Belgian Waffle Cookies
| 1 | Cup | Butter (two sticks) |
| 3 | Eggs | |
| 1 | Cup | Brown sugar |
| 1 | Cup | White sugar |
| 4 | Cups | Flour |
| pinch | Salt | |
| 2 | Oz | Whiskey |
| 1 | Tbsp | Vanilla |
Other items needed:
Nice mixer (take the opportunity, if you don't already have one, to buy a Kitchenaid mixer. Tell your spouse that Eric told you to do so. He/she will immediately understand.)
Pizzelle maker (I use the one made by VillaWare. Here's a link)(I've used other Pizzelle makers but they make the cookie too thick)
Baking racks (drying racks, you'll need two)
Melt Butter. (I usually use 50% in the microwave. I find that 100% power causes pops and splattering).
Combine Flour, sugar, salt in mixing bowl. (About the pinch thing, i usually pour a little salt into the palm of my hand. It's probably around a 1/4 tsp. or so). Add the melted butter and the rest of the ingredients. Mix until batter becomes consistent.
Put batter in refrigerator or freezer. It is much easier to handle the batter after it is cool. While the batter is cooling, plug in the Pizzelle maker. When the batter is cool, and the iron is hot (sounds like the beginning of a song/poem?), using a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon, form the batter into balls. They will probably be around 1.5 to 1.75 Tbsp's each. Place the balls in the pizzelle maker and heat for 55 seconds. The time will depend on the voltage at your house. Lower voltage (during the summer months when people are running their air conditioners) will result in longer cooking times. The cookies should look light brown when they are ready. You'll figure out what a burnt cookie looks like. When the cookies are ready, transfer the cookies (two of them) to the first drying rack. Six cookies fit on a single drying rack. When the first drying rack is full, trade places with the other drying rack. When the second drying rack is full, remove the first six cookies and stack them on a plate (or some such place). If you used too much batter per cookie, there will be left over at the edges of the cookies that can be broken off when you go to stack the cookies. These pieces are usually my favourite part. If you didn't use enough batter, the cookie will not completely fill the impressions in the Pizzelle maker. You'll get good at estimating the right amount.
Eric Stromberg