These are delicious. The dough is a bit time consuming, but easy to make. Think of a mix of a brioche dough and a buttery waffle dough and you got it right! YUM

Liege Belgian Waffles:
4 1/2-5 c flour
1 1/2 T instant dry yeast (if using active make a sponge first)
2 T honey
pinch of salt
1/4 c hot water
3/4 c hot milk
2 eggs
2 t baunilla
2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
1 cup Belgian pearl sugar (I like the larger sized ones-see picture)

You can do this by hand, but I suggest using a mixer with the dough hook.

Add 4 cups of flour (reserve 1 cup for later), yeast, honey, salt, water, milk and mix until combined. Then add eggs, baunilla and if needed another 1/2 c of flour. Mix for about 5 minutes. You want a soft, wet bread dough texture. After all combined add butter 1 tablespoon at a time until it mixes all with the dough and if needed the rest of the flour. You may need to add even more flour, but don’t go crazy or it will be too hard of a dough. The final dough will be a wet, soft bread dough texture.  The butter will give a nice shine to the dough. Just like brioche. Cover it and let it sit room temperature for 2 hours.

After the 2 hours, punch the dough to release some air. Then let it sit again overnight in the fridge.

The next day, bring dough to room temperature and add the pearl sugar (very important step). Mix in the sugar gently, folding the dough into the sugar. It is a lot of sugar. Cut into ball sizes (about 12-14 depending on the size you want)

Let is sit for another 15 minutes and the cook it on your waffle iron.

Make sure you use a Belgian waffle iron. It is a bit deeper than the normal waffle iron and that will help so the waffles aren’t too hard.

There are many ways to serve it. You can eat it just like it is, or spread some biscoff, nutella or a combination of both. It is also delicious with fresh fruit and cream!

Enjoy!

It has been a while but I wanted to come here and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and share this fun idea.

I bought this cake mold, you all know how I love cakes…  It is silicone and super easy to use. You can also use it for Jell-O, chocolates, or molding other types of food besides making cakes. I recommend if you want an easy, quick, cute and festive dessert for Christmas. Thanks everyone for this year and hope 2014 is a better one 😉 Love
Ale

Craftsy is a community of crafters from around the world.  They offer online classes on everything from quilting & knitting to gardening & cake decorating.

I have taken many classes from them and I always learn something new. I also enjoy the networking. I can ask questions to the teacher, post pictures of my finished projects and connect with other crafters.

The last class I took was on making classic croissants at home from Colette Christian.

(classic croissants and ham and cheese croissants)

(Pain au Chocolat)

I thought the class was very informative. Colette explains all the little details to making croissants.  Even the basic details, so it is great for people who may be afraid to try or have never baked before.  You can be sure that you will be taken care of in this class and will be able to make these delicious croissants from home.

If you are an expert baker, you may find the class to be a little basic (a little slow) at times, however even then I believe Colette shows some interesting techniques, good reminders and a fail proof recipe.  I highly recommend it for everyone at any level.

Craftsy classes are great because you can take notes, the videos are in HD, it is interactive and really fun.  I enjoy that I can stop and come back to it later in the day when the kids are naping or I have a quick minute to myself.  The classes you purchase are  yours to watch whenever you like, as many times as you like.   If for any reason you aren’t completely satisfied, Craftsy will refund 100% of the cost of your class, no questions asked.

Now for a little DEAL :

From 11/23-11/26, Craftsy is running its Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale and all classes are being offered at $19.99 or less. Sweet huh! I usually purchase my classes at this price and keep them in my account for when I can watch them. Hope you enjoy it.

Here are some pictures of my projects from classes I have taken:

Classic Croissants

 (Croissants,Pain au chocolat, andHam and Cheese)

Decadent Chocolate Cakes

Dipped, Dusted & Rolled: Handmade Chocolates

Advanced Fondant Techniques 

Handcrafted Sugar Flowers

Topsy-Turvy Cake Construction

Classes I have purchase are are waiting for me:

Artisian Bread Making

Artisian Cheese Making

Fashion-Inspired Fondant

Modern Buttercream

Vintage Cakes, Modern Methods

These past couple of days have been way fun for me. My dear husband gave me the gift of taking a couple of cake classes from Carrie’s Cakes.  It was a great time away and an amazing experience.  Carrie is an amazing instructor. Willing to share her knowledge, experience and expertise.  The classes were fun and full of learning experiences for the beginner as well as the more advanced students.

Here are some of my projects.  I tried to make each side of my cake different so I could learn as much possible.

I highly recommend her fondant class.

These next pictures are using the Cricuit machine.  I am not quite “friendly” with that machine yet, but I am working on it.

Front:

Back:

Check out Carrie’s website http://www.carriescakes.com/. Her cakes are a work of art: inspiring and amazing….

Topsy Turvy Class

This is such a fun activity to do with the kids. My little one loves to help measure the ingredients and watch the dough come together. It is a fun time from beginning to end.  The best part is to see their imagination while they make all sorts of things with the playdough. Enjoy!

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Cook approximately 3 minutes on medium heat. It will start to leave sides of the pan.

Knead until it is nice and smooth.

Dive the dough and color (I use Wilton paste colors)

Let the kids have fun.  I usually get all sorts of kitchen gadgets and let their imagination run wild!

Store in the refrigerator in a container or zip loc bags.