Friday, April 3, 2015

French Fridays with Dorie - Waffles & Cream with Homemade Egg Liqueur


Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Waffles & Cream – Dorie´s recipe is a really good recipe for delicious waffles, specially for one of those fancy waffle irons. You'll need a waffle iron to make these warm, crispy waffles.




If you wanted to describe a waffle, you could say that it is a „batter baked between two hot irons marked with indentations, producing a crisp plain cake or flatbread with deep ridges on each side and a soft aerated interior“ (DL) – sounds rather amusing but I love that description.

Waffles are typically served with butter, maple syrup or other sweet or even savory toppings. Typical ingredients for the waffle batter include wheat flour, butter, milk, salt, sugar and egg.




When making homemade waffles, it is always important to remember not to over-enrich the batter with too much fat, sugar or egg as the waffles can color too quickly and turn soft soon after baking. As a rule, you should use plain flour rather than bread flour to help produce a light and crisp result and keep egg, sugar and cream to a minimum. The toppings used will accentuate the sweet or savory characteristics of the waffle.




We live in a country of devoted waffle lovers. Therefore, I own serveral waffle irons, for very pretty heart-shaped or shell-shaped waffles. I also count a rather fancy Belgian waffle maker among my true kitchen treasures. I love my waffle irons – if you haven’t got one, put it on your birthday wishlist!




We usually eat waffles in the afternoon, dusted with confectioners´ sugar and may be some lightly whipped cream on the side. Never as a breakfast meal. When we visit the Netherlands or Belgium, there is always the aroma of freshly-baked waffles in the air – you can order them all day long at coffee shops and cafés and specialty food trucks and choose between plain ones or the ones with cream and fruits piled high, or warm chocolate or caramel sauce. Always such a treat.

And classically, Belgian-style waffles are yeasted waffles, they are crispy on the outside and soft and light on the inside. We love the yeasty flavors and aroma.




Dorie´s recipe also hails from a Belgian chef living in Paris. This is a recipe with only a few ingredients, namely butter, milk, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and egg whites – alas, no yeast in sight. Still delicious and very easy to whip up.




And even more wonderful when served with softly-whipped cream as well as some Homemade Egg Liqueur (Eierlikör) that I made this morning. In Germany, egg liqueur is mostly consumed during Easter and Christmas, but available year-round.  It has a rich, creamy, custard-like flavor and makes a great topping for everything from ice cream to rice puddings, vanilla custards and can also be used in preparing cakes. Eierlikör tastes best right out of the fridge and when kept there, stays good for a few weeks.




Vanilla Egg Liqueur – Vanille-Eierlikör
(for all those adult taste testers)

Ingredients
(Makes 500 ml)
  • 5 very fresh egg yolks, use M or L (buy the very best organic eggs you can find) 
  • 125 gram confectioners´ sugar (sifted)
  • a pinch of fine sea salt
  • one fresh vanilla bean (preferably a Madagascar vanilla bean)
  • 100 ml vodka (or rum)
  • 200 grams cream or half-and-half 

Preparation
  1. Sterilize the bottle that you are using to store the egg liqueur.
  2. In the bowl of your mixer add the egg yolks, the confectioners´sugar and the salt and mix on high speed for about ten minutes. - NOTE: you can use the egg whites to bake my Coconut Easter Lamb Cake, for my recipe, please go here.
  3. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the scraped seeds to the egg mixture together with the vodka (or rum) and cream.- NOTE: make sure to keep the scraped vanilla bean to make Homemade Vanilla Sugar, for my recipe, please go here.
  4. Mix for another ten minutes and laddle into to prepared bottle (or use a suitable funnel).
  5. Refrigerate overnight for best taste - NOTE: Egg liqueur doesn’t keep as well as most other liqueurs do. Keep an unopened bottle no longer than a few months and make sure to consume an opened bottle as quickly as possible. Once opened, store in the fridge.



Waffles are always a huge hit at our house - these were no exception - served dusted with confectioners´ sugar and whipped cream to the younger and very eager taste testers and for the adult ones with a bit of that Homemade Egg Liqueur. What a treat on a Friday afternoon during Easter vacation. In general, frozen waffles are easy to use as they can be placed in the toaster and simply reheated (unless, of course, they come with a wooden stick attached and unless, of course, you never ever have leftover waffles).




I wish to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Very Happy Easter! - Frohe Ostern! - Joyeuses Pâques!

To see whether the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this week´s recipe, please go here.

For copyright reasons, we do not publish the recipes from the book. But you can find the recipe for the Waffles & Cream on pages 416-17 in Dorie Greenspan´s cookbook "Around my French Table".


38 comments:

  1. Expert waffle technique! I need to give this a lot more practice to make them this nice. Not sure I have the patience tough! These kinda make me want to figure it out though!

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    1. Trevor, thank you kindly - it comes easy being an "expert waffle maker" around here - there are wonderful waffle makers available around here and waffles are still considered to be a rather popular afternoon treat with a strong cup of coffee or good tea! And we are keeping that tradition alive at our house...
      Andrea

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  2. Your little heart shaped waffles are so cute! You could send some of that sun our way. Happy Easter.

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    1. Gaye, I would gladly send some of our sunshine your way - it looks as if we will be enjoying a nice, sunny Easter Sunday tomorrow - which is a good thing, as we are going to have our yearly Easter picnic.
      Wishing you a Happy Easter!
      Andrea

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  3. Andrea, wie sieht dieses Waffeleisen aus??? Zum 13. Geburtstag (long ago) hatte ich mir ein Waffeleisen gewuenscht und bekommen :-) Vier weitere kamen hinzu, leider nicht zu gebrauchen in den USA, weil sie die Hitze nicht erreichen... :-( Waffle- Possibilities are endless :-) Love the idea to use the egg yolks for the liqueur and the whites for the waffles so much!!! Happy Easter!

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    1. Liebe Wally, das ist ein neues Waffeleisen von mir - das sogenannte "Waffeleisen für Herzwaffeln am Stiel" ist online zu haben - die Kinder finden es toll und die Waffeln sehen ja auch ganz nett aus - beim Geschmack kommt es ja immer auf das Rezept an. Fünf Waffeleisen - hört sich ja fast nach meinem Bestand an, da bin ich aber froh, dass ich nicht die Einzige bin, die mehr als ein Waffeleisen besitzt.
      Ich wünsche euch wunderschöne Ostertage! Ich mache mich mal gleich an die Vorbereitungen für unser Osterpicknick.
      Liebe Grüsse,
      Andrea

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  4. Your heart shaped waffles are just lovely! And I am definetly making your Homemade Egg Liqueur…I am so intrigued by it! Sounds absolutely luscious! As always Andrea, a beautiful job!! Happy Easter to you and yours!

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    1. Dear Kathy, the Homemade Egg Liqueur is definitely worth a try! It bears a certain resemblance to the American Egg Nog but is served nice and cold - if you get a chance to make it, let me know whether you enjoyed it - you can also make half the recipe and use three small egg yolks instead of five (M or L) ones for the whole recipe.
      Happy Easter to you and your entire family,
      Andrea

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  5. You have me pining for Beligium and the Netherlands... I can smell the waffles. No waffles in Germany, but you have vanilla egg liqueur, wow now that stuffs a party. Happy Easter.

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    1. Diane, but there are lots of people making waffles in Germany just not all day long as is customary in the Benelux countries...that is what I call "temptation held at bay"....Wishing you and your family Happy Easter!
      Andrea

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  6. Andrea! Happy Easter to you and your family (and readers here!).
    Love love your post and the explanation of waffles - the making of and all! Lovely post, cannot anything less from you!

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    1. Dear Emily thank you for your kind words - makes me very happy to read that you enjoy my little post! Wishing you and yours a Very Happy Easter!
      Andrea

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  7. Eierlikör! Kriegt man hier nirgends. Wird gleich produziert. Danke für's Rezept und Föhliche Ostern!
    Sonnige Grüsse aus der Provence, Barbara

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    1. Liebe Barbara, der gute Eierlikör ist ja auch so eine deutsche Tradition - ich mag ihn schon ganz gerne so an Ostern und ich muss sagen, der selbstgemachte schmeckt vorzüglich!
      Ganz liebe Grüße in die Provence und wunderschöne Ostertage!
      Andrea

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  8. I'm thinking that you hardly had time to take those drop-dead gorgeous photos before those hearts of waffles were snatched off your beautiful tray. Your girls (and everyone else you share your baking with) have had some kind of week with all your Easter baking. Since I've been on the road, driving back to Aspen, I haven't had a chance to read each Post. I'll be home in a few hours and look forward to settling in and catching up. What I know for sure is that your family has had a wonderful time. The only decorations I will have "in place" tomorrow will be the little ones that you sent. Merci. I always enjoy, as you know, the full-on stories and information you tell about each recipe. Just love knowing those interesting factoids. Must get on the road but wanted to take this minute to wish you all a Happy, Happy Easter. Will be thinking of you all tomorrow.

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    1. Dear Mary, and you are absolutely right - those devoted taste testers got very antsy when looking at those warm heart-shaped waffles on a stick. They smelled quite good too - I made an extra batch to calm the hungry crowds that by now have learned that before they are allowed to touch anything to eat that remotely looks like "blogger food", to ask whether I "have" to take a picture first...poor blogger children... Seriously, we had some great Easter sweets this week and I have been a bit busy baking all those seasonal treats, so busy that I have completely fallen behind with making comments...but I will visit all my favorite blogs for comments this weekend.
      Do have a safe trip home and thank you so much for your lovely comment - we will be sending you our Easter card this weekend - just putting the final touches on it.
      Have a great Easter,
      Andrea & Co. - I did not even have time to blog about the Easter Baking, just posted pictures on fb

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  9. Your waffles look wonderful, dear friend, but the Eierlikör is just the kind of thing we love around the holidays. Thank you for this beautiful post, and for the recipe for the liqueur! Mark und ich wünschen Ihnen ein gesegnetes und ruhiges Ostern! David

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    1. Dear David, if you get a chance to try out the recipe for the egg liqueur, let me know whether you liked it - as I mentioned to Kathy, you can half the recipe and use three small egg yolks (I tried it and it works). We almost finished ours today, we had some skillet brownies and vanilla ice cream (and for the adults Eierlikör to go with the ice cream - let´s just say we were happy eaters...).
      Wishing you and Mark a very Happy Easter, filled with fun and great foods and the company of good friends,
      Andrea

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  10. Andrea,
    you are an artist, darling.
    FABULOUS & Gorgeous. xxx HAPPY EASTER.

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    1. Kim, my friend, thank you kindly for your very sweet comment! I always appreciate your wonderful words!
      Wishing you and your family a very Happy Easter!
      Andrea

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  11. Eierlikör was my Mom's favorite and she always made waffles when visitors came. Thank you for refreshing my memory and a Happy Easter to you.
    Andrea, there is a contest on Food 52 for drinks, your Eierlikör could be a winner. I think there is only one day left to add to the contest.

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    1. Gerlinde, ganz lieben Dank für deinen lieben Kommentar und den Hinweis - I really appreciate your kind support!
      Ich wünsche euch ein frohes Osterfest mit tollem Wetter und vielen wunderbaren Ostermomenten!
      Liebe Grüße,
      Andrea

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  12. I am in awe of your waffles on a stick! And the egg liqueur.. oh my, sounds absolutely heavenly, Andrea. Have a delightful Easter holiday!

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    1. Cathleen, thank you very much and the same to you and your family - have a wonderful Easter!
      Andrea

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  13. Love your heart-shaped waffles! They look like such a special treat. And the egg liquor sounds delicious, too. Beautiful photos, lovely post!

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    1. Eileen, thank you very much - these waffles are a bit of a special treat but not that much. It just takes quite a bit of baking time to get a whole bunch of them ready for devouring, otherwise, I would make these more often.

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  14. The heart-shaped waffles are so delightful to look at. And I know they were delicious to eat as well. I'm used to waffles for breakfast, but I'm American, not European. I am excited to try to these for dessert. Your egg liqueur sounds quite special as well. I accidentally made the wrong dessert this week, so I still have to try them. I hope you and your family enjoyed a happy Easter.

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    1. Betsy, your tart looked wonderful - an inspiration for all of us that will make it soon (I am looking forward to it) - the waffles do tend to be a dessert item around here and the Egg Liqueur is absolutely wonderful, not just at Easter. We (the adults) loved it with some lightly whipped cream and the waffles. Hope spring has finally arrived in your parts!
      Andrea

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  15. These are fabulous - it makes me want to throw a brunch party!

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  16. Oh Andrea- this post is amazing. You are so talented and each of your posts is lovely but my mouth is literally dropped open at how stunning the actual photos are ....not to mention the subject !! WOW. The heart waffle iron is fabulous and fun, and constructing the lollipop stick to eat it....not to mention the sauce. Well, it simply does not get better than this in my book. Thanks for the inspiration and gorgeous post ~

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    1. Tricia, well, thank you dear friend - these heart-shaped waffles were a real treat, theyalways are and I do not have the patience to make them all that often but Easter and spring seemed a wonderful occasion to make them again.
      Thank you so much for your wonderful comment,
      Andrea

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  17. first of all, I love your new layout! second, waffles on a stick?? genius! these look so amazing! :)

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    1. Thank you for commenting on my new layout - you are the very first one to mention it! Rosemary happens to be my favorite herb - so that was my first choice for the header. Waffles on a stick are sure to please just about anyone I ever met - it is a fun idea indeed!
      Hope you are well,
      Andrea

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  18. Andrea - those waffles are stunning and I love the idea of an egg liqueur.
    Your new design is lovely, by the way.

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  19. I love this post in so many levels. I would love to see your waffle iron collection (the heart shape is just so adorable!) and reading this post made me want to go to Europe (waffle aroma in the air? Ahhh I'd be drooling all the time). Love how you styled these waffles. Andrea, you're so talented! As I always say, I want to join you for afternoon snack/tea time... :) Homemade Egg Liqueur is new to me. I wish I could taste it! :)

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