My husband is a huge fan of Belgian Waffles. I never thought I could make them because we had a ‘normal’ sized waffle maker. So he asked for a legitimate Belgian Waffle maker for Christmas. His parents bought us a really nice one so I got to cooking one Saturday morning. While the bacon sizzled I looked up my usual waffle recipe in my Betty Crocker Cookbook and made waffles. Poor Andy wondered why they tasted the same as my regular waffles, only thicker and harder. Then he asked the question, “Aren’t Belgian Waffles made with like, different batter or something?” Doh.
Yes, my friends. They are. Turns out there’s more to a Belgian Waffle than a big-ass waffle maker.
The Belgian Waffle is formally called the Brussels Waffle, based
on its origins from Brussels, Belgium. It was introduced at the World’s Fair in
Seattle in 1962 but the Seattleites didn’t somehow know what or where Brussels
was so they named it the Belgian Waffle instead. Its soft, crispy
melty-in-your-mouthness has been taking North America by storm ever since.
So, after a lot of tries I found a great recipe that I
then modified just a little bit to make it easier (this one doesn't require yeast) and healthier (really, two whole sticks of butter?) than some of the others.
We think it tastes really delicious and authentic
so I think you should try it and let me know what you think.Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1 ½ cups milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sliced fresh strawberries or syrup
Directions
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. In another bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Add milk, butter and vanilla; mix well. Sit into dry ingredients just until combined. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (this is the hard part. If you figure out a genius way to do this without making your forearm feel like falling off please let me know) fold into batter. Bake in preheated big-ass waffle iron until golden brown
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. In another bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Add milk, butter and vanilla; mix well. Sit into dry ingredients just until combined. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (this is the hard part. If you figure out a genius way to do this without making your forearm feel like falling off please let me know) fold into batter. Bake in preheated big-ass waffle iron until golden brown
Curtis also loves Belgium waffles and my parents gave him a maker for Christmas one year... but like you, I had NO idea you were supposed to use a "special" waffle batter recipe! We tried this recipe this weekend and loved it - Graham was so excited he squealed before every bite.
ReplyDeleteI let my kitchen aid mixer and whisk attachment do all the work beating the egg whites. But I'm proud of you for doing it by hand, I'm sure you burnt a ton of calories!
I want that plate of perfectly fluffy Belgian waffles, perfectly crisp bacon and perfectly fanned out banana RIGHT NOW.
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