Pumpkin Waffles (plus some homemade dairy recipes)

I wrote this post a few months back when we were buying some dairy straight from the dairy farm.  That experiment was fun, but unfortunately (as I've mentioned) we ran into some major dairy sensitivities, so our fresh dairy products are no longer.  But since a friend was asking me for my pumpkin waffle recipe and I remembered I had posted it and never published it, I thought I'd pass on the info about the dairy with the waffle recipe at the end.  Such a great fall twist on a favorite breakfast!  Here is the post:
 
I promised to post some recipes for the homemade dairy I have been trying lately. Here we go...plus a bonus waffle recipe!

Butter

Mix fresh cream with a hand mixer for a few minutes (time will vary, 8-12 minutes), or until you see the liquid starting to separate. It will look like whipping cream first and then start to turn into butter/buttermilk. Once it separates, pour out the buttermilk. Use buttermilk in a pancake or waffle recipe. I'll post one here that we like! Then press out the rest of the buttermilk using a spoon, pressing the butter against the bowl. Press until most of the liquid is out. Then salt (optional). Form butter into a fat log (or loaf) and wrap it up in some parchment paper. It will be pretty soft, but upon refrigerating will set-up.

Yogurt

Put 1/2 to 1 gallon of milk in a pot and when it scalds (starts to boil up and out of pot) immediately take it off heat. Leave it off the heat and cool to room temp. Once you can stick your finger in it for 10 seconds without having to pull it out, it should be ready. Then take 1/4 to 1/2 cup of starter (yogurt from a previous batch or yogurt you have bought from the store) and stir it in a separate bowl with a little bit of the cooled off milk. After mixing, stir it into the whole batch. Then warm the oven at 350 degrees and turn it off after it has been pre-heated. Leave the milk in there for at least 8 hours, and then you've got yogurt! Now this isn't a "raw" recipe. If you are using raw milk, there is another recipe which will keep it raw if that is important to you.

Pumpkin Waffles

(Makes 12 4-inch waffles)

Adapted from a recipe found at www.weelicious.com

2 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar 

(We don't use sweetener anymore because the sweet topping does the trick for us.  But as a natural sweetener alternative, use honey, brown rice syrup or agave. Use 1/2 to 3/4 as much honey or agave, or the same amount of brown rice syrup.  You may also need to add a bit more flour to off-set the fact that you are using a liquid sweetener instead of a dry sweetener.)
2 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
4 Eggs
1 Cup Milk (can use milk substitutions such as almond/rice/or soy)
1 Cup Buttermilk (from the butter you just made!)
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
6 Tbsp Butter, melted 

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Sift first 7 ingredients into a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Whisk the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture and whisk until smooth.
5. Pour about 1/2 cup of the pumpkin batter into a waffle iron that’s been buttered or greased and cook according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. We serve with a fruit sauce (just frozen fruit mixed with water & stevia sweetener), but you could also serve with maple syrup or make into sandwiches, filling with cream cheese and whatever other fillings you desire.

*Allow to cool, place in a ziploc bag, label and freeze. When ready, place in toaster oven or oven at 300 and heat for 10 minutes or until heated through.