Nothing hits the spot on a chilly spring morning like a warm mug of some beverage and a pastry.  It’s even better if the pastry is warm too.  Visiting the Netherlands back in the day, I got to know the stroopwafel, a cookie/pastry/waffle that sits atop your hot beverage until it gets all soft and gooey inside, keeping your beverage warm while it does.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.

As if a warm and gooey syrup-filled waffle cookie wasn’t great enough, the stroopwafel originates in the city of Gouda (pronounced with a throat-clearing “chow-da” and a big smile), yes, the Gouda of the most excellent cheese.

In this video, you can learn the proper way to say “stroopwafel” (makes me wonder if the New Yorker would print it as “stroöpwafel”) and also note that the recommended 2-3 minute melting time fits rather nicely with the span of time one might steep some tea.  Just sayin.

In the Boston area and looking for a stroopwafel fix?  There’s a thread on Chowhound for that, and I can vouch that you might also find some North American organic stroopwafels at Whole Foods and Wegmans, made with maple syrup of course.

When you’ve done all that, it might be time to join the Association of Stroopwafel Addicts.