Tender And Crispy Whole Wheat Banana Bread Waffles
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Serves: makes 3-4 servings (makes anywhere for 3 - 7 waffles, depending on the size of your waffle iron)
 
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup corn starch
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1-2 tsp. sugar, to taste
Wet ingredients:
  • 1 cup whole milk + 1 tsp. white vinegar or lemon juice (or just use 1 cup buttermilk)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 small overripe banana, mashed (you want ½ cup mashed banana -- if your banana is really big, you might not need all of it)
  • 1 TBSP melted coconut oil or vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Optional toppings:
  • Slices of banana, chopped pecans / walnuts / hazelnuts, chocolate chips, nutella, whatever your heart desires.... and of course maple syrup!
Instructions
  1. In a bowl or large glass measuring cup, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
  2. In a separate bowl, mash the banana and mix in all the wet ingredients.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix well to combine. Let the batter sit, without stirring, for 30 minutes. Take a shower, make some tea, and get the waffle iron hot -- just don't skip letting the batter rest! The batter might seem too thin at first, but it will thicken up as it sits.
  4. Make waffles according to your waffle iron's instructions. Note: I find with most home waffle irons, it helps to go an extra minute or two after the waffle iron says it's "ready" before removing the waffle if you want a nice, crispy exterior. This will vary depending on your particular machine, so play around with the amount of time it takes to get your waffles to the desired level of crispiness.)
  5. Serve immediately with sliced bananas, chopped nuts, and maple syrup. These waffles are best eaten the moment they come off the iron, but if you're set on everyone sitting down to eat at the same time, you can help preserve the crispiness a little by putting cooked waffles directly on the rack in a 150 degree F oven until you're ready to serve.
Notes
There are plenty of ways to mix up this recipe. Here are some suggestions:

For regular waffles: just omit the banana, and increase the oil to ¼ cup. (I like to use 1 tsp. sugar if I'm using a banana, and 2 tsp. sugar if not -- but that's totally personal preference.)

To banana bread waffles or regular waffles, try adding a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, or other spices like chinese five spice or ginger.

Swap the banana for pumpkin puree and a dash of pumpkin pie spices.

Make regular waffles, but stir in a spoonful of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, and top with chocolate chips. (For add-ins like nuts and chocolate, I prefer to use them as a topping rather than adding them directly to the batter, so I don't have to worry about them burning to the waffle iron.)

For quick and easy waffles, I like to make a mix out of the dry ingredients. Just whisk together 5 or 6 times the dry ingredients in a bowl, store in an airtight container, and when you want to make waffles, scoop 1 cup of mix and follow the recipe as written. You can also make smaller or larger batches of waffles easily, just be sure to adjust the wet ingredients accordingly (i.e., for half a cup of mix, halve the wet ingredients).

Recipe adapted from these waffles on foodnetwork.com
Recipe by Will Cook For Friends at https://www.willcookforfriends.com/2016/11/crispy-whole-wheat-banana-bread-waffles.html