Liege Sugar Waffles

My mom gave me some pearl sugar a while back (Christmas? Birthday? I have no idea…) and it’s been waiting patiently in the cabinet to be used. Yesterday, all of the stars aligned and I had all of the necessary ingredients to make Belgian Liege sugar waffles – thick waffles studded with pearl sugar.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla-infused vodka — 3 vanilla beans + good vodka + 6 months = yummy vanilla infusion)
• 3-4 cups of flour (you’ll see why it might be different for you)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pearl sugar (I used Swedish, not Belgian, but I say use what you can find)

Here’s what you do:

Combine white sugar, yeast, and warm milk in a large bowl.

Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

Resulting mixture should be frothy and a bit puffy. ^

Add the eggs and vanilla.

Stir until combined.

Add the flour little by little – 1/2 flour, all of the salt, then flour 1/2 cup at a time until it is a thick batter.

Your final batter should look like this:

You may need to add more or less flour depending on the temperature and humidity in your kitchen – I added somewhere between 3 and 4 cups.  The batter should be thick, but still wet, not dry!

Cover the batter and let it sit (away from drafts, again) for at least 40 minutes – it should grow a little in size, but probably will not double – mine didn’t.

Stir in the pearl sugar gently (look how cute it is!) and preheat your waffle iron.

When the waffle iron is hot, drop a large spoonful of batter in each quadrant (we have a lovely new Cuisinart Belgian waffle maker that I received as a bridal shower gift), and wait patiently.

When your waffle iron beeps (I set it between 2 & 3), pull them off and enjoy!

My finished waffles were less than 3 inches across, and studded with the beautiful pearl sugar. The taste was rich and complex, and it was much more substantial than the typical waffle – it’s really more like a crispy little sweet bread. The sugar adds crispy little bits on the outside, but melts on the inside of the waffles. I had mine plain, and my man enjoyed his with a spread of Nutella. So very Spanish of him – eating these with him reminds me of a little visit to Giuseppe Ricci with my friend Lisi – she had a gofre (Spanish word for waffle) con chocolate, I think.

The only thing I regret about this whole process is waiting so long to try this! Now, what’s next…?