If you’re looking to make liege waffles and can’t find pearl sugar, try this DIY pearl sugar method to make your own!
Liege waffles are the singular reason I’ve ever sought out pearl sugar. Liege waffles are the sophisticated and honestly SUPERIOR cousin of regular waffles.
They require two essential ingredients for a sweeter, denser, chewier, more delicious version of regular waffles: yeasted waffle batter and pearl sugar. Pearl sugar is basically chunks of uber-compacted sugar that doesn’t melt as easily as regular sugar and thus creates bites of delightfully crunchy sweetness. It is the key to ultimate textural/taste delight.
DIY Pearl Sugar Methods: Overnight vs. Stovetop
When I ran out of time to hunt the real stuff down last week for the challah waffles I planned to make for my roommate’s Galentine’s Day brunch party (the real stuff is rumored to be found at IKEA, Whole Foods and some Cost Plus World Markets), a bit of googling led to the discovery that making your own pearl sugar is actually pretty easy.
I can’t claim that this will give you the same results as using the real stuff, but as long as you use a trusty waffle recipe, you will get little caramelized pockets of sugar in your waffles with no grocery shopping or excess money spending required. And that’s worth money, trust me.
I tried two methods: I found this compacting method on The Sugar Hit blog that required an overnight rest (left) and a stovetop method that took about 20 minutes (right).
The compacting method consisted of mixing sugar and maple syrup, packing the mixture into a plate and refrigerating overnight. In the morning, you can pound the hardened, sugar-cube like substance into small chunks. (If you go this route, I would line the bottom of the plate with wax paper for easier removal. I was worried about breaking my plate during the pounding stage.)
The stovetop method required letting a mixture of sugar and a tiny bit of water sit over very low heat until crystallized.
Why I Prefer the Stovetop Method
I liked the stovetop method better for two key reasons:
- It’s faster
- As you can see in the photos, the stovetop method yielded rounded chunks of sugar that resembled pearl sugar more closely than the flatter shards of sugar from the overnight method. The shards reminded me of roughly hacked sugar cubes, which, incidentally, is another feasible pearl sugar substitute.
But honestly? We used both in the waffles and all the waffles seemed equally popular.
DIY Pearl Sugar
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Add the sugar and water to a small pot. Turn the pot on over the lowest heat setting possible and stir with a wooden spoon until small clumps of sugar form. Your goal is to clump as much sugar together as possible (minimizing the amount of loose sugar) while not creating any overly large clumps. If there seems to be too much loose sugar and not enough clumps, add 1/2 teaspoon of water and stir again. Don’t add too much water or you’ll end up with soggy sugar.
- Let the mixture sit over low heat for 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. This essentially dries out the sugar into the clumps you just created. (If the mixture doesn’t seem to be sticking into ball-like clumps, you can turn the heat up to medium low for 30 seconds or so, then return to low heat–just don’t let the sugar melt down into caramel).
- Remove from heat and let cool completely (clumps should harden as they cool!) before using.
Elan
I made homemade vanilla and took some of the pod pieces out (after a year of soaking in vodka) and air dried them a little then put into containers with sugar. It formed clumps which I cut down to size. I don’t know how it will work but I’m making Belgium Waffles for my mom this morning (Mother’s Day) and I’m putting in my vanilla bean “pearled” sugar!
Heather
Erika. I have a question.
If I have any of this left after I make the liege waffles successfully what can I Store tbe left over pearl sugar in? Would a coverd air tight container with a lid such as ziploc brand square
containers work? Please let me know by e-mailing me at [email protected]
erika
Hi Heather–sorry, I’ve never had any leftover, so I’m not sure–but I would think an airtight container should work, at least for a few days!
Heather
Hi Erika .
I am so glad I found this on Pinterest. I am going to use this with a liege Waffle recipe I found on the same website. I absolutely love waffles especially Belgium waffles. I have not tried the liege waffle type before. So I am interested to try them.
Thank you again.
Monica
HI, can these DIY pearl sugar withstand high heat without melting or burning when baking? Was thinking of placing them on the skin of my sourdough bread which will bake at 230 degrees celsius for half an hour. Thanks.
erika
Hi Monica–sorry, I’ve never tried using pearl sugar in anything other than waffles so I can’t speak to the results. Please report back if you do try it!
Tanya Harding
Thank you so much for this Helpful trick. It really got me out of a jam. I was planning to make Liege waffles for Boxing Day at the cottage. Unfortunately I left my pearl sugar at home. Either I found an alternative or my waffle plans would be spoiled. I used a previous post regarding baking when in the oven on 200° until dry. I also formed them into tiny ball before placing them on parchment paper.
Bill
Having diabetes it’s doubtful I’d ever be making this wonderful use of sugar. I like the idea of making a “sugar dough” and pinching off the size bits you want. I’ve used the following for breaking up peanut, cashew, and pistachio brittles – far, far in the past.
You place your item to smash between two kitchen towels (I used flour sack towels), then have at it with anything heavy and flat that you have about the place; the flat side of a meat tenderizer, a rolling pin, a brick, so many possibilities. My favorite smasher was my 12″ cast iron skillet.
erika
That is an awesome idea, thanks for sharing Bill!!
Mand
Nice!????????????
Bobby
I like your idea. I just bought a new waffle iron just so I could make LIEGE WAFFLES!
I was thinking about using Turbinado Sugar in the Raw. Has anyone tried that?
Caleb
I came up with a way similar to this to create pearl sugar that is indistinguishable from the expensive stuff you buy. I blended sugar into a fine powder equivalent to powdered sugar, but without the added cornstarch. (I don’t know if this would work with powdered sugar; I’m guessing it probably would) I slowly added water to this powdered sugar and mixed it with my hands until it came together like a dough. The process was very similar to making pie dough. Once I had a dough, I formed with it appropriately sized pearls and laid them spaced out on a baking sheet (I used parchment, but I don’t think this is necessary). I let them dry in the oven at 250 degrees F, and after about an hour they had solidified into the pearls I was looking for.
erika
Oh my gosh I LOVE this!! So ingenious–I will have to give it a try and hope other readers do as well!! Thanks Caleb!
Mohammed Ali
I wanted to know how much “Pearl Sugar” the recipe made?
erika
Hi Mohammed–sorry for the delay! Unfortunately, I don’t have an exact measurement for how much sugar this makes, but you can scale it to whatever you need. I would estimate (and this is based on my poor memory, so take it with a large grain of salt) that this makes roughly 1.5 times the amount of sugar that you use given the surface area taken into account from the area between each sugar “pearl.” Hope that helps!
Sean
Interesting idea. Another difference is that authentic Belgian pearl sugar is made from beet sugar vs. cane. Chemically, there’s apparently a tiny difference and the melting characteristics are therefore slightly different as well. Beet sugar tends to brown faster and is softer. For Liege waffles, this is probably the intended effect. In Belgium, they use large machinery to take a sugar slurry, put it under high pressure, dry it, break it up, and then sort it into a particular size pearl. Would be interesting to try making home made pearls with beet sugar and add some high pressure to see if comes somewhat close to the real thing.
Sean…
THE BELGIAN KITCHEN, US Based Liege Waffle Dough Manufacturer & Distributor
http://www.thebelgiankitchen.com
John the Omnivore
You’ve solved my dilemma about getting Belgian Pearl Sugar without going to Ikea where I would have to be in the crush with the great unwashed.
My lady friend compliments me regularly as being the guy that can look at a blog menu and duplicate it with gusto. She’ll enjoys doing this with her friends who have SOs that can’t spell cook. Now, if I can convince her that having a Cuisinart WAF-300 Belgian Waffle maker in my kitchen will make me more than just a good looking guy who enjoys cooking, I’m in like Flynn.
erika
Haha! This comment made my day 🙂 I have to confess, I just picked up a large bag of pearl sugar while in Paris and I’m afraid this DIY version may not measure up to the real stuff…however, like you said, sometimes better to have an alternative to the crazy crowds at IKEA if you can’t get to Europe 🙂 let me know how your cooking adventures go!!
laurasmess
Very cool idea. I never would have thought of making pearl sugar but this looks great (considering that the only place I can buy pearl sugar near me is Ikea, and I HATE that store with a vengeance… it’s like being in a cattle grid). Wonderful post you clever thing. Those gifs made me think I was seeing things though (my work internet is super slow, so it looked like a still shot and then all of a sudden… it moved. Argh!) xx
erika
Oof yes there have been several times when I’ve wanted to go to Ikea for just one thing but that’s pretty much impossible! It’s a half-day venture, at the least.
Hahaha that’s hilarious about the gif! No, it’s supposed to move–you’re not crazy 😉 Thanks so much <33
Erica
YES! This is so useful! I love Belgian waffles! This will definitely come in handy!
erika
Yay! Like I said to some others, this may not may the most perfect pearl sugar but it’s definitely a cheap, functional solution!
Quinn
now THIS is a useful blog post! Thanks a bunch for sharing. xx
erika
Thanks Quinn! Glad you found it helpful 🙂 It’s not perfect pearl sugar by any means, but it’s a good, economical sub!
Karen @ The Food Charlatan
um, this is genius. I’ve had some recent love affairs with liege waffles and this is PERFECT because I can totally justify sugar affairs but I have a hard time justifying them at $10 a package of pearl sugar.
PS Anyone who says “the bomb.com” is alright with me.