This article was originally published in the May 2016 issue of Cottage Life magazine.
Oh, what a quirky tool it is. No, it’s not for branding cattle; it’s for toasting a sandwich or making a miniature pie—filled with anything you can squeeze between two pieces of bread or pastry. You may call this tool a pie iron, but to those of us born in Australia, it’s a jaffle iron.
For kids down under, jaffles are a campfire staple. Making them is a blast, and eating them is even better. If you don’t have a pie iron, you can find one alongside camping goods in many hardware stores. Preheat the iron in the campfire coals or on the grill for about 5 minutes, carefully brush butter or oil on the inner surface, and load it up. Return it to the heat for 2–5 minutes, opening it occasionally to check doneness. Ready? Let’s jaffle.
Ploughman’s lunch pudgie
Butter slices (both sides) of rustic wholegrain bread, and layer with thinly sliced apple, sharp cheddar, a rich mango chutney, and fresh cracked pepper.
French onion jaffle
Halve a baguette lengthwise and layer with Gruyère slices, store-bought shaved roast beef, and caramelized onions. (Add a splash of brandy while you’re cooking the onions.) Cut the baguette into lengths that will fit in the buttered iron, and get cooking.
PB&J pound cake toastie
Cut 2 slices of pound cake (thick 1″/ 2.5 cm slices if it’s a light cake; thin 1⁄2″/1 cm slices if it’s dense). Spread with cream cheese and blackberry or raspberry jam (or whatever jam you like). Sandwich 2 or 3 broken Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups inside and toast in a buttered iron. Give your jaffle a powdered sugar snowstorm when done.
Tip: Jaffles have many names, but few cookbooks. Check out the recipe collection at pudgierevolution.com.
