Ask an Expat: What is a Stroopwafel?
japra | Nov 12, 2009 | Comments 15
Stroopwafel met koffie en krant (Stroopwafel with coffee and the newspaper.) That’s my Tate Modern mug by the way. I really need one from the NL. Maybe something from Delft? Hmm. I’m going next week!
Last week in the comments for my Wordless Wednesday “Goedmorgen” post, Stan asked: “I say, what is a stroopwafel? Looks like it would at least help keep the coffee warm.”
Stan, stroopwafels are a delightful Dutch cookie that originated in Gouda (‘how-da’) a couple of hundred years ago. Basically, they are a thin waffle cookie, split and filled with a thin layer of gooey, chewy “syrup” (really more like the consistency of the caramel in a Twix bar). They are sold in packs of 10 and also available in bags of bite size goodness.
Before we knew better, we used to eat stroopwafels straight out of the bag. One day, while we were still in England, Roxi and I found this video by Rikomatic and realised we were missing out! Now, we always put our cookie on top of our coffee or tea. One has to be careful not to leave the cookie on top too long: Mr. DJ had one collapse into his coffee.
If you’re lucky enough to find a fresh stroopwafel vendor–you’ll be able to smell them from blocks away–do try the fresh ones. They are six inches in diameter and pure heaven. You’ll think you won’t be able to finish it, but once you get started it’s tough to stop!
The waffle part of the cookie is similar to a waffle ice cream cone, by the way. Slightly thicker, slightly crumblier, slightly softer, but that is the closest I can describe it to you. The inside is like a soft caramel. It seems like it would be tooth-achingly sweet, but for some reason it’s not. It’s just plain good.
If you’re ambitious, you can try your hand at making these lovelies. Here’s a fellow demonstrating how to assemble one. Good grief! How many cookies would I ruin before I could successfully split that cookie?! And I’m pretty sure I’d burn myself with that syrup. If you do decide to make stroopwafels at home, please let me know how it turns out! :-)
~
Emm, I’m sorry. I couldn’t corner Mr. DJ or Roxi to answer your question :-( I’ll try again next week.
As usual, if you have a question for us about anything, please leave it in the comments! If you have a question any other day, feel free to leave it on that day’s post as well. Thanks for playing along, you guys!
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
Yum. Something else for me to get addicted to! Have you tried Daim? It’s a chocolate caramel bar – I got it at Ikea.
oh, also, I didn’t notice until you explained it that that is actually two cookies – that’s crazy, skinny cookies!
Julia, you can get bags of Daim at the grocer store here. I try not to buy them very often… Too good!
And yeah, they are really thin cookies. They really work in combination with the caramel. MMMMmmm.
This sounds wonderful; thanks for enlightening those of us who had no idea!
Jane, I’m glad you liked it :-)
Sounds scrumptious! And to think I’ve been mis-pronouncing Gouda (as GOO-da) all my life!
LOL! Me too. Goo-da. Like the cheese :-)
oh, I didn’t realize you’re supposed to put it on top of the hot coffee, sounds delicious all warmed up.
Christine, they are so much better warm. I have been tempted to heat them up in a pan…
Oh what I miss out on. Those cookies sound just delicious. I wonder if you can special order them here in the states??? I must look in to this!
Yes, apparently you can! http://www.caramelcookiewaffles.com/
That is so thrifty to heat your stroopwafel on your hot beverage. How very Dutch!
Hee hee! I think the Dutch are wonderfully practical ;-)
My kids love these; especially the fresh ones. Sigmund used to bring them back from Den Haag. (Glad that I read this post, as we weren’t eating them correctly, either. We didn’t know about “heating” them! Thanks!)
MMmmm. I don’t think there is a wrong way to eat those things, Bee. But they sure are good warm :-)