May 05, 2011, Updated Sep 11, 2024 Liege waffles were probably the thing that seduced me most about Belgium. The smell, primarily. That glorious aroma of hot, yeasty waffles caramelizing on heavy iron grills at every corner. I remember my first one ever. I followed my nose like a pig on a truffle. I was served a piping hot Liege waffle in a little waxed paper square and I was a changed woman. These are not waffles like we are accustomed to in North America – which are basically pancakes cooked in a waffle iron. No, Liege waffles are magical. They are dense and quite bread-y; thick and chewy and studded with pearl sugar. Pearl sugar which gets pressed into the deep waffle pockets by a blazing hot, heavy iron waffle press – caramelizing it into pure magic. The dough is heavily yeasted – 50 grams is a little more than 4 tablespoons. It sounds like a lot, but the flavour is incredible. Enriched with eggs and 14 tablespoons (just under a cup) of butter, these waffles are serious business. Seriously good business. Liege, for those who don’t know, is actually a city in Belgium. There is a second type of waffle possessed by this magical country, called the Brussels waffle. Unlike the dense, rich Liege waffle, Brussels waffles are light-as-a-cloud – crispy on the outside, but airy on the inside. You could eat about ten. A feat that could certainly not be comfortably accomplished with Liege waffles… This recipe is highly authentic. Translated from Dutch by my lovely friend and waffle-making guide/companion Kristiana, it is straight from the heart of Belgium. The ingredients are all listed in grams – if you don’t have a kitchen scale, now is your moment to buy one! The pearl sugar is really key to the authenticity of Liege waffles, but if you can’t find it, substitute the coarsest sugar you can find and reduce the amount by about a third.
