I finished my rotations on Friday. All weekend, I thought about the DI experience and what I could write about it on Sunday. Then Sunday rolled around, and I just couldn’t bring myself to type a thing. There’s a lot of happiness and pride in finishing, but my immediate sensation is an incredible amount of fatigue. It’s as if my body has finally slowed down, and now I can’t get it to speed up again, not even to my pre-internship pace.

So, I’m rolling with it. There are things that need doing, I’m doing them ever so gently. Bit by bit.

What I wasn’t too tired to do this past weekend was make waffles.

When Steven and I were living together, we took weekend brunch seriously. I often used Saturday or Sunday as an excuse to make something special: pancakes, tofu scramble, waffles, you name it. I kept up the habit of at least one special occasion weekend breakfast for a while, but it’s vanished this year with my rotations. Eating breakfast at home was enough of a treat.

So, as this 11-month marathon drew to a close, it seemed appropriate to celebrate with a fancy weekend breakfast. And since waffles are my favorite member of the sweet brunch family—they beat French toast, and they beat pancakes by a mile for me—they were my first choice.

I often use nut butter or tahini in place of oil in vegan baking (or I replace part of the oil with it); I like how it adds moisture without making a batter greasy, and I like the boost of nutrition, too. Since I often give my waffles a schmear of almond or peanut butter, anyway, I thought I might be fun to make a PB-flavored vegan waffle. That’s how this batch was born, and I couldn’t have been happier with the results.

A couple things about this recipe: the batter has no oil, but even with a non-stick waffle iron, oil spray is important to prevent sticking and tearing (unless you have a magical trick for making waffles without any, in which case I’m all ears!).

Also: you’ll taste the peanut butter in the waffles for sure—or at least that was my hope—but it isn’t overwhelming. I’m guessing you could use a couple more tablespoons for even more PB taste, but I haven’t tasted it, so I’ll let you know if I give it a shot. And, as with most of my baked goods, I added the the amount of sweetener that worked for me (two tablespoons maple syrup for the batch), but you’re welcome to make it a little more or less sweet, as you like. Pitted, soaked dates will work in the batter, too.

Otherwise, there’s not too much to say about these waffles, except that they’re great! They’re simple, they’ve got some whole grain flour, they’re filling, they’re fluffy but very crispy on the outside, and they’re perfect with berries and a little extra peanut butter. Or maple syrup. Or jam. Or banana slices. Or…well, you get the idea 🙂

For what it’s worth, I avoided getting a waffle iron for a really long time, thinking it would be an appliance that I didn’t use often enough to justify. I got this one when I was living in DC, and while I don’t use it nearly as much as others, I’ve never regretted having it. It’s made a lot of wonderful breakfasts possible.

If you give these a try, I hope you’ll get a kick out of the peanut butter flavor and the very abundant possibilities for dressing them up. The waffles can be frozen for make ahead breakfasts, too—something to consider for back-to-school season!

I’m giving you all a sleepy wave and loving sign-off. I’ll be back later this week, hopefully with a little more energy. For now, happy Monday.

xo

 

 

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