Vegan Stroopwafels (Syrup Waffles)

Hey friends! Thanks for still being here. I hope you all are doing well. I finally got the chance to bake and I am celebrating the occasion with these very special (to me) vegan stroopwafels (Dutch Syrup Waffles). This recipe is quite involved, you need a special waffle maker (see below) and you have to plan ahead as these cookies are made with a yeast based dough. But if you are willing to take both of these hurdles, there’s a great reward at the end: crispy, warm and caramel stuffed vegan stroopwafels aka caramel waffle cookies!

I know I was MIA for a while. While many people were stuck at home, I went to work every day. I work at a grocery store, we are considered essential now and as you may know, at the beginning of the pandemic in Europe, people bought everything. So first we had to deal with a huge number of goods at work. It was crazy. Like three weeks of Christmas. I came home very exhausted every day.

Then schools closed and we had to teach our daughter at home. Thankfully my husband was able to work from home, too, so he took care of her when I was working early shifts. Then came all the new regulations to keep people safe while shopping. While I support all this, every day I deal with people who don’t. Arguing with people who don’t want do wear a mask to the store although it is required gets old fast. I wish people would understand that store owners and employees don’t make laws and regulations. We just have to execute them to keep stores open for our customers. (And we want to keep ourselves and our co-workers safe.)

It’s petty to complain about these things, I know. We are very lucky. My family is healthy, we still have our jobs and since Monday my daughter is back at school. This feels like a huge weight was taken from my shoulders. While I did enjoy teaching, I really am not a teacher. I would never have home-schooled my kid. (In ordinary times it’s banned in Germany anyway.) Teaching F. took away so much of my mental energy and I think I really learned to appreciate what teachers accomplish every day.

Now that you made it through my ramblings, I think you really deserve a new recipe. These vegan stroopwafels are a homemade version of one of my favourite snacks and desserts. Stroopwafel means syrup waffle. And if that sounds boring to you let me translate: caramel waffle cookie! Doesn’t that just sound perfect to you? It’s like a large, thin sandwich cookie with a layer of sticky caramel syrup in between. It’s sweet and malty and just the most amazing kind of comfort food. It tastes best when still warm, but you can let it cool and store it in an airtight container for a couple of days. (Don’t ask me how long this keeps. We usually eat these in a day.)

If you want to make these stroopwafels you will need a special kind of waffle iron, a stroopwafelijzer. I don’t have that kind of iron. Instead, I use an iron designed for a Northern German cookie called Krüllkuchen (They are like Norwegian krumkake. I plan on posting a recipe for that soon!) Here’s a picture:

I assume you don’t have such an iron neither. But maybe you do have a waffle cone maker or a pizelle iron. That will work just as well. If you don’t have any of these, there probably is a way to make stroopwafels without an iron, but I haven’t tried it. (You could make regular waffles and simply drizzle the syrup on top. Try these and leave out the elderflowers.)

The stroopwafel recipe itself requires time, patience and speed. For this version you have to make a yeast based cookie dough that will require time to rest and raise. There are versions of stroopwafel recipes which don’t call for yeast, but this one is a traditional recipe that requires slicing the baked wafer in half, while it is still hot. And for this step, yeast based recipes work best.

Extra special Tip: Did you know you can use stropwafels for granola?