Almond Flour Waffles

I love cooking for people. It’s my primary means of showing affection.

And while I’m always happy to work around dietary needs, cooking for my younger brother takes a bit more consideration. Not only is he lactose intolerant, he is also allergic to gluten. (Sadly, this means every single recipe from my mac and cheese cookbook is off the table!)

Rather than see these dietary restrictions as inconveniences, I prefer to see them as challenges. Or, at the least, an excuse to buy and explore alternatives such as buckwheat and amaranth flours.

I'm particularly smitten with almond flour, also known as almond meal. The flavor and texture it adds to recipes is just so sweet and nutty. (Note that almond meal often contains small bits of the almond husk, whereas almond flour usually made from blanched almonds.)

This recipe for almond flour waffles is one result of all this playing around with flour. They incorporate almonds in three ways: almond flour, almond milk, and almond extract. They’re bursting with almond flavor and have a perfectly crispy texture.

This recipe is also completely flexible with whatever flours, milks – or allergies! – you might be working with. I’ve made them with all-purpose gluten-free flour instead of the almond flour and tapioca (Bob’s Red Mill makes a great one) as well as with regular all-purpose flour was I was simply cooking for myself.

I've also swapped out the almond milk for another non-dairy milk or for regular whole milk at various times, and used butter instead of coconut oil.

Using tapioca flour, almond milk, and coconut oil, as this recipe is written, will give you the lightest, crispiest waffle. Swapping in butter, whole milk, and all-purpose flour will get you a more traditional, bread-y waffle.

The exact flavor and texture of the waffles will change depending on the ingredients you use, but no matter what you do, it all works and it's all good!