These Belgian waffles from Liège can be eaten for breakfast or dessert and are sweeter than those from Brussels. Serve warm or cold waffles with whipped cream, fruit, and/or warm, melted chocolate.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 waffles |
Ingredients
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
- 1 ½ tablespoons white sugar
- ¾ cup lukewarm milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup melted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups pearl sugar (such as Lars’ Own®)
Instructions
- Sprinkle yeast and white sugar over warm milk in a small bowl. The milk should be no more than 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). Let stand for 15 minutes until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
- Whisk eggs, melted butter, and vanilla into the yeast mixture until evenly blended; set aside.
- Stir together flour and salt in a separate large bowl, and make a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well, then stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place, 80 to 95 degrees F (27 to 35 degrees C), until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Gently mix in the pearl sugar.
- Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Place a baseball-sized ball of dough on the preheated waffle iron. Cook waffles until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow waffles to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.
- You can get Lars Own Belgian pearl sugar from Amazon.com. In a pinch, you can break sugar cubes into 4 to 8 pieces. Swedish pearl sugar can also be used.
- Dough balls may be wrapped in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerated overnight.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 458 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 62 g |
| Cholesterol | 106 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 277 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These are a favorite in our house and are expected by family for Christmas treats.
Today was the first time I made these. I had no idea what to expect but my husband says they remind him of being in Germany Definitely a keeper ! Thanks for the recipe
Quick and easy to make. They turned out perfect. They cook quicker than waffles made from a more liquid batter so be careful to not let them burn. The pearl sugar tends to stick to the waffle irons making cleanup a chore.
I lived in Europe for awhile 20ish years ago and loved these waffles. I never thought about making them until I came across this recipe! These are really delicious. Not exactly the same as the ones in Europe, but really close and more homemade!
This is an excellent recipe. My Belgian stepfather said they taste “just like home”!
Exactly what I was looking for. The recipe was right on target, and the crispy caramel coating that results from the pearl sugar is soooo delicious! I would definitely recommend toppings such as whipped cream, fruit, etc. But it would also be great with savory toppings. Bacon anyone?
I made these tonight for a fun dessert and they are incredible! I ended up having to let the dough rise twice on the counter because of an interruption, and they were still perfect! I served them with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce and it was a delicious combination. These are perfectly crisp from the caramelized pearl sugar, yet tender and yeasty in the middle. I made the recipe exactly as written and I wouldn’t change a thing. My new go to recipe!
Never again. Way too much trouble. They were okay. Definitely needed syrup as they were a little dry. And what a mess! I saw the other reviews about cleaning up the waffle iron. I may have to just throw away the waffle maker and buy another one! Things to think about: how does one mix butter and milk? LOL. Not very easily. Also, do you have a “warm” place for the dough to rise? I didn’t. I warmed up the oven and used that.
Too much sugar! I suggest you make the first waffle with half the sugar and then adjust to taste by adding some more. I used Pearl Sugar from King Arthur which says it doesn’t melt & it didn’t. Someone else mentioned another kind of pearl sugar which carmelizes- would that be better? The waffle itself was tasty- but my 5yr old grandson complained too sweet!
I followed this recipe exactly. When I mixed the wet and dry ingredients the result was more like a batter rather than a dough. I let it sit to rise but it did not rise much at all. I was worried that I’d done something wrong but the final result was absolutely delicious. We sometimes get waffles from Waffle Cabin at different snowboard resorts and this was my attempt to recreate those. Everyone loved them and said they were extremely similar.
These have got to be the best liege waffles recipe out there. The taste and texture were perfect. Just know that you will have a helluva time cleaning up that waffle iron after you are done but these are all so worth it. Definitely a keeper.
These are doughier, yeastier, and sweeter than what I have come to know as a “Belgian waffle” but I think that’s because these are authentic. Not sure as I’ve never actually been to Belgium, Ha! They don’t need a lot of sweet/heavy toppings as they are already very sweet and buttery right out of the iron, so I would top for a little fruit and maybe some whipped cream. They leave your iron messier because of the pearl sugar caramelizing all over the place, but biggie. Glad we tried them!
I have been attempting to recreate through testing various recipes the Liège waffles I had in Belgium. This recipe came closest – it’s delicious.
Excellent recipe! The best recipe I’ve ever found on this site. I followed it exactly and was super happy with the results. I used Red Star Platinum yeast which is what I always use. I had a bag of pearl sugar but didn’t want to use the entire bag so I cooked sugar down (1.5 cups sugar and 4TBS water until about 295 degrees) and poured it out onto a baking sheet with parchment paper over it. After letting it cool for 15 minutes I chopped it up and used half that and half pearl sugar. In the future I’ll just use the cooked sugar method as I think that melts a bit better into the waffle surface than the pearl sugar did. I only have a little tiny Dash waffle maker that makes eggo sized waffles but it worked fine in there. I normally buy these expensive Belgian waffles and these are identical in size and flavor! Since the Dash waffle maker makes such tiny waffles, this recipe made tons! Would recommend!!
Great for breakfast, dessert or a snack. I used smashed up sugar cubes.
We have been waiting for the right time. We made for my daughters birthday at work. Made our breakfast waffle buffet. They didn’t last long. I would reduce the amount of pearl sugar a bit on my next batch as there is a lot in the recipe. Great but a lot of work when making 1 at a time for a huge crowd
Greeting from Japan. Added Japanese coarse sugar on the surface instead of adding the pearl sugar into the dough. It’s so good with a cup of coffee. Thank you for the recipe.
In what can only be described as “the best waffles I ever ate”, this recipe is amazing! I made it 100% as is, didn’t change anything. I ordered the pearl sugar on Amazon, pricey but well worth it. The only thing I absolutely detested about this whole experience, was the cleanup. Cleaning that waffle iron after it was done was awful.
Made few times, very good, same taste as i tasted in Brussels. Highly recommend!
I‘ve made these multiple times for my family and we absolutely love them! They are easy and relatively quick and don’t make a mess. The only trouble is cleaning the waffle iron when done. Also, I didn’t want to waist that much pearl sugar, so I only used about 1 cup. Thanks for the recipe!
These taste almost exactly like the waffles I used to buy on the street corners in Verviers, Belgium thirty years ago!