Liege Waffles

Liege waffle topped with nutella, bananas, strawberries and whipped cream

Bring a taste of Belgium into your kitchen with these Liege Waffles! A wonderful special breakfast or afternoon treat, these yeasted sugar waffles are irresistible.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Belgian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Rising Time 9

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 358kcal

Author Deborah Harroun

Ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons package active dry yeast 1 package
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
3 eggs
1 cup melted butter slightly cooled
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour
8 oz Belgian pearl sugar about 1 1/2 cups
toppings of your choice (chocolate hazelnut spread, cookie butter, fresh fruit, Reddi-wip etc)

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast, sugar and milk. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast has bloomed.
Whisk the eggs and butter into the yeast mixture. Add in the brown sugar, vanilla and salt and mix until smooth and combined. Start adding in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you have added 3 cups of the flour. Continue to mix until the dough is smooth. The dough will still be sticky, but should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still not pulling away from the sides after mixing for 2-3 minutes, add up to an additional 1/2 cup of flour.
Transfer the dough to a large, greased bowl. Cover with a towel or a piece of plastic wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick baking spray. Let it rise until it has doubled in size, 30 minutes to an hour. Punch down the dough, recover, and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and pour out onto a very lightly floured work surface. With your hands, knead the pearl sugar into the dough. (Be careful, as the sugar is a bit sharp and it may hurt your hands if you are too rough.) Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and roll into a ball.
Preheat a waffle maker. (You’ll want a Belgian waffle maker, or a waffle maker that makes deeper waffles. They won’t be the same in a traditional waffle maker.) Slightly flatten a ball of dough and place it in the center of the waffle maker. Close and cook according to the waffle maker instructions*.
Carefully remove from the waffle maker (the sugar is HOT!) and let rest for a minute or two before topping and serving.
Waffles are best served and eaten warm.

Notes

*Most home waffle makers cook way too hot and the outsides of the dough will be cooked before the sugar has a chance to melt in the waffle. If you have a waffle maker that allows you to control the temperature, turn it down to around 360º and cook until they are golden brown. If your waffle maker is like mine, and only has one heat setting (HOT!), I found that the only way I could get them to cook a little longer without overcooking or drying out was to turn the waffle maker off after I had added the dough. It was a bit of a pain, but totally worth it in the end! With the waffle maker on the whole time, I was only cooking them about 2 minutes, but with turning it off, I could stretch that to 4 1/2 minutes, and the sugar was able to melt nicely. My waffle maker does have 2 sides, so I could bake 2 at a time, so that helped as well. You’ll have to experiment with your waffle maker to see what works best.

Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide. Nutrition information does not include toppings.

Nutrition