Recipes

Belgian (brussels) Waffles

Breakfast  Waffle 

• Servings: 10-14
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm milk (100 degrees to 105 degrees)
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 TB butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, separated

Sprinkle yeast over the 1/2 cup warm milk in a small bowl; set aside about 5 minutes to soften.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt together.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with a fork in a small bowl

In another small bowl, mix melted butter with 1 1/4 cups warm milk and vanilla; then add the beaten egg yolks.

Add butter/milk/yolk mixture to the flour/sugar mixture, beat until smooth.

Stir in the yeasted milk.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold gently into batter.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. If you want to make them now you can leave it out on the counter for about 1 1/2 hours until doubled in volume, but the flavor is better if refrigerated overnight.

Remove from refrigerator and stir down batter.

Preheat an electric waffle maker.

Spoon about 1/2 cup batter into each waffle grid, use the back of a spoon or an icing spatula to spread over the grids a little.

Close iron; cook until waffle is well-browned and the waffle is no longer steaming (about 4 to 5 minutes).

Transfer cooked waffles to a wire rack and keep warm in an oven, set to 200 degrees, until all the batter has been cooked.

Makes about 10 to 14 waffles.

Just a warning, If the lights in your neighborhood suddenly go dim, it's not a brown out, it's just me plugging in my old Belgian Waffle Iron. I have one of those ancient chrome double square grid Belgian wafflers that get so hot, you can almost use it to melt lead to cast fishing line sinkers. As far as this recipe goes I have never used a round Belgian Waffler so I do not know how many will be made as the surface area is a little different, please follow your waffle iron manufacturer’s instructions. On special occasions, like Easter, or Beltaine (May Day), I like to serve Belgian Waffles with Violet Crème. Violet flavor is available at the Spice Barn (although it’s artificial), some middle eastern markets carry an essence, but I cannot read the ingredient list so I have no idea if its artificial or not. Trust me though this stuff is potent and a little goes a long way. It only takes a few drops; say less than 1/8 tsp for 8 oz of heavy whipping cream and 1 TB Confectioners’ Sugar. IF and only IF you are blessed with a liquor store that carries it, you can obtain a Violet Liqueur at which point a hefty 1 – 1 1/2 TB per 8 oz Heavy Cream would do nicely. Let me stop you though, if you are thinking of the good old Crème d’Yvette, cool your jets; sadly it was discontinued in the 1960’s. Your best bet is one of Crème de Violette from France such as Hermes, as the Suntory version is not available in the US yet, as far as I know. A sprinkling of candied/sugared/crystallized violets is nice too, if you can find them, since they seem to be sporadically available. I personally don’t have the patience to make them myself.