Stoked About Stroopwafels

I have been binge watching one of my favorite Netflix shows, The Great British Baking Show. I have been motivated and inspired to research new pastries and long forgotten recipes. They bake, I research. They succeed or fail with the grace that only a British human can seem to muster under heat, pressure and cameras. The contestants break eggs, meringue and equipment a like, all while being filmed, interviewed and harassed.

One episode from the 2017 season focused on caramel and one of the treats the group was assigned were stroopwafels, a classic Dutch nibble. I have had stroopwafel in Holland several times and it is readily found in Dutch flag-colored cellophane bags on grocery store shelves so both our daughter Mia and I found it difficult to believe most of the contestants had never heard of the crispy, caramel-filled circles of yumminess.

What I didn’t know about stroopwafles is that they are a yeasted dough so of course I had to give them a try. The batch I made, shown above, was a bit fiddley to say the least. On the show, They did a short feature at a Dutch bakery where the treats have been made for years and years so I used that as a basis of how large each glom of dough should be and to determine the consistency of the dough as well. I own an ice cream cone waffle maker so that is what I used to make the cookies. I used a very thin long knife to slit each biscuit open immediately after removing it from the iron. As you can see from the reasonably inconsistent color of the cookies shown in the photo, I am working out the details as far as how long each should bake but it’s somewhere between 30 seconds and 35 seconds. (Did I mention stroopwafles are a bit fiddley?) I’m not going to post the recipe as yet because I am still working out the details and believe it needs more cinnamon and vanilla and possibly even a bit more salt the next time I make it. A treat this labor-intensive and dangerous to make needs to be scrumptious and totally perfect or it’s not worth the bother. The caramel filling I made is extremely sweet and I’m not sure it’s perfect either although the consistency is pretty good but it might be too chewy as yet because it began with a corn syrup base. (For those of you “caramel purists” please do not judge, I needed to begin somewhere...)

Anyway, through dough preparation and baking and cutting process where I could have easily gotten badly burned or cut, I am still stoked about stroopwafels and will share my recipe as soon as it’s good enough, I promise. Until then, I will daintily dip an imperfect stroopwafle into a glass of cold milk and say “proost!”