Liege Waffles

Believe it or not, there is actually a waffle under that big mountain of goodness. Here is the story behind this waffle.

The other night my husband and I were watching the Travel Channel where they were featuring all of the most unusual fast food joints in the country. One of them was a "waffle cart" where genuine Belgium waffles were sold, some as breakfast waffles, and others as dessert waffles.

If I remember right (and feel free to correct me), the traditional Belgium waffles that we're used to is from Brussels and is light, fluffy and has the thin batter. That is the waffle that is usually served for breakfast. And then there is a waffle that we don't see quite as much, from Liege, in southern Belgium. The batter is much thicker, more like a sticky dough that has much more sugar. This waffle, while I'm sure would still be delicious covered in syrup (what isn't?), is much better as a dessert, covered in things like chocolate, ice cream and...stuff like that.

About two and a half minutes after watching this special, my husband had a printed recipe in his hand and a smile on his face. Needless to say, we enjoy the famous Liege waffles at home that night, and they are delicious! Much sweeter, denser and cake-like, they are the perfect pallet for any embellishments you want to add. This would be a lot of fun to entertain with, especially if your guests had a nice choice of toppings. Either way you should give it a try. It's a fun new way to use that waffle iron!

Liege Waffles
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Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup pearl sugar (regular granulated is fine)
1 cup melted butter
3 eggs
1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (add some vanilla sugar)
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Take the lukewarm water and mix in yeast, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar and salt. Let the yeast develop for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile you can melt the butter, but be careful - do not burn it.

2. Now take a large bowl and put in the flour, make a hole in the middle, pour in the yeast that you made in step one. Also add eggs and melted butter and knead until you get nice and even dough. Then let it rest so the yeast does it's magic and the dough doubles.

3. Now take pearl sugar and gently mix it in.

4. Again, let it rest for 15 minutes, in the meanwhile you can turn on the waffle maker so its nice and hot.

5. All there is left is to pour the waffle dough into the waffle maker and bake for 3-5 minutes (it's going to be thick and sticky, so there's going to be less pouring and more scooping). Because we mixed in the sugar late in the process it will melt and caramelize and give that special Liege waffle taste. Just be careful when you take them out of the waffle maker, caramelized sugar can make them sticky.