Vegan Belgian Waffles

The first time I bit into a Belgian waffle, I almost passed out because it was so good. Nick and I bought these waffles at a little shop smushed in between historic buildings in Ghent. We got ours drizzled with chocolate sauce (of course). They were perfectly chewy on the inside and there was caramelized sugar on the outside with bursts of even more sugar from the sugar pearls spread throughout the dough. I made these for my parents and my roommates so that they could experience the delicious waffles that made me melt : ) I opted to not buy pearl sugar but instead to use turbinado sugar (big sugar crystals). Oh yeah, and I got the recipe from the beautiful blog Oh, Ladycakes.

2 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp cane sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup liquid coconut oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 warm almond milk
3/4 cup turbinado sugar

In a small bowl, stir together the warm water and yeast with a pinch of sugar. Set aside while you mix the rest of the batter. After about 10 minutes, you should see the mixture get nice and foamy.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the yeast mixture, oil, vanilla extract, applesauce , and almond milk into the flour mixture. Whisk until combined then cover with plastic and refrigerate for two hours or overnight.
To cook the waffles, stir the turbinado sugar into the dough and let sit for about 15 minutes. I used a normal waffle iron to make the waffles and it worked out fine. Spray the iron with coconut oil and cook 1/4 cup of batter at a time. My waffle iron has a little light that turns off when the waffles are done. The recipe makes about 12 little waffles.
The waffles are sweet enough to serve on their own. We spread some speculoos on them for breakfast and had banana strawberry smoothies on the side!