Paleo Flourless Lemon-Poppyseed Waffles (AIP version)

Mother’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. I bet you’ve never heard someone say that before. Some people criticize it for being invented to boost the economy (it does cause us to spend several billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone on flowers!) or Hallmark sales. If that’s the case – GENIUS. Because we all need to be reminded how grateful we should be for the woman who has influenced us like no other person on this planet. And if that means spoiling her rotten even just one day a year, so be it.

Since this is my first Mother’s Day as a mommy to a human (fetus, soon to be air-breathing baby), I wanted to celebrate myself. I often look for excuses to celebrate myself. Nothing wrong with that, right? And my mother will be a thousand miles away so she will be receiving a sweet card and phone call until I can spoil her in person.I have been getting great use out of my Presto Belgian Waffle Maker.

I usually wake up two Sunday mornings a month feeling waffle-frisky and ready to put my Vitamix Professional Series 300 to the test with my rotting plantains. It’s an excellent way to avoid my internal desire to start each morning with exercise, which happens 5% of the time. I’ll make AIP waffles (been working on getting a non-gooey one after trying some other recipes that were way too gummy in the center), bacon, and broth-braised greens. Then I yell at my husband from downstairs that he needs to wake up so he can eat his waffles and bacon warm. So spoiled.

“I get to sleep in on Sunday mornings while my spouse cooks me bacon and homemade, shit-free waffles.” – A quote I will never get to say. It’s okay. He cleans the dust off the fans twice a year.

I really like that waffle maker because my waffles don’t often stick (an inherent problem with AIP waffles), it’s really easy to use and clean, and it reminds me of staying in Holiday Inns when I was little that had the Belgian Waffle station where I got to use my tiny 6-year-old biceps to flip a large industrial machine that would soon churn out noxiously sweet bread-y breakfast treats. My boyfriend in college (he sucked by the way, I hope he reads this) went to a different school that had a waffle maker in their cafeteria for unlimited use. We used to make waffles the sizes of our torsos every weekend morning, skip lunch, then eat “Pizza the Size of Your Face” (not my quote) for dinner. No wonder I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s less than a year later. Terrible relationship stress + gluten the size of my entire body = autoimmune disease.

Well, this went from an intended sweet post about Mother’s Day to something really un-sweet, so let’s reel it in. Make your Mommy waffles, bacon and vegetables this Mother’s Day (and every other weekend). Give her beautiful flowers – who cares if it’s expected? Flowers are nature, and nature makes people happy. Make your Mommy (or yourself happy) with waffles, bacon and flowers. The end.

These waffles are not gooey in the middle at all. In fact, they’re perfectly bread-like and fluffy throughout with a crispy crust that my family and friends love! If yours end up any other way, it’s likely your plantains were way too ripe (the starch had turned into sugar already – no good)! Err on the side of using less ripe plantains rather than too ripe plantains. You can always add a tablespoon of coconut or maple sugar, if the batter doesn’t taste sweet enough with this change.

Preventing Waffles from Sticking

• Don’t be chintzy on the olive oil! Coat both sides of your waffle maker in all crevices very well with olive oil using a pastry brush (not a paper towel).

• If you open your waffle maker and it seems like the waffle will stick and pull apart, gently release one side of the waffle with a fork without fully opening the waffle maker. Press each half into each other and no one will know the difference.

• Waffle completely split in half despite your best efforts!? It happens to me sometimes too! Remove one half and fold it on top of itself like a sandwich. Do the same with the other half. Again, no one will know the difference other than you will be serving them two separate waffle halves!

Mmm… fluffy and crispy AIP waffles! I love these with stewed blueberries!

Paleo Flourless Lemon Poppy Waffles

★★★★ 3.9 from 17 reviews

• Author: Alaena Haber
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

• 3 large yellow plantains (minimal to moderate spotting okay)
• 1/4 cup organic extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (omit for AIP)
• optional: food-grade lemon essential oil

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Instructions

1. Peel and slice plantains. Place in a high-speed blender along with the remaining ingredients except the poppy seeds. Blend until smooth and scraping down the sides as needed. If you would like a stronger lemon taste, you can add a few drops of lemon oil.

2. Stir in the poppy seeds until well combined.

3. Pre-heat your waffle iron. Once heated, brush with additional olive oil on both sides of the waffle iron to prevent sticking.

4. Scoop about a heaping 2/3 cup of batter into center of waffle iron.

5. Cook in waffle iron for 5 minutes (timing really depends on your unit) until cooked through and bread-like in the center. Remove from waffle maker with a fork once the exterior is a crispy golden brown and pulls away easily from the iron. Transfer to a wire rack. You can keep them warm in a 275 degree oven while you cook the rest!

6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 until all batter is used up. See below for serving suggestions.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 waffle