My favorite airplane snack is back

Stroopwafel lovers rejoice!

It’s been a busy February for me — I started six weeks clinical rotations in the Emergency Room for my paramedic program, I had the chance to tour a major airline catering facility here in Boston (more on that soon), and, like every other parent in the country, I had a kid who was home sick with the flu.

But as busy as things may be, it feels worth taking a moment to celebrate that my favorite airplane snack is back: United’s stroopwafel. Check out the details over at TPG.

There’s something irresistibly delicious about the stroopwafel, which is basically a caramel sandwich made with two super-thin wafers. As delicious as the ubiquitous Biscoff may be, the stroopwafel reigns supreme.

Many veteren travelers know the best way to eat it, but for the uninitiated — including the only-occasional flyer, or those who started flying regularly in the past few years, when the cookie has only been offered inconsistently — here’s the trick:

Ask for a cup of coffee. Open the stroopwafel, rest it on top of the coffee cup like a lid. Leave it for about a minute. Pick it up, and enjoy the soft, gooey sweet.

Is this a ridiculous bit of hype (and way too many words) for a simple packaged cookie? Maybe. But we all know that air travel can be kind of…unpleasant…a lot of the times, no matter how much we try to make our experiences better, and no matter how much the upsides of travel are worth the headaches. Cramped seats, gate-checked bags, crying babies, rude seatmates, delays, broken outlets, broken screens, broken backs. So sometimes it’s really the little things that make the difference. And on those occasions a sweet snack and a cup of coffee are what carry you through to your final destination.