Pumpkin Waffles with Cranberry Cream Sauce

Friday morning, when Jeff and I woke up after the long, harrowing day of Thanksgiving, I had a sudden craving to make something with more of the pumpkin puree hidden in my freezer. Lately I've been craving waffles like nobody's business, and it seemed like the perfect time to combine both.

Pumpkin, to me, is great because it can go in anything (and of course, it's delicious). It substitutes/can be substituted by butternut squash, or really any kind of winter squash, as well as sweet potatoes. Though the tastes are of course different, the basic concept was the same. So when I approach pumpkin waffles, I approach them much the same as I do sweet potato waffles (the idea of which I took completely from Alton Brown).

The difference, besides flavour, is that my pumpkin is usually a bit runnier than my sweet potatoes, so I have to cut a bit back on liquid. I also add more spices and sweetness, because to me it's not as sweet as sweet potatoes and also because spices are amazing and if I don't add cinnamon to things I pretty much die inside.

So these babies were born! The cranberry sauce was a great add on-- we have so, so much left over from Thanksgiving I needed to use it for something. I'm thinking of some other ideas for it, but this sauce would be great on any breakfast item. Or if you mix it into butter-- but that's not the point. It was sweet and tangy, and amped up the butteriness of the waffles by like... a thousand, maybe.


Pumpkin Waffles

Ingredients
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg, seperated
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup eggnog
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup butter, melted

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices, then set aside.

In another bowl combine the pumpkin puree, egg yolk, milk, egg nog, brown sugar, and butter. Stir the flour into this mixture until thoroughly combined. Seperately, beat the egg whites until stiff poans form and gradually fold into the waffle batter. The batter should be thick-- using a rubber spatula, place on a preheated and sprayed waffle iron a nd cook until lightly brown, about 6 minutes.

Makes 2 full sized waffles.


Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients
1/4 cup Leftover Cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup cream

Mix sugar and cranberry sauce together in a saucepan over medium heat. Reduce the heat when cranberry sauce starts to simmer and slowly add the cream, whisking in. Keep warm until serving, whisking occasionally.