My friend Rachel just sent me a link to her blog on which she recently posted about MY blog being an encouragement on the gluten free journey.  So, I guess this means that this is a post about post about a post?!?  Anyway, she shared about wanting to try a gluten free diet with her kids and herself, but finding the endeavor discouraging at times.  This waffle recipe came to mind when I read her blog and saw her adorable kiddos!  Hope she’ll be able to add this to her list of recipes her crew will enjoy!

Our back-to-school breakfast was over a month ago now when Cooper started back to his Classical Conversations Challenge B program.  Kayla started Classical Conversations this Tuesday, but we treated Cooper’s first day of CC as EVERYONE’s first day of school.  Kory is not doing CC this year, as there is no Challenge III program nearby, (he’s a junior this year!) and this mama decided to take a year off from tutoring the high schoolers – or any schoolers for that matter ~  ‘cept my own!  I’ll write more about what we’re doing with Kory for high school as well as the other kiddos’ curriculum soon, but I though I’d at least post our back-to-school breakfast today!

Birthdays and back-to-school days always get a special breakfast around here.  One of the favorites was the year we had been reading Farmer Boy and had apple pie and ice cream for breakfast to kick off the school year.  Another favorite was the year we had chocolate chip cookies (among other good sources of protein!) for breakfast.  This year Kayla requested chocolate chip waffles.  After doing some thinking and research, I wasn’t so sure how chocolate chips in the batter would work in my Belgian waffle maker (the cleaning up part especially), so I decided to just make the entire batter chocolate.  This, of course, is not that difficult ~ just add come cocoa powder to the dry ingredients!

I served them with the proper condiments ~ butter and syrup ~  and alongside a sausage and egg scramble.  My kids loved this, and Kayla was not disappointed in the least that they did not have chocolate chips in them.  BUT, if you desire something even more festive, you could add whipped cream and mini chocolate chips on top!

Chocolate Waffles

3 1/2 cups all purpose GF flour (mine is rice/potato/tapioca)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp xanthan gum (optional ~ use extra oil or an egg if you don’t use xanthan gum)

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups buttermilk (or milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar)

6 eggs (it’s a lot, I know, but even 8 wouldn’t hurt!)

2 sticks butter melted

2 tsp vanilla

Mix together all dry ingredients ~ flour, cocoa, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar.  In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Melt butter, and pour into dry ingredients along with egg/milk/vanilla mixture.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Use a ladle to pour onto hot, greased waffle iron.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.

*Add more milk if batter is too thick!  Also ~ I may have added a bit of canola oil, since gluten free baked good can turn out dry and crumbly at times.  Extra oil or egg always helps a bit!