Like a richer, buttery-er, heftier version of a pizzelle, lukkens are a traditional Belgian waffle cookie usually made on a lukken press or lukken iron (Lukijyer). These cookies are like the ultimate mashup of two very dear people to me.
I first tasted a pizzelle (light, fresh, crispy, Italian wafers) at the same time I learned to play pinochle when my dear friend Karina brought me along to play with her grandparents in their apartment near Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Grandma would make us fresh pizzelles and we’d drink coffee and tea and play cards all afternoon. I don’t know if I could play pinochle today without a refresher, but I certainly developed a life long love for pizzelles.
The other half of this mashup is my sister in law. Loralie comes from Manitoba roots. When her and my brother recently stopped in at our place after a trip to Manitoba, they brought with them a plastic ice cream bucket full of these cookies that I mistook for pizzelles and I greedily reached for one. This pizzelle was different, and I was quickly corrected and was told these were a Lukken cookie.
I decided on a whim at Bosa Foods recently to buy a pizzelle maker ($60) and try my hand at lukkens. I figure I love pizzelles and I now love lukkens so the investment into the machine was worth it.
These cookies are dead simple to make, but take a little time. My pizzelle maker does two 5″ cookies at a time, and I’d say I got 5 dozen ish out of this recipe.
This was also the first time I have made a recipe using weight instead of volume. I have to say, I really enjoyed it as it was so much simpler.
As with all my recipes, t is teaspoon and T is tablespoon. Big T little t.
Lukkens
Ingredients:
- 1 pound salted butter
- 1 pound golden sugar
- a ridiculous 6 eggs
- 2 T vanilla
- 1-2 oz whiskey or rum (I used Bailey’s, actually)
- 2 pounds flour
- Cream together the sugar and the butter.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, and booze.
- Add in the flour, a bit at a time.
- Beat the snot out of it till smooth.
- Form walnut sized balls. I actually got out my kitchen scale and weighed them so that they were all consistent. For my pizzelle maker, 30 grams (1 ounce) was a good weight. Note, you can buy a pizzelle maker that does “party size” (3″) pizzelles 5 at a time. I prefer the traditional size.
- Cook them in the pizzelle maker until slightly golden (about 45 seconds), and remove to a rack to cool.
Jen-this is very inspiring. I can only imagine how lovely your house must smell after making these. When I buy pkg pizzelle from Bosa I sometimes use them to make sandwiches with nutella or Dulce de leche in between. Crazy good-I think you should give it a try.
That sounds so good! Lukken sandiwches! Maybe I should make some sort of cream cheese icing to go in between them. YUM! Great idea!