2008 December 07 | dinner with Julie

Archive for December 7th, 2008

Day 342: Aubergine Pizza avec Brie and Stroopwafels

There’s a great sandwich place on the departures level of the Montreal airport, between check-in and security, with brightly lit display cases showing off stacks of sandwiches made with thickly sliced bread and tied together with twine, and cake stands full of suitably French-looking croissants and muffins.

We bought a roasted eggplant pizza of sorts – really a split focaccia spread with pesto and layered with thin slices of prosciutto, thick slices of roasted eggplant and topped with brie, that was heated for us to bring through security and came with a little pot of peppered mayo, which we presumed was to slap sparingly on top.

So we ate that while waiting for our boarding call, and brought an oddly spiced egg salad on purplish pumpernickel with us to the Toronto airport for our layover. The egg salad was mysterious and unusual – not really in a good way – we both wanted badly to like it, but are egg salad purists and this one was trying a little too hard. Plus the bread had become all too leathery with travel time.

We left Montreal at noon local time and got into Calgary at 10pm Calgary time - during our flights and in between Sue and I chatted about turkey cooking techniques, flipped through holiday issues of Saveur, brainstormed new uses for lemongrass and discussed our holiday cooking projects (fruitcake, nutmeg caramels, pan dulce, stollen, mandarin orange jam, homemade candy canes and marshmallows) and it really couldn’t have been a better weekend. I even bought a hat.

Although I’m still on my laptop, it’s finally allowing me to upload this Stroopwafel photo! It’s a Christmas miracle. I realize you need a pizzelle or stroopwafel iron for these, but I just saw the same Cuisinart model I have in a Christmas catalog for $30, and even if you only use it once a year, which we do, it’s worth it, don’t you think? You could easily spend $10 on a dozen cookies in a bakery at this time of year.

Stroopwafels

Cookies:
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
pinch cinnamon (optional)

Filling:
any kind of spreadable caramel sauce, dulce de leche or Nutella

Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon (if you’re using it) and stir until you have a stiff, sticky dough.

Preheat your pizzelle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions and spray it with nonstick spray. Drop batter by rounded spoonfuls onto the iron. Close and cook for about 90 seconds, or until steam stops coming out of the iron. Remove and set on a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, spread half the cookies with caramel or Nutella and top with a second cookie.

Makes lots.