This post is a scheduled one being posted from my holiday hotel, as I check in online…..to return home, from an amazing week in Barbados. I hope you enjoy it.
Stroopwaffles are a common sight in shops, stalls and even vending machines all over the Netherlands. The average dutch person consumes 20 of these waffles each every year.
To think that like most other specialties, it was borne of a conglomerate of leftovers by a Gouda baker in 1784. In its infancy, it never cost more than a penny or two – certainly ‘biscuits for the poor’ as they were then known as. But with time, the status of the poor man’s cookie changed and by the 19th century, numerous treacle waffle makers were established in Gouda. Hence the reference to Goudse waffles.
Of course, no good thing stays hidden for long and so it wasn’t a long time before vendors began selling them at markets and festivals beyond the gates of precious Gouda. And thus spread the fame…all over the Netherlands.
And though I haven’t tried them at home yet, I was lucky enough..to catch some action and watch them being made and so I will know what to do when I get round to making them!
I don’t have a waffle-maker this shape but I guess that my heart-shaped mould will be just as good, and cute…if not more.
Essentially, you first make the dough and roll it into balls and then make the syrup.
Once the balls are ready to bake, one is placed on the waffle maker, which is then closed and left to cook for a couple of minutes.
As soon as it is brown, it is brought out quickly and sliced in two halves while hot, otherwise the waffle cools down and becomes one crumbly cookie…which for this syrup treat is not the aim. Is this the source of ‘that’s the way the cookie crumbles’?
This can be tricky….in this demo, as the lady sliced through one half, a piece broke off. She kept it….and carried on. She walked over to her pot of treacle syrup and using a spatula, spread some on the inside of one half.
The other half is placed over the syrup-coated one and lightly pressed together. Including the broken bit from before. The syrup worked like magic…glue!
And there – done. You can buy them freshly made,
or pre-packed.
You can even get bits which go great in ice-cream, on yoghurt….probably could be crushed into a sort of chewy cheesecake base.
Have you had them before? If you could make them, how would you?
I have a plan for when I make them….and that’s to use some caramelised white chocolate instead of the syrup with some coffee flavouring….or maybe make the treacle syrup with little bits of ginger for some heat…or maybe even put some cardamoms (I’m loving cardamoms now in sweet desserts ever since the Tarte Tatin experience)
Now assuming you have a waffle maker – preferably the ones that make small flatish waffles (not the Belgian waffle ones), then I believe you can attempt a go.
Recipe from the book – Dutch Delights by Sylvia Pessireron
You’ll need
For the waffles
Ingredients
250g plain flour, sifted 100g soft brown sugar 200g butter 10 g instant yeast 1 egg, lightly beaten Pinch of saltFor the Treacle syrup
Ingredients
600g treacle 300g cane sugar 100g butter 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamonTo make the dough
Put the sifted flour into a bowl. Slice the butter into the flour using 2 table knives.
Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water and stir into the flour.
Add the egg and soft brown sugar and knead to a soft, smooth dough, about 10 minutes or less.
Place in a bowl, cover and leave to rise for an hour (at least)
To make the syrup
Bring the treacle, cane sugar and cinnamon to a boil while stirring then simmer for 10 minutes.
Cut the butter into small pieces and stir into the treacle. Once thickened, take off the heat.
Continue stirring while the treacle cools and thickens into a paste.
To bake waffles
Heat up your waffle iron.
When the dough is risen, divide it into about 10 pieces of roughly equal size.
Then roll them between the palms of your hands into slightly flattened balls.
Place them one/two at a time into the iron and let cook (a few minutes).
Once ready, remove them from the iron and let them cool slightly, then cut open quickly, spread syrup and assemble together. If they are allowed to cool down proper, they will crumble under your knife!
Enjoy the Dutch way – with some freshly brewed coffee. Make a cup of coffee and set a waffle above the top to soften the treacle filling (assuming that the waffle is at least larger than the diameter of your cup or mug . Then eat. Delicious.
Did you enjoy this? See other how-tos!
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Also, my cookbook giveaway continues till Sunday, March 28th, 2010. Help spread the word, please.
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