Saturday, March 28, 2020

Lemon Waffle Rolls - Zitronenwaffelröllchen


We have had a lot of sunshine this past week, flowers and colors everywhere. My favorite being all those bright and light, yellow and orange daffodils. The harbinger of spring, warm weather, and, these days, a lot of time spent in the garden.




Unto this lovely spring recipe which comes together in no time and will fill your kitchen with wonderful lemony waffle aroma – that certainly always manages to lift all those culinary spirits around here.

The dough requires only a few ingredients that I usually find in my cupboard and fridge. I enjoy the lemony flavor with a bit of vanilla but you could omit the vanilla sugar or substitute it with anis for example which is also nice, and you could, of course, use any other citrus here that you happen to have on hand. But the one thing you will need is a specialty waffle maker - the one I use is a so-called 'Eiserkuchen Waffeleisen' that I inherited a while ago. 'Eiserkuchen' aka 'Neujährchen' or 'Hippen' are quite popular around here, so normally these waffle makers are easy to come by. You could use an ice cream cone waffle maker instead or, alternatively, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat and spread out the batter to a very thin round and then bake as you would bake your cookies - all the while watching very carefully so the waffles will not get too dark. And remember to roll them up while they are still hot and bendable.





Lemon Waffle Rolls - Zitronenwaffelröllchen
(yields about 16 waffle rolls, depending on the size of your waffle iron)

Ingredients
  • 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 100g superfine baking sugar
  • finely grated zest from 2 to 3 untreated/organic lemons (depending on the size, 2 large or 3 small ones)
  • 2 eggs (L), free-range or organic
  • 8g pure vanilla sugar 
  • 200g plain (AP) flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of fine sea salt
  • 125ml lukewarm water
  • 2 tbsps freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation
  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
  2. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition.
  3. Add the vanilla sugar and mix again.
  4. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  5. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 additions, alterating with the water and mix well.
  6. Then at the end add the lemon juice and mix one last time until the batter is smooth.
  7. In the meantime, pre-heat your waffle iron and bake the waffle rolls immediately.
  8. Make sure to trasnfer each roll onto a cooling rack and then roll the dough while the waffle ist still piping hot – I highly recommend using gloves here.

Notes
  • Serve the waffle rolls the day they were made or store them for a day or two in a cookie tin with a tight fitting lid, as these rolls will turn soft if they attract moisture.
  • Just before serving, dust liberally with icing sugar, or serve plain, or fill with whipped (lemon) cream, or serve fresh fruit and whipped cream alongside (which is the way I usually go).





Sunny spring days just call for bright lemony, pretty, and preferably crunchy, desserts it seems.




8 comments:

  1. What a beautiful treat! Lemon is always a hit with my crew. We just had some thunder and a downpour, so spring is definitely here. I need to peek out the window to see if my daffodils are close to blooming! Have a terrific weekend!!!

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    1. Dear Liz, thank you kindly for your comment! Hope you are all doing well! I have taken a particular liking to daffodils this year - I stuffed every vase in the house with different ones, from pale yellow to bright orange ones. And since we had a lot of sunshine lately, they seem to be everywhere you look.
      These lovely lemon waffle rolls were perfect sweet treats whilst enjoying tea in the garden with the whole crew on this very sunny spring day in March.
      Andrea xo

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  2. Hallo! I am so sorry I have been "missing in action" lately - I see your lovely posts and I want to spend time with them - but work has been busier than usual at the University.

    These waffles are beautiful - I need to see about finding a waffle maker that would work. Most waffle makers in the US are for thick waffles - à la Belgian waffles. These look more like the Italian pizzelle. Do you think that would work? I love the sunshine as it hits the edges in your photo. Just beautiful. I hope that you, Thomas, and the girls are keeping safe at home, and that your families are well, too. We are staying at home and enjoying our garden, as well.

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    1. Dear David, thank you for stopping by! Honestly, I have no idea (and neither has my trusted IT expert) why comments are not coming through. Sorry about that. But tomorrow morning we will have another go at the problem and let you know if we have come up with a solution to that problem.
      With respect to the waffle rolls, you could use an Italian 'Pizzelle' waffle maker or spread the batter very thinly on a parchment or silpat mat lined baking sheet. And I saw that American companies sell ice cream cone waffle irons, which look almost like what I use. And, of course, there is the Norwegian 'Krumkake' waffle irons, which are also very similar.
      With respect to us: kids are off school doing 'home-schooling', Thomas is working as 'emergency teacher' in school...and I try to cook and bake my way through this (no more flour, or yeast, or pasta etc. can make this whole thing a little bit of a challenge ;) though.
      Hugs & kisses from afar,
      Andrea

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  3. These waffles are so pretty, as are the daffodils you have photographed them with. That sunshine looks marvellous. Melbourne is about to descend into grey, dark cold winter, and we have already experienced quite a few cold days, despite to only being March. I hope that you and your family are well.

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    1. Dear Gaye, thank you kindly for your wonderful comment! During the last two weeks, we were very lucky with regard to the weather, lots of sunshine and deep blue skies. And there are so many flowers all around us, magnolia trees, the first white cherry trees, grape hyacinths, daffodils and tulips...I'm trying to make a point of spending a lot of time looking at all that nature has to offer these days, it has a wonderful, calming effect. And these lemon waffle rools seemed to suit my mood that day perfectly...
      Take good care of yourself, my friend!
      Andrea

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  4. Ich kann mich noch an ähnliche Waffeln erinnern, die waren so lecker. Auch bei uns zieht der Frühling ein.

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    1. Das freut mich, liebe Gerlinde - denn die Idee zu diesen Zitronenwaffelröllchen stammt von den Röllchen, die man gerne in meiner Familie gemacht hat, leider ohne ein passendes Rezept ;) Und wer weiß, vielleicht findest du ja beim Sortieren deiner Rezepthefte und Kochbücher (Foto auf fb) ein ähnliches Rezept.
      Schöne sonnige (aber sehr kühle) Grüße nach Santa Cruz und pass' weiterhin gut auf dich (euch) auf.
      Andrea

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