Gaufres de Liège or Belgian Liège Waffles

Ok so first things first. This isn’t a french recipe, its Belgian and comes from the Belgian town of Liège. Anyone who has visited Belgium will know that it’s not just famous for its beer and “moules-frites” (mussels and chips) but also for its unbelievably delicious waffles or gaufres !

The main difference between these gaufres and regular waffles is that they are made with a yeast raised dough, not a batter, so rather tan being light and spongy they are dense and rich.

I had been meaning to make these for ages and then finally got around to it today. Funnily enough the Tour de France is going to Liege today so it seems kind of fitting 🙂

Ingredients :

• 20cl lukewarm milk
• 1 sachet of active dry yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 500g plain flour
• 70g brown sugar
• A good pinch of salt
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar (11g)
• 300g of butter at room temperature
• 150g pearl sugar

Method :

1. In a bowl mix the milk with the dry yeast using a whisk
2. Add in the flour, followed by the eggs, the brown sugar, the salt and the vanilla sugar
3. Mix it all roughly together with the whisk
4. Then either use a mixer with a dough hook or your hands and mix well
5. Chop the softened butter into cubes and add to the dough
6. Again mix either with the mixer or your hands until the dough is smooth and elastic
7. Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave the dough aside for at least 30 minutes
8. Mix in the pearl sugar
9. Form balls of dough
10. Heat your waffle iron and use as per instructions – placing a small round ball of dough in the centre of the waffle plate
11. Cook for 3 minutes approx but keep an eye on them as they can cook a lot quicker!

Enjoy! Sprinkle with icing sugar or another topping of your choice – nutella, whipped cream, ice-cream, salted-butter caramel sauce …..

They can make a really lovely dessert with some vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce.