One of the greatest challenges I’ve taken on with transitioning to a Paleo lifestyle is re-learning how to cook. It’s fairly easy to cut out french fries and bread or to leave the pasta off of my plate, but it’s much harder when it comes time to prepare a meal.

Last week, my sister made waffles. Normally this would be a completely typical weekend meal at my house but I was indignant. How come I couldn’t have any waffles?

I was just about to curse this whole diet when I remembered that I’d just bought coconut flour while at Trader Joe’s! Realizing I could stick to my new diet and have some waffles, I cheerfully went online to see if there were any coconut flour waffle recipes I could try. I chose this recipe and set out to make my Paleo-friendly waffles.

Here are the results.

The ingredients (I cut the recipe in half which gave me enough batter for exactly one waffle):

The batter

The finished product

Pros:

• The recipe is quick and easy. It didn’t require many ingredients and was simple to follow. Check out the recipe here and see how easy it is for yourself! 
• The waffles smell heavenly. The entire first floor filled with the delightful smell of cinnamon as the batter was cooking. Just so you know I’m not exaggerating, my dad walked into the room and asked me “what smells better than average?” If it’s dad-approved, it’s gotta be good.
• They’re super filling! I got about halfway through my one waffle when I noticed that I was completely full. Definitely more filling than any other waffles I’ve ever had.

Cons:

• The recipe requires eggs. Lots of eggs. One of the other reasons I cut the recipe in half was because I didn’t want to use up all the eggs! The recipe original requires eight eggs, which makes just two waffles.
• They’re grainier than regular waffles. If you’ve ever used wheat flour for pancakes or waffles, you’ll notice that it’s a bit grainier than all-purpose flour. These coconut flour waffles were kind of like that. But it’s nothing I can’t get used to!

Overall review: 3 out of 4 stars.

Next time, I plan to research which paleo-friendly flours have a texture closest to all-purpose flour and I’ll combine with coconut flour for a fluffier waffle. I also plan to go full Paleo and make my own fruit-based syrup or sauce (I got lazy this time and used bottled syrup from the grocery store).

All in all, I felt proud of myself! Learning to cook paleo-friendly meals is probably the greatest hurdle in making this transition. Successfully making this recipe is definitely a step in the right direction.