Gluten Free Carrot Waffles with Red Grape Compote

This weekend was the last weekend of Vegan MOFO (sadly), and the last chance for me to participate in Vegan MOFO’s Iron Chef Challenge. The challenge this time was to make a dish that had carrots and oats as two ingredients and I think I did fairly well with them!

I am a HUGE fan of big breakfasts, and this one was no different. I am not intolerant to gluten or anything, but this would be great for those that are; I’m looking at you Oh, Ladycakes! 😉 As soon as I saw that I would need to mess around with carrots and oats, I wanted to pair them with fruit to make a well-rounded dish. That being said, it would have been nice to have raisins at my house, but the red grape compote completely exceeded my expectations and went perfectly on top of these subtly sweet waffles.

This recipe was a little temperamental at first, but that was also because I was not filling the Belgian waffle molds fully; so, my first tip to you is to do so or else the top side with have a had time cooking fully! Another tip to you would be to turn on the oven to 250°F so that in between waffle pours you can place them on a baking sheet and store them in the oven to stay warm; or you can place them in the microwave, but I find they get a little mushy like that.

Ingredients (4-5 Large Belgian Waffles):

• 2 Cups Rolled Oats
• 1 Cup Non-Dairy Milk
• 1 Cup Water
• 4 Tbsp. Ground Flaxseed
• 1 Heaping Cup Shredded Carrot
• 1/8 Cup Organic Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Melted Coconut Oil
• 1 Tbsp. Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients inside of a blender or food processor and puree until smooth and the batter should be a little thicker than pancake batter.
2. Fill Waffle maker molds completely and cook 11-13 minutes, these might take a little longer depending on how thick your batter is. Remove from waffle maker once the edges start to brown and they are crispy on the outside.

Ingredients for Grape Compote:

• 2 Cups Red Grapes, Chopped
• 2-3 Tbsp. Organic Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat the grapes, sugar, and water over medium until they start to boil; lower heat to low-medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the cinnamon to the mixture and simmer another 5 minutes, and let it cool. The compote should be a little syrupy, but perfect for topping the waffles.

And there you have it! You are more than welcome to garnish the waffles with a little extra shredded coconut, or even powdered sugar would be great, too. I ended up only eating one waffle, and giving my dad the other; these things are filling! So, for a great start to your weekend morning I highly recommend that you try out this recipe!