Banana Bread Waffles

Have you ever had those awkward overripe bananas sitting on your counter, making you feel guilty every day for wasting them? Or stressing you out because you know you really should make banana bread but don't want to go to the trouble for one loaf? This recipe saved me. I love the flavor of banana bread but really don't like to go to the trouble for one small loaf that takes almost an hour to cook. This was a quick and VERY delicious recipe that came together in no time at all and I absolutely loved it, as did my family. Plus, it makes quite a large number of waffles. We have a really big waffle iron and I think we easily got around 16 waffles. 

I think I like these waffles even more than the Strawberry Cream Cheese Waffles. The Maple Cream Cheese Spread was good, but it was take it or leave it for us. We liked these a lot more with some low-fat strawberry yogurt on the top. (We aren't big syrup people around here. We usually top our pancakes and waffles with applesauce and yogurt.)

And don't let the fact that it calls for buttermilk throw you off. If you don't have buttermilk just add 1 Tbsp of lemon juice or distilled white vinegar to a measuring cup and then add enough milk to measure 1 cup. Let it sit for 5 minutes and TA-DA! Buttermilk.

Thanks to Real Mom Kitchen for another fabulous waffle recipe and picture located at this site here: http://realmomkitchen.com/1751/banana-bread-waffles-with-maple-nut-cream-cheese-spread/

BANANA BREAD WAFFLES
From Real Mom Kitchen
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• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk or 1 1/2 cups sour cream or plain yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk (I did buttermilk)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
• Cooking spray for waffle iron

Maple Nut Cream Cheese Spread Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3-4 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/8 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Combine the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix together the buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute) and the egg yolks. Stir in the butter, mashed banana, and vanilla.
2. Spray the waffle iron lightly with oil and preheat it. Stir the wet into the dry ingredients. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl with a whisk or electric mixer (make sure bowl and mixer are spotlessly clean) until they hold soft peaks. Stir them gently into the batter. Stir gently to combine.
3. Spread a ladleful or so of batter onto the waffle iron and bake until the waffle is done, usually 3 to 5 minutes, depending on your iron. Mix ingredients for Maple Nut Cream Cheese Spread together. Serve waffles immediately with a schmear of Maple Nut Cream Cheese and additional maply syrup if you so desire.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Waffles

We don't make waffles a whole lot around here because I have always considered pancakes to be so much easier; however, after making these waffles it will be very difficult to go back to pancakes. These waffles were amazingly moist, flavorful, light and delicious. My mom and I made them (double recipe) for Sunday dinner for the family and they were a huge hit. Everyone loved them. They are really easy to make and ones that we will repeat in our house again and again!

Thanks to Real Mom Kitchen for the picture and the recipe which can be found at this site here: http://realmomkitchen.com/6388/strawberry-cream-cheese-waffles-with-strawberry-sauce/

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE WAFFLES
From Real Mom Kitchen
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• 2 ½ c all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ½ cups whole milk
• ½ cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 oz cream cheese, NOT softened
• 1 c chopped strawberries

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
3. Cut the cream cheese into slices and then cut each slice into little cubes of cream cheese. Keep them all separated on a plate. Set aside.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Let the batter rest for 2 minutes and then fold in the strawberries. Do not over beat.
5. Pour the batter into a preheated waffle iron. The amount of batter will depend on the size of your waffle iron. I used my regular Belgian waffle iron. Then drop a few cubes of the cream cheese into each waffle. I put about 5-6 per waffle. Bake until lightly browned.
6. Serve with strawberry sauce and sweetened whipped cream. We have a really big waffle iron so I think we got about 8 out ours. Real Mom said she got 16 out of hers.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

• 1 1/2 lbs. strawberries, diced
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract **

1. In a large sauce pan, combine the strawberries, sugar, and extract. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 1 minute and remove from heat.
2. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes so it is just warm. Place 1 1/2 cups of the mixture from the sauce pan in a blender. This is where you need to be careful. Don’t put the lid on the top all the way. Leave it cracked or the steam from the strawberries could cause an explosion. If you have an immersion blender, feel free to use that and no chance of an explosion. Blend until smooth and stir back into the remaining strawberry mixture in the pan. Serve warm over the Strawberry Cream Cheese Waffles

**This mixture can all be blended if you prefer a smooth sauce. Vanilla extract can also be used in place of the almond extract.