Recipe reproduced with permission from Glenda Bishop. Glenda is a Registered Nutritionist, wellness coach, neuroscientist and educator.

Waffles are heaps of fun, to eat and to make. Once you have a good base recipe you can make them taste different each time by using different spreads or fruits as toppings. You can eat waffles for breakfast or dessert (or even for other main meals if you like). They also make handy snacks in place of toast or a muffin. Waffles are also convenient because you can make up a big batch and freeze them for later.

While I quite enjoy a good waffle for breakfast, the reality is that waffles have become one of my favourite low FODMAP snacks. I don’t always feel like eating toast (and sometimes my belly prefers that I don’t eat toast either), so it’s important for me to have a low FODMAP toast alternative available for snacking.

Since I wanted my waffles to be appropriate for everyday snacking, I needed to keep them as low in added sugar and fat as possible, while keeping the fibre and protein content relatively high. These Banana Bread Waffles meet all of those requirements through the addition of bananas, oats and my wholemeal low FODMAP gluten-free flour blend. Of course you can use other gluten-free flour blends but they won’t be as high in fibre or protein.

When I eat these waffles as a snack, I normally only eat about half of a waffle (3 of the 5 waffle flowers) and spread it with a low FODMAP jam and/or nut butter. I also like to make little waffle sandwiches with peanut butter and banana that are quite cute.

But if eat the waffles for breakfast (or occasionally lunch), I love to top them with sliced banana, peanut butter, passionfruit and pure maple syrup. But you can change up the fruits – strawberry and kiwifruit are nice, use different nut butters, or add a dollop of lactose-free yoghurt or ice cream (if you can tolerate dairy). Whatever appeals to you that will also sit will in your belly.

Banana Bread Waffles

Makes: 10 waffles

Serving size: 1 waffle (2 waffles would still be low FODMAP, but they would be quite filling if served with fruit)

Special equipment: You will need a waffle maker to make these waffles. I use a Breville electronic waffle maker that makes flower-shaped waffles that can each be broken into 5 little heart-shaped waffles.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

· 210g (or 1 and ½ cups) of low FODMAP gluten-free flour

· 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

· ½ tsp baking soda

· 1 tsp guar gum (not required if your flour mix already contains a gum)

· 1 tsp cinnamon

· 1 tsp mixed spice

· 90g (1 cup) quick (instant) oats {or rolled quinoa if you need it to be gluten-free}

Wet ingredients

· 1 cup mashed bananas (you’ll need about 2 large bananas for this)

· 3 eggs, lightly beaten

· 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

· 2 tbsp lemon juice

· 1 and ½ cups (375ml) of unsweetened almond milk

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, guar gum, cinnamon and mixed spice. Whisk the ingredients with a balloon whisk to make sure they are evenly mixed. Add the oats and mix into the other ingredients.

2. Combine all of the wet ingredients in a large jug or medium-sized bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon. Allow to stand for 10 minutes so that the mixture thickens.

3. Heat your waffle maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (I set my Breville waffle maker to the darkest setting). Lightly coat both surfaces with oil – I use a silicone basting brush to coat mine with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil.

4. My waffle maker requires a slightly generous 1/3 cup measure of mixture per waffle (although yours may need more or less per waffle). I pour the mixture into the middle of the waffle maker and then spread it slightly towards the edges with a silicone spatula, but I don’t spread it all the way. Then I close the waffle press and hold it tightly closed for 20 seconds – this helps the waffle batter to spread evenly to the edges. After that I release the press (but keep it closed) and allow the waffle to cook for another 3 minutes.

5. As each waffle is cooked, transfer it to a wire rack to cool and then repeat until all of the mixture is used up. With my waffle maker, I get 10 waffles from this mixture.

To serve:

You can eat the waffles immediately when they are fresh from the waffle maker or you can toast them later to make them warm again. I like to pop them in the toaster on the lowest setting so that it gently warms and toasts them at the same time. But make sure you watch them closely so they don’t burn. Then add some fruit, pure maple syrup and whatever other low FODMAP topping you prefer.

You can also freeze these waffles for later use and then toast them directly from frozen, or you can defrost them first and then toast them.

Ingredient Notes*:

· Oats are low FODMAP up to ¼ cup per serve, but this recipe will provide 1/10th cup of oats per waffle.

· To make these gluten-free, substitute the oats for rolled quinoa.

· Almond milk is low FODMAP, but you could also use lactose-free milk, soy protein milk or hemp milk, depending on your personal food tolerances.

· If the gluten-free flour mix you’re using already contains a gum, such as xanthan gum or guar gum, you shouldn’t need to add any more to it and so can omit the guar gum from this recipe.

*Based on current data obtained from the Monash University Low FODMAP Diet app

Rachel is a university qualified Clinical Nutritionist based in Balmain. She is also the busy working mum of two teenagers, so is practical and realistic with her advice . Rachel offers private consultations to improve your family's health and well-being. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram for more healthy tips and tricks.

If you'd like help implementing a low FODMAP diet I can help you. Find out more about my services here. If you’re after more delicious low FODMAP recipes go here.

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