Gluten-Free Lemon Cornmeal Waffles with Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup

Today is National Waffle Day. Seriously, it is! Any day is a good day to have waffles to me though, I don’t need an excuse. Oddly enough, I also don’t think of waffles as a breakfast food, since we have them for supper more than we do for breakfast. These Gluten-free Lemon Cornmeal Waffles with Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup are special though. This waffle recipe is based on a recipe from one of my favorite celebrity chefs, Anna Olson.

For those of you that have been following along with me for a while, you will know that I competed in the Real Women of Philadelphia contest (hence all the recipes involving cream cheese the past few months). Well, although I did not win a finalist spot, I did win a “Philly Spirit Award” for the Philly Socialite. These awards were given out to gals on the forum that supported the forum, the ladies & the contest, but did not get a finalist spot. There were 3 awards given, Rising Star award that my friend Cindy received, the Production Queen that was bestowed upon my friend Heather, and the Philly Socialite, that yours truly was awarded with.

I would love to be able to tell you what the award was, but now, a month later, I still haven’t received anything. We were told that it was going to be a gift basket worth $500, put together by Kraft and Anna Olson, but beyond that we have no clue. And we wait.

By the way, in case you don’t know, Anna Olson is an amazing pastry chef. She was the spokesperson for the Real Women of Philadelphia contest. She is on Food Network Canada, where she has a show called “Fresh with Anna Olson”, but I really loved watching her on “Sugar”. She is the author of 6 cookbooks, one which was written with her husband Michael, who is also a chef. Anna shared stories and pictures from her life with us on the Real Women forums, and I have to say, my favorites were the “A Day in the Life” features, since she is currently working on another cookbook, and these ones were usually filled with video & pictures showing what goes on at her house on a photo shoot day. As a foodie, that was fun to watch. (By the way, this woman is a real woman. Her amazing dress for the finale dinner was from Winners and she took her shoes off after the dinner. So humble, gracious, fun, and real.)

The finalists, as well as some of the participates, had an awards banquet on July 6th. We could win tickets to the dinner from the forum, but travel & accommodations were not included. So, yours truly, although I really wanted to be there, followed the event via a live chat session. That was neat, but not the same. However, my friends Cathy & Cindy thought that they would record Anna Olson saying “Hi Jeanine”, and Anna went much further than that. Here is her recorded message for me. I really appreciate it, it was a busy night for her, and she still took a minute to record a message for me. 🙂

So, how does all of this tie together with Waffle Day, you may be asking yourself. Well, this waffle recipe is converted from a recipe by Anna Olson. We really, really liked these waffles, and the strawberry rhubarb syrup was amazing as well. I had made pancakes in the past that had cornmeal in them, and since we liked those, I was sure we’d like these waffles as well. We did, they were fantastic!

Thank you, Anna for all the time you gave to us, and the interest you’ve shown in our culinary adventures. 🙂

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Gluten-Free Lemon Cornmeal Waffles with Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup

Yield: 4

These waffles are great topped with the syrup as listed, or even just topped with your favourite waffle toppings. Based on a recipe from Anna Olson.

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Ingredients

Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup

• 2 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
• 2 cups quartered fresh strawberries
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup white corn syrup
• 1 cup water
• 1 vanilla bean

Gluten-Free Lemon Cornmeal Waffles

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (see Note)
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, separated

Instructions

Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup

1. Bring diced rhubarb, 1 cup of strawberries, sugar, corn syrup, water and scraped seeds from vanilla bean up to a simmer.
2. Gently simmer for 10 minutes until rhubarb is tender and colour is extracted. Remove from heat and strain
3. Stir in remaining strawberries while warm and let cool. Syrup can be prepared up to a week in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

Gluten-Free Lemon Cornmeal Waffles

1. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil and egg yolks to combine. Whisk into flour mixture and stir until just blended.
3. Whip egg whites until they hold a soft peak when beaters are lifted and fold gently into waffle batter.
4. Lightly grease a preheated waffle iron and spoon about 1 1/2 cups of batter onto waffle iron (for a Belgian waffle). Close and cook until steam from the waffles dies away, about 6 minutes (depending on your iron).
5. Remove waffles and place on an ovenproof dish, cover, and hold in a low (250 degrees F) oven until ready to serve. Waffles are best served fresh, but if preparing in advance, let waffles cool, freeze, then warm uncovered in a 300 degree F oven for 20 minutes when ready to serve.
6. To assemble, top waffles with a dollop of whipped cream, and drizzle syrup over, top with quartered strawberries and dust with icing sugar.

Notes

Flour Blend: 4 cups superfine brown rice flour, 1 1/3 cups potato starch (not flour), 2/3 cup tapioca starch. Combine all ingredients in a large zipper-top bag. Shake until well blended.

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Other gluten-free Waffle Recipes:

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Waffles

Gluten-free Gingerbread Waffles with Pear Sauce

Gluten-free Mocha Waffles

Gluten-free Brown Rice Waffles