

Egg-less Double Chocolate Waffles
1 3/4 cups wonder flour (or 1 1/2 cups other whole grain flour or all-purpose flour)

1/2 cup cornstarch*

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup no-sugar added applesauce

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp raw sugar

1 3/4 cups milk (I used almond milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut oil, softened

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Berry Sauce 
3 cups berries, diced if large**

1/4 cup naturally sweetened jam (any flavor you want!)

2 Tbsp hot tap water

Whipped cream (optional)

**You will need about 3 cups of berries - you can use any combo you would like.You can use fresh berries, frozen berries or a combo of both depending on the season.  I used 1 cup of frozen strawberries and 2 cups of a frozen 3 berry mix from Costco (blackberries, raspberries and blueberries). If you think in advance, you can thaw in the fridge overnight, otherwise, pop frozen berries into the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Start by making the berry sauce so it can sit while you make the waffle batter. Combine jam and warm water and whisk until combined. Add in the berries and gently stir until combined. Gently mash berries with a fork to break up larger berries (you can leave as chunky as you want). If  your berries are still a bit frozen, you can blend them in a food processor (which I prefer to do).

Set berry sauce aside and make waffle batter.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Combine well and set aside.  * If you don't have cornstarch on hand - feel free to just use another 1/2 cup of flour. The cornstarch helps make the waffles more crispy, but using more flour would be just fine!

In another bowl, whisk together the applesauce, vinegar, sugar, milk, vanilla and coconut oil.

Blend the dry ingredients with the wet until just combined. It is ok if your batter is lumpy. Don't overmix! Fold in the chocolate chips into the batter. Pour batter onto a greased waffle iron and bake according to your waffle iron's instructions.

Top waffle with a generous helping of berry sauce and a dollop of whip cream. Try not to moan as you eat... it'll be hard, I promise!

Waffle recipe adapted from Vegan Heartland

Berry sauce from Our Best Bites

This is the yummy, gooey mess you are left with when you have eaten half of your waffle! 

And, I might have overdone the whip cream on this one, maybe. 

Jana