"Luikse" Waffles

This waffle you can find on almost every street corner in Belgian cities.  It is a dense waffle, that does not need any topping.  It is the ideal snack when you are shopping in the rainy, cold weather of Belgium...the smell will make you stop for sure!  This recipe makes at least 70 waffles:

8 (US) cups of al purpose flour
1/8 cup of milk
10 tbsp fresh yeast
4 eggs
pinch of salt
2 bags of vanilla sugar (if you don't have these, use a bit of vanilla instead)
4 sticks of butter
3 cups of granulated sugar

1. Put the flour in a bowl, together with the eggs and salt and mix well
2. add the yeast that you have "broken" in a bit of water
3. mix everything well and add the butter and sugar slowly
4. roll little dough-balls
5. let it rest for about 15 minutes
6. bake in a hot waffle maker

Enjoy!

Fresh start with the English page!

When I was growing up in Belgium, I loved going to others people houses, trying out their own waffles.  Every one of them tasted different and each family had his favorites.  When I moved to Ithaca, New York in the US, 18 years ago, the first thing I bought in a garage sale was a waffle maker (for 1 dollar)!  I started baking waffles for every student gathering or special occasion and people loved it!  I later took it to other places in the US and even to Finland and Ethiopia, where I thought local people how to make waffles!  Kids would know me as "the mother who bakes these wonderful birthday-waffles" and would ask me on the school gate when I would bake them again!

After all our travels to Africa and Europe, I started wondering about all the other recipes that are around in Belgium and so I put an ad in a popular family magazine to call for more recipes.  I was overwhelmed not only by the amount of mail I got, but also about how passionate people were about their - often family secret - waffle recipes!  I felt I could not keep all of these just sitting in my drawer for me to use, so I started a "Waffle - blog" http://belgischewafels.blogspot.be/.  We have now more then 100 recipes on this blog and more then 100 000 hits.  I still keep looking for new ones and also for new ways how to use the waffle maker (eg. with puff pastry).

About a year ago, I started the English version on this blog, but I got taken back by the negative e-mails I received about "how much fat and sugar we Belgians are eating etc."  Of course, everybody knows waffles are not to be eaten every day and should be seen as a special treat and also... I am looking into "healthy waffles, waffles in other ways to be eaten for lunch, light waffles etc...", so I am sure that EVERYBODY can find his own waffle by now on the blog!  

I will try to continue to put recipes in English on this blog, but I am not a professional translator and also not a  dietitian!  I am just a Belgian who loves making waffles and keeping the Belgian waffle alive!  

Smakelijk!!!!!!!

International Belgian Waffles!

150 g plain white flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tbsp icing sugar
250 ml milk
3 large eggs, separated
2 tbsp melted butter or sunflower oil
pinch of salt

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and suger into a bowl
2. add milk, egg yolks and butter and whisk to a smooth batter
3. whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form
4. fold into the batter
5. lightly grease a waffle maker and heat until hot
6. pour the batter into the waffle maker and bake until golden brown

L.  

Waffles with cake flour and rum!

250 g cake flour
4 packages of vanilla sugar
little bit of rum
250 g white sugar
5 eggs

1. Let the butter come to room temperature
2. use the mixer to get trough the butter and add the sugar
3. add rum, mix well
4. add eggs one by one
5. fold in flour
6. bake in hot waffle maker with deep wells

Waffles with nuts and/or dried fruit

500 g flour
300 g sugar
400 g butter
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 packages of vanilla sugar
1/2 package of vanilla pudding powder
pinch of salt


1. Put the flour in a bowl
2. add baking powder, vanilla powder, sugars and salt
3. melt the butter and add to bowl
4. beat in eggs one by one and mix well
5. beat until you get a nice dough
6. let the dough rest for a couple of hours (best is overnight)
7. fold in your choice of nuts and dried fruits (you can also add lemon/orange zest and grated lemon, orange peel)
9. bake in hot waffle maker!

You can keep these waffles up to 2 weeks!

Mini Waffles

500 g self rising flour
300 g sugar
250 g butter
4 eggs
2 packages of vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
heavy cream

1. beat the butter together with the sugar
2. add the eggs one by one
3. add salt and flour
4. if you want a real soft dough, add a bit of heavy cream, mix well
5. put the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes
6. role little balls from the dough
7. bake them in hot waffle maker!
8. you can keep them in an airtight container up to a week

Grandma's Recipe for Waffles with Beer!

For about 40 waffles:

2 cups of flour

1 stick of butter
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1/3 vanilla stick
1/2 tablespoon oil
1 cup of beer (best to use real Belgian beer)
1 cup of milk
20 grams  (= about 6 tablespoons) fresh yeast

1. put milk on stove together with vanilla stick and make lukewarm
2. take from the fire and solve the yeast in the milk
3. add the sugar, the beer, oil and egg yolks, beat well
4. add the sifted flour and the melted butter, mix well
5. beat the egg whites until stiff and fold it under the dough
6. cover it and put it in the fridge for 1 hour
7. bake in hot waffle iron!
8. serve with your favorite topping!

Famous Belgian Waffles!

4 cups self rising flour
2 sticks baking butter
1 cup sugar
3 packages of vanilla sugar (If this is hard to find, just use a bit of vanilla extract)
4 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of oil

1. Let the butter warm up to room temperature
2. beat the butter until creamy
3. add the sugars and beat some more
4. separate egg whites and beat them till snow
5. add egg yolks to batter
6. add oil and milk
7. add the flour and mix until you get a nice batter
8. fold in the egg snow
9. bake in hot waffle maker
10. server hot with your favorite topping!

Waffles to take to school!

My kids always take waffles to schools in stead of cup cakes whenever there is a birthday or something to celebrate.  It happens regularly that mothers ask me for the recipe so their kids would stop begging them for these waffles!

8 cups of selfrizing flour
6 sticks of butter or margarine
3 1/2 cups of fine white sugar
8 eggs
1 cup milk

1. Melt the butter together with the sugar
2. take from the stove and add flour, mix well
3. separate egg whites from yolks
4. add egg yolks to batter
5. add milk and mix well until you get a nice batter
6. beat egg whites to snow and fold them under the batter
7. let stand for at least 1/2 hour
8. bake in hot waffle maker!
9. let them cool of and wrap them individually in nice bags to take to school!

Waffles with Pearl Sugar

4 cups of flour
1 package of dry yeast
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
2 sticks of butter
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of Pearl Sugar
1 tablespoon of regular white sugar

1. dissolve yeast in the milk
2. add egg, mix well
3. add cinnamon, water, regular sugar, salt and butter
4. add sifted flour, mix well
5. in the end fold the pearl sugar under the dough
6. let rest for at least 15 minutes
7. bake in a hot waffle maker
8. let cookie waffles cool off

Nuts and Fruit Waffles!

4 cups of flour
1 cup white sugar
3,5 sticks of butter
6 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 packages of vanilla sugar (if you can't find this, use a bit of vanilla extract)
1/2 packages of vanilla powder (this is powder to make vanilla pudding)
pinch of salt

1. Put flour, powder, sugar and salt in bowl, mix well
2. melt the butter and let cool of
3. add the eggs to the butter one by one
4. add this mixture to the bowl and mix well until you have a smooth batter
5. let batter rest for a couple of hours, or if possible over night
6. add dry nuts, raisins, orange or lemon zest or any other kind of dried fruit
7. bake in warm waffle maker
8. SERVE COLD WITHOUT TOPPING

You can keep these cookie waffles for at least a week in an air tight container.
Vanilla extract and vanilla powder add taste and texture to this waffles, but if you can't find these ingredients, just try the waffles without.  

Wheat Waffles Cookies

4 cups of wheat flour
3 sticks of butter (or margarine)
3 packages of vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
6 eggs
2 1/3 cups sugar

1. Put flour in a bowl, together with the sugar, mix well
2. melt the butter and let cool of
3. add butter to flour mix and stir well
4. separate egg whites from yolks
5. add egg yolks one by one and mix well
5. beat egg whites to snow and fold it under the dough
6. let rise for 1 hour
7. bake in hot waffle maker

These waffles you can keep for at least a week in an airtight container!

Valentine Waffles made by a husband who does not really follow recipies

4 cups of self rising flour and a bit of corn starch
7 - 9 eggs
a little bit of melted butter or margarine
4 cups of milk
1 package of yeast
little bit of sugar

1. separate the egg yolks from egg whites and beat the egg whites to snow
2. put the egg yolks in kitchen aid and add melted butter
3. add milk and mix well
4. add flour (with corn starch) and keep on mixing with kitchen aid
5. add the sugar
6. dissolve yeast in a bit of lukewarm water and add to mixture
7. take your dough out of the kitchen aid and fold in the egg whites
8. bake in hot waffle maker
9. serve hot with your favorite topping!

Ps. When we have lots of people over, we sometimes bake with 3 waffle makers at the same time!

Valentine Belgian Waffles!

For this recipe you best use a waffle maker that has a heart shaped plate, but if you don't have this, you can use whatever plate you have and make the toppings more decorative eg. a heart out of whipped cream!


2 cups of flour
pinch of baking powder
1 1/3 stick of unsalted butter or margarine
3/4 cup of fine white sugar
1 package of vanilla sugar (if you can't find this, just use a bit of vanilla extract)
2 eggs

1. beat butter until creamy
2. add sugar and eggs and beat well again
3. add the sifted flour and the backing powder and mix well
4. put this batter in a pastry bag so you can put it nicely on the waffle maker
5. you have to cool off these waffles and you can keep them for more than a week in an airtight container!