Luikse Wafels

This weekend I made “Luikse Wafels” (Waffles from Luike/Liege). As a child, we would go shopping in Belgium as we lived close to the Belgian border. As soon, as you would walk into a Belgian city, you would be greated by a smell of sweet buttery delight. If you would follow that fragrance, you would end up at a tiny stall selling “Luikse Wafels”. You can tell whether it is a real Luikse Wafel when they have a light caramalized, glossy appearance and a distinctive crunch when you bite into them. It is the pearl sugar or nib sugar that gives the waffle that light crunch. I could never only eat one and then regret instantly having devoured a second one.

The Recipe

Unlike American breakfast waffles which are made with a batter, the “Luikse Wafels” are made with dough.The dough needs to go through 2 rounds of rising so you will need to plan for that. The dough only requires pantry staples except for the pearl sugar. That will be the most difficult ingredient to source. I was luckly to find Pearl Sugar from Essential Ingredient a while back and instantly bought a 2kg pack when I got my hands on them. If you can’t get Pearl Sugar from the stores, you could try making it yourself. I tried this recipe a long time ago, it’s a good alternative.

I have tried several recipes and this one by Rutger Bakt stayed with me. I have made this recipe several times and it has always been a great hit. As always, after a few bakes, I did find the dough slightly too sweet, so whenever I make the waffles, I try to readjust the sugar levels.

Preparing the dough and the filling

• Rutger’s recipe calls for 75 grams of caster sugar. I adjusted this to 60 grams in my last bake.
• For the filling, the recipe calls for 300 grams of pearl sugar. I adjusted this to 275 grams in my last bake.

Baking the waffles

• I have set the heat level to 2.5 and check the waffles after 3 minutes. I find the waffles are cooked perfectly around 3:30 minutes in my last bake. The pearl sugar caramalization gets a boost in the final 20 seconds of the cook, so pay close attention so they don’t burn.

Tools

Here is an overview of the tools I used for this recipe:

• Digital Kitchen Scales
• Waffle Maker: I have looked around for waffle makers with adjustable temperature and have eventually bought this one Cuisinart Waffle Maker