Daelmans

About two centuries ago, a baker in Gouda, South Holland, Netherlands, created the first stroopwafel, a round waffle cookie split in half and filled with cinnamon-spiced caramel. Stroopwafels, meaning “syrup waffles,” gained immense popularity and became a traditional Dutch side nibble. Before eating, they were often placed over a hot cup of coffee or tea to warm the gooey caramel filling.

Daelmans, a bakery in southern Netherlands established in 1904 by Hermanus Daelmans, has become the world’s leading producer of Stroopwafels. The brand's recent success in the U.S. is partly due to United Airlines, which has been passing out the stroopwafels to grateful passengers on morning flights since 2016. That’s where I tasted my first Daelmans Stroopwafel—somewhere up in the air.

To clone Daelmans secret recipe we must start with a good waffle cookie, and to do that you’ll need a waffle cone maker or pizzelle maker (inexpensive ones like this can be found online). These devices create thin waffle cookies when fully closed, but by leaving a little breathing room, you can produce thicker waffle cookies that can be easily sliced in half with a butter knife before they cool completely.

Once your waffle cookie is punched out with a 3 3/8-inch biscuit cutter and sliced open, you’ll add a simple caramel filling that’s made by melting Kraft baking caramels (I like the unwrapped caramel bits) with cinnamon and vanilla. Press the top half of the waffle down onto the caramel and give it a little spin, and you’ve just hacked a decades-old world-famous food.

Check out my clones for famous cookies and brownies here.