The Christmas morning breakfast tradition in my childhood home – after opening presents, of course – was to eat up the scrumptious cinnamon rolls my mom baked.  We could smell them baking in the oven while we tore through gift wrap and ribbons.  I was always amazed at how the unassuming swirls of dough baked up into gorgeous, plump rolls, snuggled up against each other in the pan.  When the rolls were flipped out of the pan – still hot – a gooey, caramel glaze coated the undersides (which became the tops) of the roll.  Absolutely divine.

Cinnamon rolls are mostly a thing of the past for me, though occasionally I make them with whole grain flours and maple sugar.  But Christmas morning calls for an extra special breakfast just the same – low-fat, unrefined vegan or not.  These spelt pancakes rise to the holiday.  You can even mix the batter the night before and keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake.  After all, presents really should be opened first thing.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Waffles
Makes ~4 8″ Waffles

1 cup spelt flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 powdered stevia
1/2 cup natural crunchy peanut butter
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
4 oz. prune puree (baby food works well)
2 tbsp. egg replacer + 6 tbsp. water (whisk together until foamy, then set aside for a minute to thicken)
1 – 1 1/2 cups almond milk
1/2 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and stevia.  Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream together the peanut butter, applesauce, prune puree and egg replacer.  Whisk in the almond milk and the chocolate chips.  Add the peanut butter/almond milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir well to combine.  Let the batter sit for about 15 minutes for the spelt to absorb the liquid.  If the batter seems too thick, add a little bit more almond milk.

Meanwhile, have the waffle iron preheating (getting the iron nice and hot helps keep the batter from sticking) and warm a couple of plates in a 175F oven.  When the waffle iron is ready, pour on enough batter to almost reach the sides.  Cook for about 5 minutes, or until steam no longer rises from the waffle iron.  Cooking time will depend on the size of waffle iron.

Keep waffles warm in the oven – directly on the rack – until all waffles are cooked.  Serve with maple syrup and sliced strawberries or bananas.

(You might have noticed that I always top my pancakes and waffles with peanut butter and toasted nuts.  I can’t help it – it’s my favorite way to eat these breakfast foods!  But top yours however makes you and your tummy happy.  I modified a recipe from King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking cookbook.  This is a terrific resource for whole grain baking.  Naturally, I omitted the vegetable oil and the refined sugar and the eggs, and used almond milk instead of dairy milk.  Waffles adapt superbly to vegan cooking.)