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RECIPES

RECIPE: How to make traditional Swedish waffles on Waffle Day

March 25th is a landmark on the Swedish calendar as it marks Våffeldagen (Waffle Day), when Swedes like to eat even more waffles than usual. Now you can too, thanks to these straightforward recipes from Swedish food writer John Duxbury.

Published: 23 March 2018 06:59 CET
Updated: 25 March 2024 06:29 CET
waffle batter and a whisk
This recipe will help you get batter at whisking up Swedish waffles (we'll stop the puns now). Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Summary

Makes: 6-8
Level: Very Easy
Preparation: 5 minutes*
Cooking: 15 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
*Plus 30 minutes standing time

Tips

• Use a Swedish waffle iron if possible to get characteristic thin heart shapes. 

• You can use the recipe below with a Belgian waffle iron, but it is better if you add a teaspoon of “instant” dried yeast with the dry ingredients (step 2 for egg waffles and step 3 for crispy waffles).

• In the case of the egg waffles, the mixture improves if it is rested for at least 30 minutes in a fridge before it is used. (For breakfast waffles the mixture can be rested in a fridge overnight.)

Ingredients for egg waffles

90g (3 oz) butter
200g (1½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
75g (⅓ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp vanilla sugar
300 ml (1¼ cups) milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method for egg waffles

1. Melt the butter in a microwave or a saucepan, but don’t let it brown. Leave it to cool slightly.

2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3. Gradually whisk in the milk and the melted butter.

4. Whisk in the beaten egg to form a smooth batter.

5. Leave the batter in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight before frying.

6. Preheat your waffle iron. (Usually there is a pilot light which will go out when the waffle iron is up to temperature.)

7. Pour about 4-6 tablespoons of batter on the middle of the lower plate and close the lid. Press the lid for a few seconds so that the batter is spread evenly. (Do not press during the whole process as this will prevent the waffle from rising.)

8. Fry for about 1-2 minutes until the waffle is golden brown.

9. Serve the waffle while still hot.

READ ALSO: How to make Swedish gooseberry and elderflower compote

Ingredients for crispy waffles

30 g (2 tbsp) butter
240 ml (1 cup) whipping cream
125 g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
150 ml (10 tsbp) cold sparkling mineral water

Method for crispy waffles

1. Melt the butter in a microwave or a saucepan, but don’t let it brown. Leave it to cool slightly.

2. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.

3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. Add the cold sparkling water and then finally the melted butter. Mix to produce an even batter.

5. Preheat your waffle iron. (Usually there is a pilot light which will go out when the waffle iron is up to temperature.)

6. Pour about 4-6 tablespoons of batter on the middle of the lower plate and close the lid. Press the lid for a few seconds so that the batter is spread evenly. (Do not press during the whole process as this will prevent the waffle from rising.)

7. Fry for about 1-2 minutes until the waffle is golden brown.

8. Serve the waffle while still hot.

Serving suggestions

1. Jam and lightly whipped cream or ice cream is the most popular way of serving waffles.

2. Waffles are also nice with fresh fruit and cream. (If the fruit needs some sugar, use demerara sugar with crispy waffles.)

3. Waffles go really well with a blueberry or bilberry compote: rinse 150 g (5 oz) of berries (fresh or frozen) and add to a saucepan along with two tablespoons of caster (superfine) sugar. Simmer gently until the juice runs and they are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Leave to cool. Pour on top of the waffles, dust with ground cinnamon and add some lightly whipped cream or ice cream.

4. For a spicier blueberry compote: mix 200 g (7 oz) blueberries, 1 tablespoon of caster (superfine) sugar, 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of ground cinnamon and a pinch of ground cloves. Poach for about 5 minutes until soft and gooey and then increase the heat and boil for 4 minutes to thicken. Serve warm or cold with waffles and whipped cream or ice cream.

5. For a slightly more luxurious topping make some blåbärskräm (bilberry/blueberry cream): lightly whip 300 ml (1¼ cups) of whipping cream and mix with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar (powder sugar), ½ teaspoon of vanilla powder and 150 g (5 oz) of lightly cooked blueberries or bilberries. If you use blueberries sprinkle over some ground cinnamon when you serve the waffles. (For a more filling version, replace half of the whipped cream with mascarpone cheese.)

Recipe courtesy of John Duxbury, editor and founder of Swedish Food.

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FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

Published: 5 April 2024 13:59 CEST
OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits. 

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user). 

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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