Liege waffles

A Belgian waffle is not the fluffy thing you get at an American diner. It's dense and light at the same time, crunchy caramelized sugar on the outside providing a perfect offset to the deep chewy flavorful interior. No toppings necessary, these things are magic. The first one I ever had was at a Belgian beer festival, and I was hooked. I haven't had a "real" waffle in Belgium, yet, the kind from a truck, probably, oozing hot sugar all over my fingers. Someday, I'll visit the homeland, and do it right. Til then... it's gotta be homemade or at beer festivals here.

The challenge here is that you've got to knead in all the butter. One piece at a time. Basically, you make a brioche. And, without a stand mixer, that means you need some serious arm power. Good thing I'm a skier! Getting all the butter mixed in without melting it was a chore, but totally, totally, TOTALY worth it. I couldn't get through the full 14 tablespoons, to be honest - my arm gave out. But, the 12tbs that made it in were good enough. 

I highly recommend the recipe by Deb at Smitten Kitchen. Recipe here: https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/05/liege-waffles/. The main difference between what I made and what she made is that she's better at this food cooking and blogging stuff. Oh, and has a stand mixer.

Some comments -
- Get the butter as warm as possible without letting it melt
- Swedish pearl sugar is indeed a different beast. Next time, I'm trying the smashed sugar cube approach
- Don't leave out the vanilla. I was out, but it could have used that extra heady flavor
- The waffles you cook later are the tastiest, as the sugar has started to really caramelize

In goes the butter, one tablespoon at a time. I would use my spoon to smash it and stretch the dough around it until it was fully incorporated. Don't do this on a hot day, or the butter will melt.

Making my own dough hook out of a spoon and some arm power.

After mixing in the final cup of flour and kneading smooth

After kneading in the sugar and cutting into chunks. I loved how this was dough, and not batter.

I nearly forgot to take a photo of the finished product. We were eating these with our hands, but since I'd also made a more traditional batter waffle (kind of made the batter for that one before deciding I wanted the challenge of the liege dough), we were loading those ones up with fruit, yogurt, apple butter, maple syrup, you name it.

Eaten side by side, the liege waffles were so superior. I mean, it's like comparing a cake to a piece of cardboard. Worth the investment of time and effort!