Recipe: Liege Waffles

I was at the Seaport and came upon a waffle cart... called Waffles and Dinges. They had all sorts of options for different types of waffles and the one I chose was the Liege Waffle. Originated in Belgium in the city of Liege, this waffle is sweeter and denser than traditional Belgium Waffles(think chewy rather than crispy).

Man was that the best Waffle I ever had!!! The topping- Speculoos (Biscoff spread) has a nutella consitency but tastes like graham crackers. (Biscoff can be ordered from their website and costs $14.40 for 2 28oz jars). I think I will try eating these in the future with Nutella at $2.79 a jar...lol!

I want to see if I can make these babies for myself so I found this recipe to try.

Liege Waffle Recipe

1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast

1/3 cup lukewarm water (about 105 degF - too hot will kill the yeast)

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

1 cup pearl sugar*

Mix the yeast, water, sugar and salt in a bowl and let it develop or sit for 15 minutes.

Place the flour in a separate large mixing bowl (we use the bowl of our kitchen aid stand mixer) and make a well in the center of the flour.

Pour the yeast mixture into the well and mix until blended on medium speed (we use the paddle in our kitchen aid mixer).

Add the eggs (one at a time), melted butter a bit at a time, and the vanilla and cinnamon. Be sure to mix well after each addition to the batter.

Keep in mind the batter will be thick and VERY sticky (this is normal).

Remove the bowl from the mixer and let the dough rest until it doubles in volume inside the bowl.

Gently fold in the pearl sugar and let the dough rest for 15 more minutes.

While the dough is resting, heat the waffle iron

Spoon about a 2" ball of dough into the center of the waffle iron (this should yield a waffle that is about 4" in diameter).

I know that sounds small, but these rich waffles pack quite a punch.

Waffles will take 3 to 5 minutes to bake

Recipe makes 8 - 10 waffles.

*It has been our experience that pearl sugar is difficult to find in the U.S. so buy C&H sugar cubes (normally for coffee), place about 60 of them in a plastic Ziploc bag and 'crush' them with a meat tenderizer (you could use a rolling pin or heavy sauce pan as well). Then put the sugar through a sifter maintaining only the 'pearls' of sugar for the waffles. You need about 1 cup of pearls. The fine sugar that goes through the sifter can be put in your kitchen sugar jar or used to sweeten the strawberries if you are using them for the topping. I was able to find an online source at L'Epicerie or iGourmet. See the pearl sugar photo above so that you know what you are trying to obtain. The addition of pearl sugar in the batter is what gives these waffles that special caramelized Liege waffle taste. However, that same sugar makes them sort of sticky so be careful not to burn yourself when removing them from the waffle iron. The pearl sugar also makes clean-up of the waffle iron tricky. As the sugar melts, it runs in the crevices of the waffle iron. So my biggest tip is that after you finish baking your waffles, clean the waffle iron while it is still warm. If it cools completely, the caramel sugar mixture can be nearly impossible to get off the iron.These waffles freeze extremely well so consider making a double batch.

Storage: Let the waffles cool, wrap them individually in Saran wrap, and then place them in a large Ziploc freezer bag. When we want one, we remove it from the freezer and put it in the oven on a baking sheet to heat it up.

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