Vegan Dark Chocolate Earl Grey Waffles

I recently had a bar of earl grey dark chocolate and it was so surprisingly delicious, and I was inspired to make some sort of baked good with this flavor combination. I hadn’t used my waffle maker yet since moving to Chicago, so chocolate earl grey waffles seemed like a perfect plan for a new recipe! I chose to make them vegan so one of my friends could have them, and because I am trying to eat a more plant-based diet - partially inspired by the culinary medicine course I am taking in medical school currently!

I used Koia cacao bean plant-based milk because I had made chocolate waffles with it before and I think it is really tasty and a healthier version of chocolate milk. I found a type of earl grey tea that had a bit more of a vanilla flavor, so I thought that would be really amazing for baking. I also added two whole tea bags of tea leaves to the batter to enhance the flavor, since it can be subtle. I tested it in a batch of the waffles first to ensure that it wouldn’t be too strong of a flavor or make for a grainy texture, and neither of those problems occurred. The tea leaves were quite finely ground, so it added just the right amount of earl grey flavor to the waffles! I also added a lot of grated dark chocolate, because the more chocolate, the better!

These waffles turned out so delicious! I brought them to a rooftop workout and brunch potluck with some medical school friends, and they were a hit! They taste delicious plain, or with almond butter and blueberries.

Recipe

Makes 10-15 small waffles

Ingredients

Wet:

3 flax eggs (3 tbsp flax mixed with 8 tbsp water, refrigerated for at least 5 minutes to set)

1 bottle Koia cacao bean plant-based milk (or desired chocolate milk)

⅓ cup brewed earl grey tea

2 tea bags of earl grey tea

2 tsp vanilla extract

About ¼ cup maple syrup (optional, if using fairly sweetened chocolate you may not need this)

Dry:

1 and ¾ cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp baking powder

½ bar dark chocolate, finely grated

Steps

1. Prepare the flax egg and refrigerate while assembling the rest of your ingredients.

2. Once the egg is set, mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl.

3. Mix in the dry ingredients until smooth.

4. Lightly grease a waffle iron and cook the waffles. It took 3-5 minute to cook each waffle on my mini waffle maker.

5. Let cool, and enjoy plain or with toppings!