Best Ever Gluten-Free Buttermilk Cornmeal Waffles

Waffles at one. I woke up hungry, which is unusual for me. The morning clicked along, then about lunch time realized I was starving. As I checked into Facebook to see what was going on, my friend Kate, of Kate in the Kitchen food blog, posted a comment about waffles that was so good it inspired her cleaning crew to work. When I requested her superpower-waffle-recipe to kick start my weekend of cleaning, she promptly sent me the link. Within an hour, I was eating the best waffle I have ever eaten and I mean ever. Great texture, light and crisp. I finished my 8-inch waffle before my husband did, then I waffle-ironed us a second batch.

I adjusted the ingredients to create a gluten-free waffle. My gluten-free variation goes like this, and it's GOOD!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 cup polenta (stone-ground cornmeal)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 large farm fresh eggs
2 cups of buttermilk substitute: 1 cup Half&Half, 1 cup 2-percent milk, plus 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (shaken until foamy and set a side for 5-minutes)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus a little oil for basting the waffle iron

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours and polenta baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In another bowl or large jar, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk or buttermilk substitute and the oil.
3. Add the liquid mixture all at once to the large bowl with the mixed dry ingredients and whisk until well-combined.
4. Preheat waffle iron, and if you want to cook all the waffles and keep them warm until you serve them - preheat your oven to 200-degrees.
5. Brush waffle iron lightly with a little oil.
6. Ladle 1/2 cup of the waffle batter into an 8-inch waffle iron (1/4 cup for a 4-inch).
7. The batter is thin enough it should quickly spread toward the edge. Cook according to the manufacturer's directions and how crisp you want your waffle. I like mine crispy (4.5).
8. Transfer waffles to a baking sheet and keep warm on the middle rack, uncovered until ready to serve.
9. Serve with butter or water-basted eggs and warm syrup.
   

Makes 6-8 8-inch waffles or 14-16 4-inch waffles.

For Christmas, we gave our daughter and granddaughter matching Mother & Daughter aprons. Here they are in our kitchen making waffle batter for our family breakfast together.