Jagna's Corner: weekend cooking - sugar waffles from liege

Since cooking is one of my great passions, I decided to start a new series of posts on my blog. 'Weekend Cooking', that's it. On Fridays I will be posting my favorite recipes, perfect to be tried out over a weekend to make it really special. Some of them are quite time-consuming, but they are well worth all the time and effort. I hope you will enjoy the idea, the recipes and the pictures showing the results of my culinary efforts :-)

There are some things about Belgium that are really bad, like Belgian drivers and the overall chaos...

But there are also some things about Belgium that are wonderful - like Belgian beers (Kriek being my favorite), Belgian chocolate and Belgian waffles.

There are many sorts of waffles: with or without yeast, with or without beer, not sweet at all or extremely sweet. One thing they have in common (at least those that I have already tried) is that they are very, very nice. The nicer the colder the weather is and the waffles warmer.

In Belgium you can get waffles anywhere: in a supermarket, at a restaurant, on a street corner. Or you can make them at home - then not only will you get the great taste of waffles, but also your kids, husbands, boyfriends etc. will simply adore you.

Liege Sugar Waffles

(about 20 small waffles)

750 g flour
270 ml lukewarm milk
70 g fresh yeast
3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
15 g salt
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
400 g very soft butter
500 g pearl sugar

Put all the ingredients except for butter and sugar into a bowl and mix until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 45-60 minutes.
Punch dough down, add butter and sugar and work the dough for a short while - only until the butter is well mixed in. You don't want the sugar to dissolve.
Divide the dough into 20 balls (can be less or more - the thing is they have to fit into your waffle iron), place them on a board and place in a warm place to rise.
Preheat the waffle iron - remember not to grease it! When the iron is hot, start frying the waffles: place the dough balls in the iron (possibly two at a time), close the lid and let the waffles fry for about 4 minutes, or until golden brown.